Experimental study of atmospheric water collection powered by solar energy using the Peltier effect

Abstract

A small-scale prototype with one thermoelectric module was constructed to collect water from the atmosphere, and studied experimentally. It was driven by a solar panel module and operated by reducing the cold side temperature to less than the dew point temperature of ambient air. The system was designed and assembled depending on the capacity of the Peltier device, of dimension (4×4 cm^2), and energy needed. The system consisted of a heat sink, extended cold surface, Peltier device and fan, which were housed in a vertical rectangular section duct and used with different air temperatures, airflow rates, and humidity levels. A numerical model was used to study the temperature distribution on the cold side, which was applied to size the cooler to estimate the water production rate. The results suggest that the water production rate increased with the increasing of the moisture level in the air. The tests also showed that increasing the amount of air flowing on the heat sink increased the amount of water collected and enhanced the transfer of heat on the hot side. The achieved results show that the collection of water is reasonable with the proposed thermoelectric method using solar energy.