Water generator from the air for upland people

Witnessing the lack of domestic water when going on a field trip in the highlands, two 4th-year students of Hanoi University of Technology came up with the idea of ​​​​creating water from the air.

At the end of 2019, Dang Pham Phu Linh and friends from the Department of Mechatronics, Institute of Mechanics, Hanoi University of Science and Technology participated in a field trip to Son La. Three days up there was not an easy time for Linh and the group when there was a lack of running water. Seeing that it was difficult to get water in places far from the source such as mountainous areas, returning to school, Linh tried to find a way to overcome this problem.

Sharing the idea with classmate Lai Anh Quan and the teacher's suggestion, the two students found a way to build a water generator from the air.

The machine is designed based on a simple principle, like when pouring cold water into a cup and placing it in an environment with normal temperature, after a while, water droplets will appear around the wall of the cup . "This phenomenon is caused by the condensation of water vapor (70%) in the air, not the water in the evaporation cup," Linh said.

Using the phenomenon of condensation , in early 2020, Linh and Quan embarked on an idea. The group used hot and cold clamshell equipment (semiconductor wafers with one cold side and one hot side) to dissipate heat directly, but the heating speed was so fast that the cold side of the clam could not respond, so water could not be obtained. The group failed.

At this time, due to not being able to find a solution and a tight schedule, the team had to temporarily suspend manufacturing work. Until April this year, when they heard about the competition for environmental protection solutions , Linh and Quan returned to continue to perfect the machine to participate.

The structure of the water generator from the air. (Photo: Research team)

Learning from the previous failure, instead of using hot and cold clamshell equipment (super-technology semiconductor wafers used to absorb heat), this time Linh and Quan used two outdoor and cold units separately to help heat dissipation speed. faster, more steam will condense. Specifically, air passes through the filter and is sucked into the indoor unit with a temperature of 2-10 degrees Celsius. Thanks to the outdoor unit, the steam passing through the indoor unit is condensed into drops and flows down the container.

The indoor unit is used by the group from the old air conditioner's part and placed under the radiator outdoor unit. In addition, in the inlet of the air and the outlet of the water source, RO filters are added to remove dirt, bacteria and mineralized cores (containing mineral stones, pink pebbles, marble) to create a natural sweetness. .

After two months, the team completed the product with a total cost of 4 million VND. Test run in ambient temperature of 25-35 degrees Celsius, with air humidity above 60%, the amount of tap water collected per hour is 1.5 liters. After a day, nearly 30 liters are collected, enough for a household of 4-5 people to live daily.

Linh said that when giving it to some people to try, most of them felt the water had a light sweet taste and was easy to drink. However, in the near future, the team will send samples to the laboratory and evaluate in the school to be able to determine the specific composition and properties of this water.

Participating in the Youth4Climate Climate Action Vietnam Competition, Linh and Quan's products entered the top 10. To make the product more optimal and usable, the team plans to install more sensors to help people. Users know exactly when the filter needs to be changed, and UV rays are guaranteed to kill harmful bacteria in this water source.