A review of recent research that has been undertaken on the design and development of various solar distillation systems is reported. A techno-economic analysis is carried out to measure the cost of effectiveness of various distillation systems.

Thermal modelling, based on heat and mass transfer relations, of a greenhouse integrated with a solar still has been discussed in detail. The effect of the system (viz. heat capacity of plants/pot mixture, water mass, and orientation, etc.) as well as climatic parameters (solar insolation,...

We have studied an active solar distillation system during peak summer days. The system is made of fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) and is coupled to a flat-plate collector (FPC). Performance of single and double-effect solar distillation, with and without water-flow over the glass cover, was...

We present an analysis of an indoor swimming-pool with solar collector panels. An analytical expression is derived for the system efficiency in terms of heat-exchanger and collector designs and climatic parameters.

We present an analytical model of a ground collector which uses thermal trap material instead of glazing on its top. The effects of different parameters e.g., the depth of the heat retrieval plane, thickness of the thermal trap material and the use of various materials such as concrete, sand and...

The design criteria for thermal heating of an active, fixed-dome type biogas plant are presented. The effects of the heat exchanger and collector panel have been incorporated in the thermal analysis. The thermal efficiency of the system can be optimised by increasing the flow rate of the working...

Open sun drying (OSD) is the most common method of crop drying in developing countries. Despite several disadvantages, it is widely practiced because it is a simple way of drying. Crop temperature, temperature around the crop, solair temperature, and rate of moisture evaporation are the...

We apply an analytical expression to the plants and enclosed air in a greenhouse for various design parameters and a given climatic condition. A numerical method has been used to validate an analytical expression for the plant temperature. Our analysis is based on energy-balance equations for...

We have analysed the performance of a greenhouse suitable for use in the summer season when the temperature inside the greenhouse may have to be reduced for optimum plant growth. Cooling was achieved by integrating the earth via an air tunnel with the greenhouse in a forced-circulation mode....