Vaporators! Sir - My first job was programming binary load
lifters, very similar to your vaporators.
Scientist Creates Self-Filling Water Bottle
11–20 of 56 posts
Re: Scientist Creates Self-Filling Water Bottle
#12Disappointed after realizing the title was not:
Scientist Creates Self-fulfilling Water Bottle
Re: Scientist Creates Self-Filling Water Bottle
#13This is one of those "didn't see it coming" technologies that really has the potential to change things. Could this disrupt the bottled water industry? Make it so that water pipes are a thing of the past ("wireless" for water)?
I realize that extraction rates are probably slow right now, but imagine this technology n years from now.
Re: Scientist Creates Self-Filling Water Bottle
#14This may be a stupid question, but if the device requires power in order to move air over the water-collecting surface, would it work without power if it were outside in a breeze? Or is there something about the air flow in terms of its characteristics or location in/on the device that requires a manufactured flow?
My read is that the coating doesn't need a manufactured flow (after all, the beetle that inspired it doesn't) put it's very possible they'll make a bottle with a surface that requires it, say, a conch shell.
Re: Scientist Creates Self-Filling Water Bottle
#15In what ways is this different from existing dehumidifiers? Form-factor and energy-efficiency I assume, but do they otherwise do the same thing?
Re: Scientist Creates Self-Filling Water Bottle
#16This may be a stupid question, but if the device requires power in order to move air over the water-collecting surface, would it work without power if it were outside in a breeze? Or is there something about the air flow in terms of its characteristics or location in/on the device that requires a manufactured flow?
I guess the airflow is to make it more efficient. In high humidities, you can easily collect 1 liter potable water with a 3m2 plastic sheet, a clean recipient, a hole in the ground and some sunlight, or just hot weather. It's an old survival trick. His apparatus is a kind of upgrade.
Re: Scientist Creates Self-Filling Water Bottle
#17> Sorenson notes there is more than three quadrillion gallons of water in the air, which is essentially a massive untapped resource. For what it's worth, air with low humidity can be pretty damaging. Lots of materials would become excessively brittle at very low humidities, causing them to break easily. This interesting white paper [1] suggests that, for most materials, the optimal humidity is between 40-60%. Still,…
This might be true, but the atmosphere is also very good at reabsorbing water. Especially if humidity levels would be lower than normal.
Re: Scientist Creates Self-Filling Water Bottle
#18My question is what kind of contaminants (or none!) this process picks up - If you're getting your water from a polluted atmosphere (say, LA), what kind of pollutants end up in your water? Or does it produce "ultra-pure" water, leading to weird health risks like hyponatremia?
Re: Scientist Creates Self-Filling Water Bottle
#19This is one of those "didn't see it coming" technologies that really has the potential to change things. Could this disrupt the bottled water industry? Make it so that water pipes are a thing of the past ("wireless" for water)? I realize that extraction rates are probably slow right now, but imagine this technology n years from now.
It would be neat to see this used with homes and businesses. Combine with a cistern for catching rainwater, and use for (at least) the non-potable uses (laundry, lawn, toilets) and you could significantly reduce the water burden on reservoirs and aqueducts.
Re: Scientist Creates Self-Filling Water Bottle
#20This sounds nifty, but what I'd love to know is, what's the rate of filling, for an apparatus that's small enough to be roughly bottle-sized? Obviously many of the technical details (battery size, etc) are still being worked out, but I'm betting that rate of condensation is already known---and it's an important constraint.
Yeah, they talk about using it for runners but how quickly does it fill? Would it require a full marathon length to fill a single water bottle? It may still be practical even if that's the case. I'd like to know more.
My first thought was it would be fantastic for backpacking (in high humidity) if the fill rate is high enough and if it didn't need batteries or heavy solar panels or anything. Water adds a lot of weight when you have to carry it. If I could just sip an ounce at a time and not ever have to carry it on my back, I'd literally be a happy camper.