I with a team of 2 other students & a Mentor faculty at Atharva College of Engineering, Mumbai were fortunate to receive a Project funding of 1,000,00 ₹ in Indian Currency (~1,500 USD $) via IEDC Startup India Initiative. I would like to put forward our idea. Please do share your Opinions in the comments below. Luckily we also applied for a patent for this Project.
Project: Thermoelectric Water Collector
Mentor: Prof. Garima Gurjar, Atharva College of Engineering
Team members : Sujoy Gosh, Prem Raval & Meet Dayani
Index
Innovation Idea
Problem Statement
Design
Research Knowledge
Progress of work done
Technical details
Financial Expenses Report
Commercialization Plan
I. INNOVATION IDEA
The idea is to recover water from humid air using peltier effect. In peltier effect when current is passed through two conductors, heat or coolness is produced at the junction. This effect can be used to obtain enough low temperature to reach the dew point which will correspondingly give us water. A plate with high heat retention ability will be able to sustain enough water droplets that can be collected in a reservoir.
II. Problem statement and block diagram:
There is plenty of water stored in humid air that can be used. Areas closer to the sea coast have exceedingly high wind humidity that is completely rendered useless. In some areas there is severe shortage of fresh water and very few techniques are available to provide basic drinking water.
III. Design
IV. Research knowledge:
1. Peltier Modules
Thermoelectric cooling uses the Peltier effect to create a heat flux between the junction of two different types of materials. A Peltier cooler, heater, or thermoelectric heat pump is a solid-state active heat pump which transfers heat from one side of the device to the other, with consumption of electrical energy, depending on the direction of the current. Such an instrument is also called a Peltier device, Peltier heat pump, solid state refrigerator, or thermoelectric cooler (TEC). It can be used either for heating or for cooling, although in practice the main application is cooling. It can also be used as a temperature controller that either heats or cools.
This technology is far less commonly applied to refrigeration than vapor-compression refrigeration is. The primary advantages of a Peltier cooler compared to a vapor-compression refrigerator are its lack of moving parts or circulating liquid, very long life, invulnerability to leaks, small size, and flexible shape. Its main disadvantages are high cost and poor power efficiency. Many researchers and companies are trying to develop Peltier coolers that are cheap and efficient.
A Peltier cooler can also be used as a thermoelectric generator. When operated as a cooler, a voltage is applied across the device, and as a result, a difference in temperature will build up between the two sides. When operated as a generator, one side of the device is heated to a temperature greater than the other side, and as a result, a difference in voltage will build up between the two sides (the Seebeck effect). However, a well-designed Peltier cooler will be a mediocre thermoelectric generator and vice versa, due to different design and packaging requirements.
2. Heat Sink
A heat sink transfers thermal energy from a higher temperature device to a lower temperature fluid medium. The fluid medium is frequently air, but can also be water, refrigerants or oil. If the fluid medium is water, the heat sink is frequently called a cold plate. In thermodynamics a heat sink is a heat reservoir that can absorb an arbitrary amount of heat without significantly changing temperature. Practical heat sinks for electronic devices must have a temperature higher than the surroundings to transfer heat by convection, radiation, and conduction. The power supplies of electronics are not 100% efficient, so extra heat is produced that may be detrimental to the function of the device. As such, a heat sink is included in the design to disperse heat.
To understand the principle of a heat sink, consider Fourier's law of heat conduction. Fourier's law of heat conduction, simplified to a one-dimensional form in the x-direction, shows that when there is a temperature gradient in a body, heat will be transferred from the higher temperature region to the lower temperature region. The rate at which heat is transferred by conduction is proportional to the product of the temperature gradient and the cross-sectional area through which heat is transferred.
V. PROGRESS OF WORK DONE
The heat sink and Peltier module interface was developed and water collection on the cool surface of the Peltier modules was assessed.
VI. TECHNICAL DETAILS AND OBSERVATIONS
Consider a heat sink in a duct, where air flows through the duct. It is assumed that the heat sink base is higher in temperature than the air. Applying the conservation of energy, for steady-state conditions, and Newton’s law of cooling to the temperature nodes shown in the diagram gives the following set of equations:
Using the mean air temperature is an assumption that is valid for relatively short heat sinks. When compact heat exchangers are calculated, the logarithmic mean air temperature is used ṁ is the air mass flow rate in kg/s. The above equations show that when the air flow through the heat sink decreases, this results in an increase in the average air temperature. This in turn increases the heat sink base temperature. And additionally, the thermal resistance of the heat sink will also increase. The net result is a higher heat sink base temperature. The increase in heat sink thermal resistance with decrease in flow rate will be shown later in this article. The inlet air temperature relates strongly with the heat sink base temperature. For example, if there is recirculation of air in a product, the inlet air temperature is not the ambient air temperature. The inlet air temperature of the heat sink is therefore higher, which also results in a higher heat sink base temperature.If there is no air flow around the heat sink, energy cannot be transferred.
VII. Financial expenses report:
VIII. Commercialization plans:
- The idea is to develop a small scale industry in the first phase of marketing this product.
- The product will be released to 8-10 consumers from various walks of life such as agricultural, domestic and industrial sector.
- Their reviews will be recorded and used for social media campaign.
- The second phase involves partnership with local NGOs working on clean water initiatives.
- The primary production investment shall be acquired from Angel Investors and local investors.
- The production industry will be constituted of maximum 5-6 employees for the following tasks.
a) Marketing
b) Publicity
c) Technicians (2 members)
d) Procurement
e) Technical Manager - We shall organize local Peltier design events to increase awareness of the community to the design of the product.
- Within 2 years the product shall reach suitable market popularity to consider approaching vendors from other states.
- Forming partnership with other renewable resource manufacturers like solar panel and wind turbines will be the next stage of our project.
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Let me know your opinions in the comments? Can you think of any use cases for this same idea?