Solar powered foldable apparatus for extracting water from atmospheric air

Abstract

This investigation provides theoretical and experimental study of a solar powered foldable apparatus used for water extraction from air in arid regions. The experiments were performed under the climate conditions of Mansoura city, Egypt (31.04N latitude and 31.3785E longitude). The main components of the apparatus are absorber, which is a layer of black cotton cloth impregnated with Calcium Chloride (CaCl 2 ) solution. It was designed to resemble an accordion shape, transparent polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cover, to enable the solar rays to transmit energy of solar radiation to the black absorber for raising its temperature. During night time, the absorber was placed in atmospheric air by unfolding and putting it on a telescopic stick for absorption process. The absorber collects moisture because of partial water vapor pressure difference between solution and air. During day time, the cover was mounted to isolate the absorber from the surroundings. The sun rays raised the absorber temperature, evaporation occurred, and the evaporated water condensed on the internal surface of the transparent cover. Water was finally collected in a graduated flask. Ambient temperature, temperature of cover, solar radiation and accumulated condensate were recorded during experiments. The accumulated water reached 750 g/day. • Conventional processes are scanty to achieve requirements of remote area water. • Solar energy utilization is considered solution using foldable apparatus. • Theoretical and experimental study of a solar powered foldable apparatus is made. • The productivity range is 272–750 g/day during all experiments.