MATHEMATICAL MODELLING FOR t PREDICTING THE THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF SOLAR DISTILLATION UNITS | ||||
| ERJ. Engineering Research Journal | ||||
| Article 3, Volume 24, Issue 4, October 2001, Page 49-70 PDF (853.01 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/erjm.2001.71132 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Authors | ||||
| MOHAMMED A. Habib; SHEDID H. SHAMS EL-DIN. | ||||
| MECHANICAL POWER ENG., FACULTY OF ENG. MENOUFIYA UNIVERSITY, SHEBIN EL-KOM, EGYPT | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| A single basin-type solar still with an area of 0.65 m2 is constructed in Menoufiya University and tested under the transient operation conditions. The hourly variation of basin water, glass cover and ambient temperatures, as well as the evaporative mass transfer rate are measured during the operation. A thermal model has been developed for predicting the performance of the unit. The model is based on the outdoor measurements of distillate water collected from the still and the heat balance equations. Experimental data for evaporative mass transfer rate, basin-water temperatures, glass cover temperatures and heat transfer coefficients have been compared with the predictions data obtained from the model. The comparisons are also made with the experimental data using three mathematical models: Turbulence, McAdams, and Adhikari models. The Grashof number was ranged from 5.13~10 to 2.10~10 * . It is found that the general trends of the model predictions are in a reasonable agreement with the experimental data. However, the predictions for the solar distillation are found to be sensitive to the empirical correlation employed to describe the unit performance. For the three models tested, the turbulence model overpredicted the evaporative mass transfer rates and heat transfer coefficients. The other two models, McAdams and Adhikari, underpredicted these rates and coefficients. The basin water and glass cover temperatures have the predictions inverted. It is concluded that the present model has the better predictions of the still performance compared with other models. Particular care, however, must be taken in4he choice of the heat transfer correlation necessary for calculations. | ||||
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