Modelling radiative heat transfer inside a basin type solar still

•Radiative heat transfer in a basin type solar still has been investigated.•Two models with and without view factors were used.•The model with view factors exhibits a lower magnitude of root mean square error.•View factors affect the accuracy of modelling the performance of the solar still.

Radiative heat transfer inside a basin type solar still has been investigated using two models with (model 1) and without (model 2) taking into account optical view factors. The coefficient of radiative heat exchange (hr,w-gc) between the water and cover surfaces of a practical solar still was computed using the two models. Simulation results show that model 1 yields lower values of hr,w-gc and the root mean square error than model 2. It is therefore concluded that the accuracy of modelling the performance of a basin-type solar still can be improved by incorporating view factors.