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Google open sources solar atmospheric water generator

github.com

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Re: Google open sources solar atmospheric water generator

#41

Post by Ansil849 »

So what is the practical use of this?

Let's say that I'm not an engineer or a researcher or a coder, but would like to set some of these units up to collect water. How do I do so? Do I approach someone to build this for me (who?)? How much can I expect it to cost?

In other words, how can I actualize this vision:

> So the H2E team asked: “What if you could put the power to generate daily drinking water into the hands of individuals, no matter where they live, by creating an affordable, easy to use device that harvests water from the air and is powered by the sun?"

Re: Google open sources solar atmospheric water generator

#42

Post by icegreentea2 »

imglorp wrote: post #17
Loughla wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A problem with his debunking at a fundamental level - when calculating how often the air temperature is lower than the ground temperature, he uses Canada and Wisconsin. I'm not sure those are representative of Africa?

I think the key message of all the debunkings is this: "it depends". The device may work great in one condition but certainly not always like the vendors might tout. Given the triple point chart for water, the solar power for that day, and your humidity and temperature, you can compute the max you'll condense from the atmosphere.

Right. So the "major" (in my mind) contribution here is exactly the work of "compute the max you'll condense from the atmosphere" over all relevant regions. In the linked nature article, the published work is modelling to help determine regions where atmospheric water generator is viable for different assumptions and thresholds.

Re: Google open sources solar atmospheric water generator

#43

Post by marcosdumay »

throwawayboise wrote: post #39
cwkoss wrote: post #35

I want to make an orchard on a hill in the maritime pacific northwest. Its a somewhat odd climate where the time that gets hottest is when it also tends to be dryest (east coast tends to be wetter when hotter). I wonder if something like this (possibly with less focus on "clean" water - it's rural and breezy, so I don' think raw output would harm trees...) could be suitable for generating summer water for tree irriga…

If it's extracting water from the air, "hot and dry" does not seem to be a good situation. You'd want humid air. Any water condensed from the air is going to be "pure" by most measures. It's essentially distilled water.

The purity of the water you get from the air is limited by how much dust is on the air you work with.

You can improve it easily by filtering. It's much easier than filtering the final water. But it's not necessarily pure.

Re: Google open sources solar atmospheric water generator

#44

Post by signalblur »

Ansil849 wrote: post #41

So what is the practical use of this? Let's say that I'm not an engineer or a researcher or a coder, but would like to set some of these units up to collect water. How do I do so? Do I approach someone to build this for me (who?)? How much can I expect it to cost? In other words, how can I actualize this vision: > So the H2E team asked: “What if you could put the power to generate daily drinking water into the hands…

Potentially as a water source for data center cooling? Not sure if it’d scale to those needs

Re: Google open sources solar atmospheric water generator

#47

Post by czbond »

photochemsyn wrote: post #21
dogleash wrote: post #9

If they’re giving it away for free, that must mean there is a fatal flaw they could never design around and are confident nobody else will either. What’s the point then? At least tell us why it’s a dead end.

I read their "Patent Non-Assertion Pledge", it's hard to interpret - they seem to retain lots of rights, as far as I can tell, it's not really 'giving it away for free'. Anyone wanting to develop this as a commercial product would probably have to call a lawyer first.

https://storage.googleapis.com/x-prod.appspot.com/files/H2E%...

They won't sue you for using the findings or design, but they still have U.S. Patent on it and our pledging that Google will not sue those who use this intellectual property nor will anyone they transfer the patent to be able to sue.

What they call "infringement" just means that since they hold a patent others "copying" it would technically be infringing the patent - but they pledge not to sue.

Re: Google open sources solar atmospheric water generator

#48

Post by Ansil849 »

signalblur wrote: post #44
Ansil849 wrote: post #41

So what is the practical use of this? Let's say that I'm not an engineer or a researcher or a coder, but would like to set some of these units up to collect water. How do I do so? Do I approach someone to build this for me (who?)? How much can I expect it to cost? In other words, how can I actualize this vision: > So the H2E team asked: “What if you could put the power to generate daily drinking water into the hands…

Potentially as a water source for data center cooling? Not sure if it’d scale to those needs

My question was more, how does this help individuals without access to clean water, not a dystopian 'how can it be co-opted by corporations for business ends', but I appreciate the varying definitions of "practical" people have.

Re: Google open sources solar atmospheric water generator

#49

Post by marcosdumay »

dogleash wrote: post #36
ben_w wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or that they just don’t see how it’s a market fit for their business.

Que? Isn't "don’t see how it’s a market fit" just startup speak for "it's not economically viable"? That would fall squarely into the category of design failures I was talking about. It's not like we don't know any mechanism to cause condensation from air.

It's not economically viable with their usual profit margin, on a market large enough to pay for their fixed costs, with the suppliers and labor they have around, and a lot of other constraints.

That doesn't mean it's useless for everybody. So they publishing it may improve somebody's life.

Re: Google open sources solar atmospheric water generator

#50

Post by cwkoss »

throwawayboise wrote: post #39
cwkoss wrote: post #35

I want to make an orchard on a hill in the maritime pacific northwest. Its a somewhat odd climate where the time that gets hottest is when it also tends to be dryest (east coast tends to be wetter when hotter). I wonder if something like this (possibly with less focus on "clean" water - it's rural and breezy, so I don' think raw output would harm trees...) could be suitable for generating summer water for tree irriga…

If it's extracting water from the air, "hot and dry" does not seem to be a good situation. You'd want humid air. Any water condensed from the air is going to be "pure" by most measures. It's essentially distilled water.

Fair point, I thought part of the energy was being used for purification before I read the overview pdf.

The site is ~ 1/4 mile from the ocean, so I think the air won't be totally dry... but just won't get a lot of rainfall. Mostly wondering if there's a good way to 'moisture farm' to keep the soil around trees moist. Ideally with no more power than a small solar panel located right next to the device, so I don't have to run power there (there's well and power at the bottom of the hill... but moisture farming would be cooler than running irrigation :-P).

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