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Board 133: The Design, Implementation, and Lessons Learned of an Atmospheric Water Generator Device

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Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

Mechanical Engineering Division (MECH) Poster Session

Tagged Division

Mechanical Engineering Division (MECH)

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

25

DOI

10.18260/1-2--42449

Permanent URL

https://strategy.asee.org/42449

Download Count

241

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Paper Authors

biography

Karim Altaii James Madison University

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Dr. Altaii holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, and received his doctorate from The City University of New York. He is a professor in the College of Integrated Science and Engineering (CISE) at James Madison University. He is a registered Professional Engineer and holds five patents in solar energy applications and irrigation system. He is the director of CISE Energy and Environmental Projects- an international summer program in Costa Rica. He is the Director of the Advanced Thermal-Fluids laboratory. His primary interests are in renewable energy applications, fluid-thermal sciences, and international education.

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biography

Brian Tang Mission Technologies, division of HII

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Brian Tang is a Test Operation Engineer for Mission Technologies, a division of HII after graduating with a Bachelor's in Integrated Sciences from James Madison University. He currently works within the field of naval nuclear propulsion in Newport News, VA conducting system testing. His interest towards energy and heat transfer stems from working as a HVAC tradesman with his father for 7 years.

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Abstract

It is estimated that four billion people worldwide experience water scarcity at least one month per year. At any given time, there are nearly 12,900 cubic kilometers of water present in the atmosphere. To develop a solution to water scarcity, we designed a system that extracts water from the air by condensing water vapor from humid atmospheric air using a heat exchanger. This heat exchanger is cooled by pumping water into the ground, using geothermal piping to reject heat into the soil. This closed-loop geothermal piping system was configured in a helical arrangement underground at a depth of 2.9 meters. Before implementing the system, we used Engineering Equation Solver (EES) and estimated the amount of water to be collected at 1.7 liters per hour when the soil temperature is at 18.0 C. We conducted two pilot studies in Costa Rica as proof of concept based on a location selected by local collaborators. The first test site proved unworkable when the physical location had a soil and air temperature gradient that was too small. The team then set up another experiment at another location where we simulated a cool underground environment by mixing water and ice in a tank. The physical on-site system is now collecting an average of 0.45 L per hour of condensed water when the average atmospheric temperature is 28.3 C, relative humidity of 81.64%, and a simulated cold underground temperature of 20.2 C. Details of the design, implementation, instrumentation, future work, the educational experience of an international capstone, and lessons learned are also presented.

Altaii, K., & Tang, B. (2023, June), Board 133: The Design, Implementation, and Lessons Learned of an Atmospheric Water Generator Device Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42449

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