Title: Exergoenvironmental assessment of a solar still modified with the evacuated tube heat pipe using paraffin wax

Authors: Benjamin Franklin Selvanayagam; Kumaresan Govindasamy; Rajagopal Rangaraj; Dominic Antonisamy

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Technology, Coimbatore-641010, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, Sathyamangalam, Tamil Nadu, 638 401, India ' Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Francis Xavier Engineering College, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sona College of Technology, Salem, 636008, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: This manuscript proposes a hybrid approach for enhancing a solar still (SS) modified with an evacuated-tube heat-pipe utilising paraffin wax (PW). The system combines the Osprey optimisation algorithm (OOA) and quantum neural network (QNN). The OOA increases water temperature and lowers glass cover temperature, while QNN predicts daily distillate productivity and forecasts water and glass temperatures. The major objective of the proposed approach is to improve solar still efficiency and reduce costs. By then the proposed approach is executed in MATLAB/Simulink, and contrasted with existing techniques. The proposed approach results in a cost of 140 USD notably lower than current techniques.

Keywords: heat pipe; phase change material; PCM; paraffin wax; temperature; optimisation; thermal energy storage; liquid fractions; fresh water.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEX.2024.138736

International Journal of Exergy, 2024 Vol.44 No.1, pp.16 - 32

Received: 10 Aug 2023
Accepted: 10 Feb 2024
Published online: 29 May 2024 *

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