Refrigeration – With means preventing or handling atmospheric condensate... – Retainer or flow director for atmospheric condensate
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-21
2002-11-19
Doerrler, William C. (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
With means preventing or handling atmospheric condensate...
Retainer or flow director for atmospheric condensate
C062S093000, C062S285000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06481232
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to providing comfortable climate in living quarters while providing freshwater from the atmosphere in regions suffering from freshwater shortage compounded with extended periods of extremely high temperature and very high humidity.
2. Summary of the Invention
Extreme heat in tropical and semi-tropical regions is usually accompanied by extremes of high humidity, especially at low altitude where bayous, marshlands, swamps, shallow lakes, heavy vegetations, and forests are abundant; tropical islands, such as the islands of the Caribbean Sea; arid land and deserts nearby oceans shorelines or seashores; such as the regions East of the red Sea and West of the Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula. Generally, natural freshwater resources are scarce or limited in very hot and humid arid areas by or near shorelines due to low precipitation and rainfall and high salinity of underground water.
Shortage in supply of potable water and freshwater is increasing at a vast rate as deserts expand and overtake fertile land and as many of the natural ground waterresources are being depleted. Shift in global weather patterns throughout time resulted in a drop in the rate of rainfall in many populated areas. In addition, large cities are expanding at a fast pace, swallowing neighboring villages and small towns, leading to drastic change in the lifestyle of inhabitants of regions of extreme high temperatures and humidity. With the shift from rural to urban lifestyle, people are forced to live in crowded housing and congested apartments with no or little opportunities to fresh air, thus suffering from stuffiness, heat and humidity, and being more exposed to an increasing shortage of freshwater supply.
Accordingly, there is a great need in most new residential developments in hot humid regions for easy access to sufficient freshwater supply as well as for means to cool and dry indoor atmosphere to a level that is barely adequate for leading a healthy and relatively comfortable existence in the dwellings of people with limited resources. Luckily, the lifestyle of people in most of the hot humid regions is such that residents do not require great reduction in temperature or humidity to lead a comfortable life in their housing or work environment.
Water condensation from humid hot air takes place as part of any air conditioning or air drying cycle employed in the wide spread commercial devices used in apartment buildings, residential homes, industrial facilities and commercial establishments. Usually the condensate from such devices drips out and is customarily disposed of as useless wastewater. Naturally, collection and treatment of the drained condensate can provide a continuous source of freshwater.
Air-drying equipment are of widespread use in cold regions to dehumidify air in basements that are commonly used for storage of fruit and perishable food products that do not require refrigeration and can be kept for long time in dry cool space. Dehumidifiers are also used in cold regions as well as hot humid regions in spaces used for storage of clothes and household furniture that can be affected by humidity and subsequent mold buildup. Air-drying equipment are also used in drying of manufacturing environment wherein wet raw material and stock material saturated with moisture for ease of production; such as the case in paper and wood fabrication. Often relatively dry air is required for maintenance of the quality of some products that may be affected by increase in humidity over a set level even for a short period.
The quantity of wastewater produced by dehumidifiers depends on the humidity of ambient air and could reach large quantities in regions of extremely high humidity and high temperature wherein water is usually scarce. In case of air conditioning equipment used for air-cooling and ventilation, the amount of water condensate depends on the capacity of equipment, the temperature setting inside and the temperature and relative humidity outside the building and accordingly the rate of condensation changes with the daily and seasonal variation of the local weather. In any case, air conditioning and dehumidification equipment produce on the long run substantial quantities of water when there is a need to cool or dry the air.
The onrush of vast developments of water vapor condensation, air conditioning and removal of humidity from air whether to maintain a comfortable living environment or for various industrial applications provide the possibility to produce high quality freshwater from ambient air of different humidity levels. Techniques to produce water by condensation of water vapor entrained in ambient air are expected to be economically competitive with traditional methods of production of water from other resources. For example, the effort to condense air humidity to obtain a specific quantity of water is much less than the effort to be expended in obtaining the same quantity of freshwater by desalination of seawater or underground brackish water.
People living in regions of high temperature and high humidity can resort to dehumidifiers to extract water from air while drying ambient air to maintain a comfortable living environment at their homes or work places. Hot and dry air is easier to tolerate since high humidity increases the heat index and the human sensation of hot weather. The dry air exhaust of dehumidifiers is less hot than ambient temperature if the equipment is modified to prevent heat pick up by dried air as it leaves the equipment.
Accordingly the possibility of combining freshwater production and easing of weather heat distress inside dwellings will increase the return from equipment that can condensate water vapor from ambient air specially in areas of extreme or relative deprivation from life necessities by supplying the residents with direly needed freshwater while providing them with some relief from the harsh weather. Coolness of the dwellings will provide inhabitants with physical comfort and reduce their need for water intake.
Additionally, there are many resorts and vacationing places in hot, humid regions deprived from drinking water and freshwater since they are spread in arid areas by shorelines wherein ground water is brackish and rainfall is rare. In spite of the popularity of these areas, construction of desalination plants to produce freshwater for tourists is not economical due to the briefness of the tourism season and decline of demand most of the year. Transportation of loads of freshwater is costly and exposes the water to contamination en route and during handling and storage. Reliance on bottled water is expensive for the average consumer while this source will not provide freshwater for other uses.
Accordingly, there is a compelling need for systems that can supply freshwater to cabins, camping areas and tourist areas while providing coolness indoors during tourism seasons in regions characterized by humid hot weather throughout.
Water quality in areas for which freshwater can be easily transported from water natural or man-made resources is often lower than the standards for drinking water quality due to exposure to contamination during handling, transport and storage in water tanks on top of buildings which forces the residents to use bottled water.
Accordingly, local water production from atmospheric humidity will reduce in the expenditure on drinking water and provide excess water for other human uses as long as the weather conditions are appropriate.
Prior art encompasses inventions that utilize chemical adsorbents to dry atmospheric air or moisture-laden gases. The moisture from air conditioning units is extracted as water for use whether as drinking water or fresh water after appropriate treatment. The adsorbent is regenerated and recycled for reuse. The use of adsorbents may be necessary in cases wherein insignificant amount of moisture is present in the atmosphere whereas in the case of extremely hot and humid environments the use of chemicals seems to be a nuisance and
Doerrler William C.
Fakieh Research & Development Center
Shulman Mark
Studebaker Donald R.
LandOfFree
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