An experimental study of hybrid photovoltaic thermal (PV/T)‐active solar still

In this paper a new self-sustainable hybrid photovoltaic thermal (PV/T)-integrated-active solar still has been designed and tested for composite climate at I.I.T. New Delhi (28°32′N, 77°12′E). The PV system is used to generate electricity to run the pump (60 W and 18 V) as well as thermal energy to heat the water in the collector. The proposed design of hybrid-active solar still can be used at any remote location because of its self-sustainability. The experiments were performed on the set-up for different water depths and for different running duration of the pump. It has been observed that the hybrid-active solar still gives a higher yield (more than 3.5 times) than the passive solar still. It has also been observed that the daily distillate yield and thermal efficiency of the hybrid-active solar still remain almost the same for all water depths in the basin by reducing the daily running period of the pump from 9 to 5 h. This running period of the pump reduced saves 43% of the power used to run the pump with 9 h running, without affecting the performance of the solar still. This work also deals with exergy analysis of the system. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.