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In this study, the thermal performance of a solar thermal desalination system has been investigated experimentally. The desalination system consists of an evacuated tube collector (ETC), which acts as a heat source for the desalination process. A storage tank of saline water has been connected to ETC by using connecting pipes. A separate condensing unit has been used to condense water vapor generated by the desalination system. The saline water is circulated naturally throughout the ETC and storage tank. During the experiments, the data for temperature of the saline water at different locations, solar intensity, saline water pressure at inlet & outlet of ETC, and system's productivity in terms of fresh water were recorded. The performance of the present desalination system has been evaluated in terms of exergy & energy efficiency. The mass flow rate of the saline water has been calculated to understand the phenomenon of thermosiphon. The economic analysis has been also done in order to calculate the cost incurred in produced fresh water. The system was able to maintain temperature of saline water about 100 °C for 4 h continuously, which results in a good amount of fresh water i.e. 4.8 L. The average energy & exergy efficiency of the desalination system was found 50.67% and 15.61% respectively. The maximum saline water flow rate was 0.0085 kg/s, and the cost incurred to produce fresh water was 0.01902 $/L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Battery thermal management system (BTMS) is essential for maintaining batteries in electric vehicles at a uniform temperature. The aim of the present work is to propose most suitable cooling for BTMS. The most significant factors in battery thermal management are operating temperature, reliability, safety, and battery life cycle. The experimental setup is designed and fabricated for that purpose. In experimental work, thermal performance parameter, i.e. variation of maximum cell temperature in battery pack with natural and forced convection, is studied and compared at three different charging rates low (1 C), moderate (2 C), and high (3 C). The numerical model for natural and forced convection battery thermal management is developed using Ansys 22.1. For the present work, the cylindrical cell Li-ion battery pack is considered and simulates the cooling effect due to natural convection and forced convection. For the various flow rate of air, the cooling effect is investigated and efficient flow velocity is obtained by a numerical model for two climatic conditions. Further, the cooling performance of the battery pack with and without fin for optimum velocity is simulated. Based on experimentation, it is seen that forced convection gives better results as compared to natural convection. The temperature drops from 60.46 °C to 43.03 °C (28.82%) at 1 C, 65.81 °C to 48.01 °C at 2 C (27.06%), and 67.05 °C to 50.4 °C (24.77%) at 3 C heat generation rate when forced convection is used for cooling purpose. In the numerical studies, charging of Li-ion cell at 1.5 C rate is studied. Using forced convection maximum temperature is reduced by 27.26% when the inlet velocity is kept 2 m s−1 when ambient is 27 °C. Using fin, battery cell maximum temperature is reduced by 39.23%, as compared with natural convection. Using fin at 27 °C atmospheric temperature, battery cell maximum temperature is reduced by 39.23%, as compared with natural convection, and when the atmospheric temperature reaches to 41 °C, the maximum temperature is reduced to 51.26 °C (12.75%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The abrupt rise in the human population and the simultaneous shortage of the available resources of natural water have created the dearth of fresh drinkable water. This has turned out to be a critical issue of fresh water availability, which needs to be resolved at the earliest. The best solution to this problem can be saline water desalination, but that is purely dependent upon its availability. It requires huge energy, which is supplied by fossil fuels. So, all the above-mentioned reasons compel us to extract alternative way of fresh water extraction by using renewable energy. One potential way to eliminate the necessity for fossil fuel sources is by combining the desalination systems along with the solar energy technologies. In the recent few years, there has been enormous research conducted by many eminent researchers over solar thermal desalination system. In this review, firstly the technologies associated with desalination are reviewed. Two different technologies, namely direct and indirect desalination, have been proposed. Indirect desalination methods are better to be used in medium- to large-scale desalination, and direct desalination methods are more suitable for small-sized desalination. This review is further stretched to deliver a wide spread summary of solar thermal desalination systems. The introduction about principle, energy, exergy, and economic analysis of the systems associated with solar thermal desalination are demonstrated. At the end, the factors influencing performance present challenges, and major issues of such system are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]