PERFORMANCE STUDY OF SOLAR STILLS WITH VARIOUS ABSORBING MATERIALS AND A SENSIBLE HEAT STORAGE MEDIUM

In this paper, the productivity of the solar stills is enhanced by placing different wick materials on the inner walls of the basin. The experiments are conducted with three different wick materials, namely cotton cloth, jute cloth, and sponges. The wick materials are painted with black to increase the absorptivity. The productivity of the still with cotton cloth, jute cloth, and sponges are 38.56%, 31.37%, and 24.50%, respectively, more than the conventional still. The stills are also tested with wicks and pebbles and compared with the conventional still. The productivity of the still with cotton cloth with pebbles, jute cloth with pebbles and sponge with pebbles are 55.66%, 43.68%, and 33.33%, respectively, more than the conventional still.