41–50 of 103 posts
I recall similar in function devices already existed for military use - except they made water from air, which is even more available than seawater: https://www.honeywell.com/us/en/press/2021/05/honeywell-led-... https://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/24/tech/innovation/machine-m...
Those specifications are much worse than 30 year old PUR-06. It makes one liter per hour with 20 Watts and fits in your pocket. I tried solar panel and windshield wiper motor. But direct-drive windmill was much better as wind blows 24/7 on Baja. https://youtu.be/9xYXWISWv5I?t=390 Durability was the issue. I destroyed three units and average was 200 days / 1000 liters, because all-plastic construction. Found no limits…
Except one crucial high-pressure valve cannot be made of plastic. I made better one from fiber glass. Thereafter it been running ok for 20 years.
Edit: I wrote out the comment below criticizing the efficiency of this device, when compared to reverse osmosis RO desalination (100x less efficient). However, they’re not trying to be more efficient than RO devices, they’re trying to be more compact, portable, and avoid the need for filters. They’re solving for a different problem than I was measuring them against. In my race to criticize, I overlooked those key det…
> The suitcase-sized device...can also be driven by a small, portable solar panel, > Yoon and Kang used machine learning to find the ideal combination of ICP and electrodialysis modules. These bits feel like they were added because ML and solar power will get more clicks.
That's the cause of the AI part.
The solar panel bit probably came from the Army requirements, who's another sponsor.
What about filtering particles which don't have a charge like plastics or biological matter? I guess you can always just boil the water after it's been processed by the portable machine.
> The membranes repel positively or negatively charged particles — including salt molecules, bacteria, and viruses ...
Are bacteria and viruses indeed electrically charged? This sounds strange.
> The suitcase-sized device...can also be driven by a small, portable solar panel, > Yoon and Kang used machine learning to find the ideal combination of ICP and electrodialysis modules. These bits feel like they were added because ML and solar power will get more clicks.
What about filtering particles which don't have a charge like plastics or biological matter? I guess you can always just boil the water after it's been processed by the portable machine.
I didn't quite get this part either - > The membranes repel positively or negatively charged particles — including salt molecules, bacteria, and viruses ... Are bacteria and viruses indeed electrically charged? This sounds strange.
From the article: The limitations appear to be expensive materials and scale. 20w per liter .3 liters per hour
Aka, we'll never hear about this ever again.