Tag: water

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A Water Bottle that Fills Itself

This concept of pulling water out of the air is nothing new but the application is really cool. It is a water bottle you can can strap to your bike and in hot and humid weather, it can give you about 1/2 of a liter.

Fontus Self Filling Water Bottle
Fontus Self Filling Water Bottle

In some articles, the inventor Kristof Retezár, a designer based in Vienna admits it is far from perfected, but it works and could be commercially available in less than a year.

In ancient times, Air Wells were used to condense water out of the air and in Africa, today, there are modern versions of this that you can read about here: http://emediapress.com/2014/04/22/modern-day-air-well-for-cultivating-water/

In more modern days, there are electrical plug in powered water extractors, but these are really nothing more than dehumidifiers that filter the water. Here is an example of one that draws about 600 watts and will give you 2-5 gallons per day: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BW5GLJQ?ie=UTF8&tag=maimounas-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00BW5GLJQ

The issue with this kind of water system is that there are no minerals in it so it is like distilled water and can leach minerals out of your body. This is unhealthy, especially if you are sweating out a lot of electrolytes on a long bike ride. You can wind up diluting your electrolyte levels to dangerous lows so keep that in mind should you ever depend on these.

You can always add a few drops of purified desalinated sea water, which is a great mineral supplement. A little bit goes a long way and it is hard to be liquid ionic minerals. This is what should be added to any water extracted from the air if you plan on drinking any in any serious amount: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AMUWLK?ie=UTF8&tag=maimounas-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000AMUWLK

For about $20, you can get a 3 month supply for the average adult. Just a few drops can remineralize this water and make it safe for long term drinking. For bike rides, the little 4 oz bottle is perfect for a trip.

The Fontus self filling water bottle is an awesome technology and can help bring clean water to those that need it but be aware that minerals are needed to make it a long term safe water supply.

We hope to see this device advance with filtration as well as an educational pamphlet that tells the user how to drink the water responsibly.

Read more about the Fontus water bottle here: http://www.livescience.com/53401-fontus-converts-humidity-into-water.html

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Evaporative Refrigerator

Evaporative Refrigerator

A group of students from the University of Calgary have developed a simple evaporative refrigerator. It was inspired by the way that animals and insects keep themselves cool.

Warm air from the surroundings is funneled into a pipe network to evaporate water moisture, which carries heat away from the air. Once the air is cooled, it moves into the chamber where the food is kept. The only power requirement to bring the temperature down to 4C is to power a small fan to move this cool air, which can be done with a very small battery setup powered by a small solar panel.  The refrigerator still works with no electricity but works best with the fan.

To learn more, go here: http://challenge.biomimicry.org/en/custom/gallery/view/2576

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The Lord’s Pump Project by Al Throckmorton

Ram Pumps can pump water to a decent height powered by nothing other than the movement of the water that its sitting in. Yes, it is a true free energy pump since we don’t have to pay for energy to run it, but it has its limitations. The volume of water that it moves is not very much and there is a limit to the height.

This is where Al Throckmorton’s development in this area not only shines, but completely reinvents the ram pump into something that was never thought possible.

Al Throckmorton's Pump
Al Throckmorton’s Pump

The pump consists of a chamber of water filled to a certain height while electrolyzed water gas fills the area above the water. There are two check valves to water can go into the chamber from one direction and leave the chamber in another direction. When there is enough water gas in the area above the water, a plasma ignition is triggered, which ignites the water gas and this creates a very high pressure explosion that pushes the water through the output check valve at over 200 psi!

A pressure relief valve then opens to release that pressure so more water can flow into it from the input check valve and the cycle repeats. This allows water to be pushed up to great heights under great pressure at a very high efficiency and the implications are profound.

Here is one of the old prototypes blasting water into the air with this process:

The Lord's Pump Project by Al Throckmorton
The Lord’s Pump Project by Al Throckmorton

Al Throckmorton gives an excellent presentation where he not only shows a lot of videos with tests of his pump but also some papers published with some very remarkable information about increasing gas production from water. Get a copy here: https://emediapress.com/shop/lords-pump-project/