Hybrid solar desalination system

a solar energy and desalination system technology, applied in vacuum distillation separation, vessel construction, separation processes, etc., can solve the problems of low productivity rate and thermal efficiency, difficult to implement any traditional clean water solution, and insufficient money and oil resources of people in many other areas of the world

Inactive Publication Date: 2010-12-16
SUNLIGHT PHOTONICS
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, people in many other areas of the world have neither the money nor oil resources to allow them to produce water in a similar manner.
Over a billion people today lack access to purified drinking water and the vast majority of these people live in rural areas, where it is very difficult to implement any traditional clean water solution.
The main drawback with the use of solar energy in existing large-scale desalination plants is the resulting low productivity rate and thermal efficiency.
However, since solar desalination plants use free energy and therefore have insignificant operational costs, over the long term the...

Method used

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Examples

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example 1

[0062]In accordance with the present invention, an apparatus for aeration-assisted mass exchange, e.g. evaporation and condensation, can be provided. It includes a cylindrical container and a disk shaped aerator as shown in FIG. 15. The container can be produced from stainless steel, PVC or other container material suitable for processing of potable water. The diameter of a container may be in the range of 1 cm to 1 m, preferably in the range of 10 to 20 cm, whereas the height of the container may be in the range of 2 cm to 2 m, preferably in the range of 10 to 40 cm. The diameter of the aerator may be about the diameter of the container. The aerator may have a dense array of holes having a diameter in the range of 0.1 to 5 mm, preferably 0.5-2 mm, and the spacing between nearest holes in the range of 0.1 to 5 mm. The apparatus may also include a stack of screens that are made of a stainless steel wire mesh or plastic fibers. Screens may be less than 1 mm thick, preferably less than...

example 2

[0065]In accordance with the present invention, an apparatus for wetscreen-assisted mass exchange, e.g. evaporation and condensation, can be provided. It includes a container and a stack of see-through screens as shown in FIG. 22. The container can be produced from stainless steel, PVC or other container material suitable for processing of potable water. The container may be square in the cross-section having a side size in the range of 1 cm to 1 m, preferably in the range of 10 to 20 cm, whereas the height of the container may be in the range of 2 cm to 2 m, preferably in the range of 10 to 40 cm. The size of the screens may be about the size of the container. The screens may be staggered to provide a passage for the air flow between them, so that some of them have a wide opening for air passage on the right side, while others have an opening on the left side. They may be made of a stainless steel wire mesh, plastic fibers, thin sponge or perforated sheets of other water-safe mater...

example 3

[0068]In accordance with the present invention, an HTS apparatus of a desalination system may be provided as shown in FIG. 9. The apparatus comprises a solar heat collector, an evaporator, a condenser and a heat exchanger. Feed water is provided to the apparatus from a salt or brackish water source, e.g. an ocean or a pond. This water is preheated using a counter-current heat exchanger, e.g. a shell-and-tube heat exchanger produced by Exergy LLC, and then further heated using a solar heat collector, e.g. an FPC panel produced by Schuco USA having an absorber area in the range of 2-3 m2. Multiple collector panels may be used in a single HTS and also, other types of heat collector may be used instead of FPC panels, such as evacuated tubes or concentrated solar collectors. The heated feed water is then fed to the evaporator at a temperature Tin in the range of 50° C. to 100° C., preferably in the range of 80° C. to 99° C. The evaporator may be provided using the apparatus described eit...

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Abstract

A hydro-thermal exchange unit (HTEU) for desalinating feed water in accordance with a humidification-dehumidification includes feed water, fresh water and gas conduit circuits for transporting feed water, fresh water, and gas, respectively. The unit also includes an evaporator through which a portion of the feed water conduit and the gas conduit pass. The evaporator causes evaporation of a portion of the feed water to produce vapor that is transported through the gas conduit. The unit also includes a condenser through which a portion of the gas conduit and the fresh water conduit pass. The condenser has input and output ports for coupling the gas and fresh water conduit circuits. The condenser extracts moisture from the vapor transported therethrough by the gas conduit. The extracted moisture is discharged through the fresh water conduit. The unit also includes a heat exchanger through which a portion of the fresh water conduit and the feed water conduit pass to thereby extract residual heat from the fresh water such that the residual heat heats the feed water.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for water desalination using renewable solar energy.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Fresh water has become a very valuable and scarce resource in recent years not only in arid countries of the Middle East and North Africa regions, but also in many highly populated areas of more developed countries, such as Spain, USA, China and many others. Increases in population and commercial activities have contributed to the depletion of freshwater resources. Desalination, as one of the earliest forms of water production, remains a popular method of water production throughout the world. Desalination typically uses a large amount of energy to remove a portion of pure water from a salt water source. Salt water (feed water) is fed into the process, the result of which is one output stream of pure (fresh) water and another stream of waste water with high salt concentration (brine). Large commercial desal...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): C02F1/14C02F1/04
CPCB01D1/0047B01D1/14B01D3/16B01D3/343B01D5/0027C02F1/14Y02A20/212Y02W10/37B01D3/007Y02A20/142Y02A20/128Y02A20/129C02F2103/08Y02A20/124
Inventor FROLOV, SERGEYCYRUS, MICHAELBRUCE, ALLAN JAMES
Owner SUNLIGHT PHOTONICS
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