Experimental investigation on the effects of nanoparticle enhanced phase change material npcm in solar desalination

Abstract

The demand for fresh water production is growing day by day with the increase in world population and industrial growth Desalination technologies has started to play its role to meet this demand Among various desalination technologies solar stills require low maintenance and are readily affordable however their productivity is limited Over the years many researchers have tried various modifications and mechanisms like including reflectors heat storage fins collectors condensers with still to improve the productivity of solar stills Among them heat storage is one of the proverbial techniques which store the energy during the hours of high solar intensity and releasing it during the nocturnal hours used to improve productivity Among the two heat storage techniques Latent Heat Energy Storage LHES is superior to sensible heat energy storage due to its higher energy storage capacity of LHES materials and it resulted in better productivity Even though LHES materials give a high storage capacity their application is hindered due to its low thermal conductivity and low heat release To overcome this nanoparticles have been introduced by researchers to enhance their thermal properties newline