JPS6219207B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a water generator, and more particularly to a water generator that condenses moisture in the atmosphere and extracts it as liquid water.

Figure 1 is a flowchart showing the configuration of a water generator according to the prior art (Japanese Patent Application No. 17618/1982), in which 1 and 2 are first and second storage parts, inside of which a molecular sieve, etc. are installed. It has adsorbents 1a and 2a. This adsorbent 1
a and 2a adsorb moisture in the air containing moisture passing through it during the adsorption process, and desorb the moisture adsorbed by the high temperature air passing through during the desorption process. 3
is an air supply device such as a blower, and the outside air is exhausted from the exhaust path 9 through the ventilation path 4, the valve 5, the first storage section 1, and the valve 6, as shown by the arrow A, and the path shown by the arrow A, the valve 7, and the second storage section. 2. The exhaust gas is alternately switched to the route shown by arrow B, in which exhaust air is exhausted from the exhaust path 9 via the valve 8, and the moisture is alternately adsorbed by the adsorbents 1a and 2a. Reference numeral 10 denotes an air supply device such as a blower, 11 a ventilation path forming a circulation path for high-temperature gas, and a heater 12 having a burner 12a and the first and second housing portions 1, 2 connected to valves 13, 14, 15, 16
The adsorbents 1a and 2
The water adsorbed alternately from a is desorbed. Reference numeral 17 denotes an outlet passage communicating with the ventilation passage 11. Water vapor overflowing from the circulation passage is air-cooled and condensed in the condenser 18 by a blower 18a, and the condensed water is stored in a water storage tank 19.

However, as can be seen from the above explanation, the prior art device described above naturally consumes the following energy.

(b) Blower power that sends air to the adsorbent to adsorb moisture in the air (b) Fuel supply to the burner as a heat source to desorb the adsorbed moisture (c) High-temperature gas for desorption Blower power for circulation (d) Fan power for forced air cooling of the condenser As mentioned above, in order to operate a water production system, petroleum etc. are required as an energy source, and in particular,
This is a major obstacle when producing water in remote areas.

This invention has been made in view of the above points, and aims to provide a water generating device that consumes extremely little energy by utilizing solar energy and natural wind.

Generally, in areas where it is necessary to produce water using such equipment, the weather is sunny most of the year, and
Completely windless conditions are rare, with winds blowing at around 3m/sec. This invention makes effective use of this natural condition.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention with a portion thereof cut away, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line - in FIG. 2. In the figure, reference numeral 101 denotes a desorption container 1 for accommodating an adsorbent container 102 that has adsorbed moisture and desorbing moisture by applying solar heat from the surroundings.
02a is a granular adsorbent such as synthetic zeolite or silica gel stored in the adsorbent container 102; 103 is a mirror for collecting sunlight in the desorption container 101; , is a plug for sealing the detachable container 101, and the plug main body 104a is made of a heat-resistant heat insulating material such as asbestos, and is fixed to a flange portion 104b.
4b is fastened to the upper end of the removable container 101 with a screw 104d via a suitable packing 104C.
A fin 105 is provided at the upper end of the detachable container 101, and is used to cool the vicinity of the stopper 104 and particularly protect the packing 104C from high temperatures. 106 is a condenser that condenses the desorbed water vapor;
107 is a water storage tank; 108 is a pipe that guides the water vapor desorbed in the desorption container 101 to the condenser 106; 109
is a pipe that leads water obtained from the condenser 106 to a water tank 107. In FIG. 3, a broken line arrow L indicates the path of sunlight reflected by the mirror 103 and incident on the detachable container 101. In FIG. As shown in the figure, the relative positions of the two mirrors 103 and the detachable container 101 are fixed, and they are oriented toward the sun as a unit so that the sunlight is concentrated on the detachable container 101. Note that this integrated element will be referred to as a "light collection/desorption element." FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway schematic perspective view of the adsorbent container 102 used in this embodiment.
02 itself is made of wire mesh or the like in a flat shape to improve air permeability, and the inside thereof is filled with granular adsorbent 102a.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained. First, the adsorbent container 1 containing the adsorbent 102a
02 is exposed to the atmosphere and exposed to natural wind to cause moisture in the air to be adsorbed onto the adsorbent 102a. The adsorbent 102a that has absorbed moisture in this way is placed in the container 1.
02 into the detachable container 101. Since sunlight is collected in the desorption container 101, the adsorbent 102a inserted therein is heated by solar heat,
The adsorbed moisture is desorbed as water vapor.
The desorbed water vapor is then led to the condenser 106 through the pipe 108, where it becomes liquid water, and is led to the water storage tank 107 through the pipe 109.
The adsorbent 102a that has been desorbed in the desorption container 101
The container 102 is taken out together with the container 102, the container 102 is returned to the first step, and the water is exposed to the atmosphere again to adsorb moisture in the air. By repeating the above operation, water in a liquid phase is obtained in the water storage tank 107.

Incidentally, efficient operation can be achieved by preparing a plurality of adsorbent containers 102 and inserting one into the desorption container 101 so that while desorption is in progress, the other containers 102 are exposed to the atmosphere to adsorb moisture. be able to.

The above is the operating principle of this device, but the water production capacity
Taking a 2.5Kg/h device as an example, the dimensions and capacity of its main parts are as follows.

(a) {Adsorbent used: synthetic zeolite (b) Desorption time: 1 hour/time}.

(c) Adsorbent weight: 32Kg/container Assuming the effective adsorption amount of water is 8%, 2.5/0.08=32 (Kg) (d) Adsorbent volume: 0.04m ³ /container The bulk specific gravity of the synthetic zeolite is 0.8 (T/m ³ ) Therefore, 32×10 ^-3 /0.8=0.04 (m ³ ) (e) Amount of heat required for desorption: 2500+2200+1000=5700kcal/h The latent heat of desorption is 1000kcal/Kg・water, 2.5×1000=2500(kcal/h ) The sensible heat of increasing the temperature of the adsorbent is the specific heat of the synthetic zeolite.
0.3, assuming a temperature increase range of 40℃→270℃, 32×0.3×(270−40)≒2200 (kcal/h) The sensible heat of temperature increase in the desorption container and other parts is 20% of the above heat amount.
(2500 + 2200) x 0.2≒1000 (kcal/h) (F) Area of converging mirror (component of area perpendicular to sunlight): 38 m ² Solar energy density is 600 kcal/m ² /h, including desorption container. Assuming solar energy utilization efficiency as 25%, 5700÷600÷0.25=38 (m ² ) (g) Dimensions of collector mirror: (5m x 4m) x 2 pieces 5 x 4 x 2 = 40 (m ² ) > 38 (m ² ) (H) Capacity of condenser: 1350kcal/h Assuming latent heat of condensation of water vapor to be 540kcal/Kg, 540×2.5=1350 (kcal/h) (L) Heat radiation area of condenser: 1.2m ² Overall heat transfer coefficient 30kcal/m ² /h/℃, temperature difference
Assuming 40℃, 1350 ÷ (30 x 40) ≒ 1.2 (m ² ) (nu) Dimensions of adsorbent container: 5 m (length) x 0.3 m (width) x 0.027 m (thickness) Adsorption volume: 0.04 m ³ 5×0.3×0.027≒0.04 (m ³ ) (l) Dimensions of desorption container: The above adsorbent container should fit easily.

In addition, in (c) above, the effective adsorption amount was set at 8% because, assuming that Molecular Sieve (trade name of UCC Co., Ltd.) is used as the synthetic zeolite, water will be adsorbed up to 18% of the weight of the adsorbent during the adsorption process. let me,
During the desorption process, the temperature is raised to 270°C to desorb up to 10%.

In addition, the solar heat utilization efficiency 25 in (f) above
%, if the desorption temperature is 270℃ as mentioned above, the heat loss due to radiation from the desorption container is quite large, and the heat loss due to convection generated around the desorption container and carried away by the air by natural wind. is also large, so the efficiency is about 25%. Of course, if the desorption container is inserted into a vacuum glass container whose inner surface is treated to selectively reflect heat rays,
The structure is similar to the well-known solar vacuum collector, and both radiant and convective heat losses are significantly reduced, greatly improving efficiency and requiring a smaller collector mirror.

Furthermore, in (N) above, the thickness of the adsorbent container is 2.7 cm, but if the absolute humidity of the air is 10 g-
Water/m ³ - In order to sufficiently adsorb moisture in an hour or so by natural wind (approximately 3 m/s) in an environment of air, it is necessary to make it as thin as this.
As mentioned above, multiple containers containing adsorbent are prepared so that one of them is in the process of being desorbed while the rest is in the adsorption process, but if the number of containers to be prepared is increased, The adsorption time can be longer than the desorption time, and this can be done in areas with little wind and low humidity.

Next, the power required to operate this device will be described. As can be seen from the above explanation, the necessary operations are: (i) pointing the light-concentrating desorption element toward the sun; (ii) putting the adsorbent container in and out of the desorption container; (iii) exposing the adsorbent container to natural wind. It can be divided into three types: The illustrated water production capacity is 2.5
If it is about Kg/h, the operations (i) to (iii) above can all be performed manually using a simple operating tool. In particular, for the operation (i), a clockwork using a mainspring may be used. This method is practical as an emergency water generation system in times of water shortage in deserts and the like. However, using manual labor is usually impossible and uneconomical, and furthermore, in large-scale equipment, manual labor is impossible. Therefore, we installed 20 devices with a water production capacity of 2.5 kg/h in parallel, and increased the overall water production capacity.
If we show the power when operating each device sequentially over time using an electric motor at 50Kg/h, the power required for operation (i) above is about 50W, and (ii) and (iii) For operation, 200W of power is sufficient as a time average for both. Therefore, the total power is 250W. Assuming that electricity is supplied by a diesel generator and the thermal efficiency of power generation is 20%, the oil consumption is 0.1 kg/h when converted to oil. In other words, 0.1 kg of oil yields 50 kg of water.

Considering that water is obtained in inland water-scarce areas such as deserts, this means that compared to transporting the water itself, if this device is installed locally, only 1/2 of the water is available.
This means that it is only necessary to transport 500 units of oil.

Note that the prior art device shown in Figure 1 requires approximately 20kW of power for the blower and fan for the same scale (50Kg/h water generation capacity), and also uses petroleum as fuel for the burner for desorption. but
Approximately 15Kg/h is required. From this it can be seen how the device according to the invention consumes less energy.

Furthermore, the power required in the device of the invention described above can also be obtained from solar cells, in which case no petroleum is required. The area required for the solar cell at this time is approximately 7 m ² .

In addition, for operations (ii) and (iii) above, materials handling equipment similar to those currently commonly used in automated warehouses is used, and materials are placed on shelves, for example, to expose them to natural wind. Take out the adsorbent container and attach the desorption container. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an example of an adsorbent container configured to be adapted to such an operation, and parts equivalent to those in FIGS. 2 to 4 are designated by the same reference numerals. This is an integrated adsorbent container 102 and a stopper 104, and 110 is a rod that mechanically connects the two;
111 is a boss for handling with the above-mentioned handling device. The desorption container 101 itself may be the same as that shown in FIG. 2. Packing is fixed to the desorption container 101 side, the adsorbent container 102 integrated with the stopper 104 is inserted into the desorption container 101, and the stopper body is removed. 104a is tightly inserted into the upper end of the detachable container 101, and the flange portion 104b is closely attached to the upper end of the detachable container 101 through the packing to maintain airtightness.

As detailed above, the water generation device according to the present invention makes effective use of solar heat and natural wind, so it is possible to obtain liquid phase water from moisture in the air with very little electricity or fuel. can.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a flow diagram showing the configuration of a water generation device according to the prior art, Fig. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention with a part thereof cut away, and Fig. 3 is a line drawn along the line shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a schematic perspective view showing an adsorbent container used in this example with a portion cut away, and Fig. 5 shows an adsorbent container with a portion cut away to facilitate handling. FIG. In the figure, 101 is a desorption container, 102 is an adsorbent container, 102a is an adsorbent, 103 is a mirror for collecting sunlight, 104 is a plug, 104a is a plug body, 1
06 is a condenser, and 107 is a water tank. Note that the same reference numerals in the figures indicate the same or corresponding parts.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. After moisture in the air is adsorbed on an adsorbent, the adsorbent is heated to desorb the adsorbed moisture as water vapor, and this water vapor is condensed to obtain liquid water. In the method, the adsorption of moisture in the air is carried out by exposing the adsorbent to natural wind, and the desorption is performed in a sealed manner except for a passageway leading the water vapor obtained by this desorption to a condenser. 1. A freshwater generating apparatus characterized in that the adsorbent is inserted into a desorption container having a structure, and the adsorption agent and the desorption container are heated by solar heat. 2. The water generating device according to claim 1, wherein the water vapor obtained by desorption is condensed in a natural air cooling type condenser. 3. The water generating device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the adsorbent is used by being housed in a container made of a material with good air permeability such as a wire mesh. 4. The fresh water generating device according to claim 3, characterized in that a plug for sealing the desorption container and a container containing the adsorbent are integrated. 5. Claims characterized in that a plurality of containers containing adsorbents are prepared for one desorption container, and the remaining containers are placed in an adsorption state while one of the containers is being desorbed. The fresh water generating device according to item 3 or 4.