Experimental study of exfoliated graphite solar thermal coating on a receiver with a Scheffler dish and latent heat storage for desalination

In this paper, a low-cost and efficient method based on Scheffler reflector, exfoliated graphite (EG) coating and paraffin wax are developed for desalination system. The solar coating plays a key role in increasing the absorptivity of concentrated solar energy to raise the temperature of the receiver. So, A new type of coating such as exfoliated graphite is adopted on the receiver for desalination. In this work, the coating is experimentally investigated for thermal stability and performance with a Scheffler dish. The brief fabrication procedure with Jigs has been discussed for easy fabrication of unskilled labour to promote entrepreneurship. Extensive tests have been carried out under the sun to find out the effect of exfoliated graphite coating on the absorber assisted with latent heat energy storage unit. It has been observed that the Scheffler reflector with EG coating on absorber plate gives the enhanced thermal performance up to 42% and thermal stability even up to 420 °C with absorptivity more than 97% of the solar incident.