Wind Machine Collects Water from Air
by Matthew Sparkes, London, UK on 07.13.07
Max Water is a machine that uses wind-power to extract water from the air. We've covered it before, but it was recently featured on ABC, so we have a little more information and an interview on video now. Apparently, the unit can take 10,000 liters a day from the surrounding air, using a condensing system to cool air and collect dew. It was invented by Max Whisson, an Australian inventor. Australia seems to be the home to a few alternative energy researchers at the moment, producing things like this new wind-turbine design.
A company has been formed to develop the technology, Water Unlimited, and their website claims that the system could see commercial use as well as residential, "This breakthrough technology has the potential to produce water from air using a turbine containing refrigerants. If successful, this technology will be capable of supplying commercial quantities of water for a wide variety of uses powered by wind energy alone."
Apparently there are some skeptics, who claim that the physics doesn't work. Personally I think that 10,000 liters is a lot, but that the system should definitely work to some extent. From the UberReview, "There is no shortage of skeptics claiming everything from faulty physics to outright con. As for the physics claims, most of the claims are based on the amount of air in a particular space. They overlook the fact that the air flowing through the windmill is constantly moving."
The unit should cost between $43,000 and $50,000, in Australian dollars, and could represent a great solution to the drought problems that the country is currently facing. ::Water Unlimited ::Uber Review
Have these guys even bothered to build a prototype? I haven't seen any mention of one. In theory it should work to some extent. It uses the venturi effect to manipulate the pressure of the air and therefore it's temperature hopefully causing the water to condense out of the air. Any piston engine pilots out there should be very familiar with this concept in the form of carburetor icing. But I wouldn't go around making such claims until a proof of concept is built.
How big is this unit? 10,000 liters a day works out to an average of 1.83 US Gallons per minute! I assume a very large surface area would be needed to condense water from the air at that rate. Help me if I'm missing something but this is (in simplistic terms) only a wind powered dehumidifier, no?
There is an American company that is producing water from air conditioners and refrigeration units for hotels and restaurants. They even have a water cooler sized unit that obviates the need for bottled water at home. The addition of a turbine may raise the efficiency somewhat, but I think the real value will be for remote islands and coastal areas with high humidity and saline groundwater.