Improving the performance of single slope solar still by including N identical PVT collectors

This paper communicates the improvement in performance of single slope solar still (SS) by including N identical partially covered photovoltaic thermal (PVT) collectors. Three models have been considered namely, SS included with N identical partially covered PVT flat plate collectors (N-PVT-FPC-SS); SS included with N identical partially covered PVT compound parabolic concentrator collectors (N-PVT-CPC-SS) and conventional SS (CSS). In this work, yearly production of potable water, energy, exergy, energy metrics, cost of distillate output and cogeneration efficiency have been computed for the proposed N-PVT-FPC-SS at 0.14 m water depth under optimized condition for New Delhi, India. Results obtained have been compared with results reported by researchers previously and it has been concluded that exergy based energy payback time is lower by 89.90% and 44.45%; energy production factor is higher by 46.67% and 31.11%; life cycle conversion efficiency is higher by 56.25% and 37.50% and production cost of potable water is lower by 27.05% and 3.20% for the proposed N-PVT-FPC-SS than N-PVT-CPC-SS and CSS respectively. The proposed system can produce potable water on commercial scale and at the same time, it can meet DC electrical power need.