Self-filling bottle converts humid air into drinkable water

Plazma Inferno!

Plazma Inferno!

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Kristof Retezár, a designer from Vienna, invented a device that can extract humidity from the air and condense it into drinkable water. The handy gadget, called Fontus is a solar-powered device consisting of a condenser -which functions like a cooler - connected to a series of hydrophobic surfaces that repel water. Fontus can produce 0.5 quarts (0.5 liters) of water in 1 hour in what is considered "really good" conditions, with temperatures between 86 degrees and 104 degrees Fahrenheit (30 to 40 degrees Celsius) and between 80 percent and 90 percent humidity.
http://www.livescience.com/53401-fontus-converts-humidity-into-water.html
 
Very interesting. So far I only knew about the use of meshes to catch already condensated water drops out of flowing air:

http://news.mit.edu/2013/how-to-get-fresh-water-out-of-thin-air-0830

It's good to see andvancements in this area, since this sort of water is very pure, and in many regions clean water is scarse, even if they have water.

Example application one of the dryest deserts of earth:
http://www.iflscience.com/technology/towers-produce-clean-drinking-water-thin-air

Oh, and this beetle can do it, too:
http://www.asknature.org/strategy/dc2127c6d0008a6c7748e4e4474e7aa1
 
Plazma Inferno! said:
Kristof Retezár, a designer from Vienna, invented a device that can extract humidity from the air and condense it into drinkable water. The handy gadget, called Fontus is a solar-powered device consisting of a condenser -which functions like a cooler - connected to a series of hydrophobic surfaces that repel water. Fontus can produce 0.5 quarts (0.5 liters) of water in 1 hour in what is considered "really good" conditions, with temperatures between 86 degrees and 104 degrees Fahrenheit (30 to 40 degrees Celsius) and between 80 percent and 90 percent humidity.
http://www.livescience.com/53401-fontus-converts-humidity-into-water.html
Click to expand...

Interesting. What a pity the article does not explain how it works. Apparently it cools the hydrophobic surfaces below the dew point, but it does not say how. Heat pump? Thermocouple? Other?

P.S. I hate the name though. The inventor clearly paid no attention in Latin lessons. Latin for fountain is fons, fontis, i.e. 3rd declension. Fontus would be 2nd. Ugh!
 
It's pretty much guaranteed to just be a peltier thermoelectric dehumidifier. Nothing particularly advanced is implied.
 
I think airplanes can produce drinking water from clouds. It can compress cloud by thermoelectric generators from wasted heat of airplanes. And can make the compressed cloud cool naturaly at troposphere, because as one climbs higher, the temperature drops from an average around 62°F (17°C) to -60°F (-51°C) at the tropopause.
 
ajanta said:
I think airplanes can produce drinking water from clouds. It can compress cloud by thermoelectric generators from wasted heat of airplanes.
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If you could do that, you would be better off using that power in the airplane and then using the fuel you saved to recover water at the ground, where there is more water in the atmosphere (and where you don't have to carry all the water in an airplane.)
 
ajanta said:
I think airplanes can produce drinking water from clouds. It can compress cloud by thermoelectric generators from wasted heat of airplanes. And can make the compressed cloud cool naturaly at troposphere, because as one climbs higher, the temperature drops from an average around 62°F (17°C) to -60°F (-51°C) at the tropopause.
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are you going to have some of the cloud to come into the plane ? It will suck the air out of th plane
exchemist said:
Interesting. What a pity the article does not explain how it works. Apparently it cools the hydrophobic surfaces below the dew point, but it does not say how. Heat pump? Thermocouple? Other?

P.S. I hate the name though. The inventor clearly paid no attention in Latin lessons. Latin for fountain is fons, fontis, i.e. 3rd declension. Fontus would be 2nd. Ugh!
Click to expand...
You are supposed to be a knowledgeable person . have you not heard , Peltier effect . see and learn http://www.inbthermoelectric.com/
 
timojin said:
are you going to have some of the cloud to come into the plane ? It will suck the air out of th plane
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yeah. But when I will compress the cloud with air, only cloud will trum into liquid but not the air and then I can release the air. Isn't it?
 
billvon said:
If you could do that, you would be better off using that power in the airplane and then using the fuel you saved to recover water at the ground, where there is more water in the atmosphere (and where you don't have to carry all the water in an airplane.)
Click to expand...
Russ_Watters said:
Yeah, a lot of the water in clouds falls to the ground on its own - no need to send a plane up to get it!
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Actually I thought about it as a process that can produce drinking water from troposphere.
 
ajanta said:
yeah. But when I will compress the cloud with air, only cloud will trum into liquid but not the air and then I can release the air. Isn't it?
Click to expand...

I am not sure if I understand what you are saying . But let me say this . There are light clouds and dark clouds and this might be an indication of water particles concentration , usually darker clouds produce rain , if so to increase concentration you are reducing space between particle so they can coalesce what do you do ? In my view you bring more clouds into the same space frame . you take it from there .
 
timojin said:
I am not sure if I understand what you are saying . But let me say this . There are light clouds and dark clouds and this might be an indication of water particles concentration , usually darker clouds produce rain , if so to increase concentration you are reducing space between particle so they can coalesce what do you do ? In my view you bring more clouds into the same space frame . you take it from there .
Click to expand...
I was talking about gas liquefaction by
Controlling pressure and temperature.
billvon said:
We are currently in the troposphere. Rain falls in the troposphere.
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It is from few kilometers high from earth surface where we can get clouds.
 
ajanta said:
It is from few kilometers high from earth surface where we can get clouds.
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Well, rain clouds are generally found from the surface to about 5000 meters (i.e. in the troposphere.) They can go as high as 20,000 meters but that is very unusual.
 
billvon said:
Well, rain clouds are generally found from the surface to about 5000 meters (i.e. in the troposphere.) They can go as high as 20,000 meters but that is very unusual.
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Thank you for the information. I didn't know about the 20,000 meters.
 
What's more is that clouds typically hold less moisture than surface air. Think about it: moisture aloft comes from the surface, so it can't on average be greater. And since it gets squeezed out as rain, it is typically lower.

That's Earth's steam cycle.
 
There was a Canadian inventor marketing a similar product a few years ago. It actually got me thinking at the time, that dehydrating a home using a few of these condensers (a noted side effect of the Canadian invention and presumably relevant to this one) could maybe provide a safe, sanitary, effective treatment for an insect or rodent infestation. Wrap a house in plastic and/or seal all the cracks, turn off and seal all the water pipes, then squeeze as much moisture as possible out of that sucker until every surface, breath of air and creature therein is bone dry. I've read that many insects, such as spiders, get their water directly from the air and suck it off their legs, so they'd be totally screwed over, and whatever precious few drops are left lying around elsewhere would quickly evaporate into the continuously dried air.
 
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