Effect of Fin Height on Performance of Passive Solar Still in Indian Coastal Conditions

In this paper the effect of fin height on the distillate output and performance of solar still have been presented for passive mode. The solar still has an effective basin area of 1m2 and the fixed cover inclination of the still is 300 . The aim of the present paper is to study the effect of different heights of fin on the yield and distillation efficiency of passive solar still. Outdoor experiments have been conducted at the coastal town of Kakinada (160 .93'N/830 .33'E), Andhra Pradesh, India. The experiments were conducted for 24 hours during peak summer month of May 2019, with different fin heights of 3cm, 4cm, and5cm for passive solar distillation system. It is observed that the yield and performance of solar still depends significantly on fin height. It is also shown that the internal heat transfer coefficients vary with respect to the fin height substantially. The results from the experimental data show that the combination of 4cmheight of fin and the intensity of radiation for the coastal and summer climatic conditions of Kakinada leads to maximum yield and efficiency for the passive solar still.