INVESTIGATIONAL STUDY ON FRESH WATER IMPROVEMENT IN CONVENTIONAL SOLAR STILL WITH PV SUBMERGED IN NANOFLUID

This work mainly aims on improving the yield of fresh water and power generation from the PV panel submerged in nano fluids kept inside the basin and compared with those of solar still with water as base fluid. The results of temperature profile indicated that the maximum temperature of 80oC is observed in the case of solar still with Al2O3 nano fluid while the basin type still with TiO2 exhibited a temperature of 70oC before the noon. Similarly, the temperature of MgO is observed as 78oC during the lower solar intensity condition as it is observed in the case of Al2O3 nano fluid which exhibited the same behavior. There is an improvement in water temperature to about 2oC and 15oC for MgO and TiO2 nano fluid. Results indicated that the fresh water produced from the base type still improved with the use of Al2O3 nano fluid followed by MgO nanofluid, water and TiO2 nano fluid.