Fresnel lens reduces the amount of material required compared to a conventional lens. By employing this technology to two of the ubiquitous resources available almost everywhere – sunlight and brine water - we produce steam. Focused sunlight by sun tracking was used to boil water from a copper tube while a spiral piping is used as a condenser. With LDR sensors and a high torque servo motor, the solar irradiance was maximised. This was done using ‘Adruino Uno’ micro controller coded to use real time data obtained from the LDR sensors. The apparatus was tested on sunny, partially cloudy and cloudy days in manually set to North – South direction manually. The amount of water distilled was proportional to the solar irradiance and were highest, mediocre and lowest respectively for three sample days of varying solar albedo. Though black paint on copper boiler helped to increase distilled water productivity, loss in heat from the system was evident. An average of 1.6 litres of water was produced per day by the system with boiler volume 3.18 litres and rectangular Fresnel lens of size 345 x 345 mm. Heat loss from system may be further controlled by larger aperture lens and selective insulation of copper duct. Addition of baffle for heating and fins at condenser may increase heat transfer rate.
The efficiency and power output of the solar PV panel decreases with an increase in temperature. The efficiency of a monocrystalline photovoltaic panel decreases around 0.3% for every degree rise in temperature after 30°C. By using different techniques we can reduce temperature. A heat sink made up of aluminium plate with fins attached to the PV panel which enhances heat rejection. The analysis of the system was done in computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The static and transient analysis was done and an optimal heat sink was designed. The silicon plate which is designed to simulate the PV panel was maintained at a temperature of 60°C for the analysis. It was found that the optimal fins of heat sink have 1.5 mm thickness and each of 40 mm height and 30 mm spacing between the fins and the natural air flow is maintained through the fins which is parallel to fins. There is a reduction in temperature of panel by 4°C in static conditions by natural convection.
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