Closed Loop Hot/Cold: Create Water From Air

[jim44nelson]

Im looking for a way to create solar heat activated condensation..Possibly a sodium acetate or zeolite/water system..A hot/Cold heat pump system generated only by heat and night time cooling to create a dehumidity effect..Basically create water from air with a chemical in a closed loop system.Is this possible..Any ideas appreciated.

 

[Drakkith]

Hrmm. I can't help you, and if someone else can't you might want to take this to the engineering forum here on the site.

 

[Fish4Fun]

jim44nelson,

Welcome to PF!

You used the word "create" 3 times. Once in reference to "solar heat activated condensation", once in reference to "a dehumidity effect" , and once in reference to water.

Not to be nit picky, but:

1) Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, and condensation is a loose term commonly referring to the transformation of water vapor into liquid water during a temperature or pressure change and always involves the amount of water vapor present, so no water is "created".

2) "dehumidity" is NOT a word.

3) Water vapor can be condensed into liquid water. Water molecules can be formed by combining hydrogen atoms with oxygen atoms, or released from the disassociation of more complex molecules, but in both of these processes the typical focus is on the release of energy in the form of heat, water is simply the byproduct.

I wouldn't bring this up, except you mention a "closed loop system". Closed loop typically implies you intend to input energy in one form (perhaps heat?) and extract some portion of that energy in another form of energy (perhaps mechanical?) by continually recycling the transfer media. An example might be a Stirling Engine. A more typical process would be a steam engine where liquid water is heated to high energy steam, some portion of the energy in the steam is converted into mechanical energy and the water exits the system in the form of exhaust with some portion of the heat energy still present.

It sounds to me like you are actually attempting to extract liquid water from the water vapor in ambient air using some combination of solar heat and naturally occurring ambient temperature changes. If this is in fact the case, you might start here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_well_(condenser)

If this is NOT what you are interested in, I would suggest you attempt to present your purpose clearly and get ideas on how that purpose may be achieved. Science in general defines properties and develops methods; engineering uses these properties and methods to design processes and devices to maximize yield. This forum can help you decide what properties and methods might help you achieve your purpose; as previously stated, the engineering forums are better suited to helping you design the actual process and/or device.

Fish