EFFECT OF GLASS THICKNESS ON SOLAR STILL PERFORMANCE

¹Benjamin Ternenge Abur, ²Haruna Abubakar and ³Gideon Ayuba Duvuna

¹Department of Mechanical/Production Engineering, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi.

²Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna.

³Department of Mechanical Engineering, Federal Polytechnic, Mubi

Correspondent: engrbenjaminabur@gmail.com,

ABSTRACT

In this research paper, a conventional basin solar still for production of domestic drinking water using Bauchi climatic conditions (10.23°N, 9.84°E) is evaluated. The single glass cover basin solar still has a collector area of 0.9m² and water holding capacity of 20 litres. Performance evaluation of the system using two identical size glass cover thickness of 4mm and 6mm in the Harmattan period shows that 4mm glass cover thickness increases the distillate water output, basin water temperature as well as efficiency of the solar still compared to 6mm glass cover thickness. The model produces 1.60 and 1.55 litres of pure water from brackish water using the 4mm and 6mm glass cover thicknesses respectively.

Keywords: Basin Solar still, Distillate Output, Glass Cover Thickness, Harmattan.