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Desolenator water maker: anyone tried it on board?

3K views 20 replies 9 participants last post by  RocketScience 
#1 ·
#3 ·
Ditto what Christina said. I'm pretty sure no one has tried using one, because it is not yet on the market. In fact, I couldn't even find a projected date for when it MIGHT be on the market. Seems like a good enough idea, but I think this is one of those where you are just going to have to wait and see.
 
#4 ·
"Any other experiences with that technology?"
There's no new technology there. They are proposing a small solar panel with a small backup battery to boil water from "bad' sources. Plain steam distillation, with the steam vapor being condensed and providing clean steam-distilled water for drinking.

The only question being, how much boiling can you do with that small solar panel? And how often will the internals need to be cleaned?

All a nice theory, but I don't see anything about an prototypes having actually been BUILT and tested, to confirm if the numbers work.

You could take your house batteries and an old toaster and essentially do the same thing, from what they seem to be doing.
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the input. 15 l per day is not a great output but perfectly adequate for survival needs of a 4 person crew, and not dependent on external power, like water makers. More efficient and more compact than any passive solar still I have ever encountered. I was hoping it is already available.
 
#7 · (Edited)
All the numbers are known in order to do a feasibility study on this proposal. Amount of sunlight per square meter = 1367 watts per square meter, solar cell conversion efficiency, about 15% so a square meter of solar panels produces 1367 X .15 = 205 watts.
How much energy does it take to boil water? Starting temp of water 20, 4 Joules per ml, 1000 ml per liter so 80 degrees x 4000 J/degree = 320,000 Joules needed.

I got 205 watts of solar power so how long to boil a liter of water? Watt = joule/second, second = joule/watt, seconds = 320,000 joules/205watts = 1561 seconds, = 26 minutes.

Might work, I'd count on a liter an hour
 
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#11 ·
I've looked twice and just didn't see the output levels that other posters have indicated. They must be based upon having direct sunlight for some number of hours. The amount of daylight itself, isn't constant around the globe, let along cloud obscuration, so I'm not sure how one get's their head around utility. It does look huge for a sailboat.

I'm a big fan of solving the world's water issues, so I wish them a ton of luck. This and hunger are among the few issues that are actually fully solvable, unlike cancer and heart disease, whose impact can only be reduced.

For a sailboat, however, I think there are more compact, more effective solutions.
 
#16 ·
So while I was mounting the windlass I was thinking about this thread. You could get more water per unit of time per electrical input if the starting temperature of the water was increased using solar thermal panels and then use a heat exchange to condense the steam. I would be concerned about volatile chemicals that boil off at around 100 C or less.
 
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