
Aussie Airdrop Harvests Water From Air, Wins Prize - chaostheory
http://www.popsci.com.au/science/energy/airdrop-which-harvests-moisture-directly-from-desert-air-wins-james-dyson-award
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jamesbressi
If it works that well in the desert, then the application has great
residential commercial viability--like the aquaglobe without having to refill
it!

I'd like to see a scale of it commercialized for us non-farming types so then
profits can help a philanthropic mission like bringing low-tech irrigation to
third world countries in need.

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Joakal
It's illegal in some places to collect rainwater. I'm sure they'll ban any
such methods too.

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adrianwaj
Would the water produced be like distilled water? If so, it would present
health problems to people drinking it on a regular basis, from my
understanding.

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Mvandenbergh
That's actually a bit of a myth, humans get virtually all of our mineral
requirements from our food.

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adrianwaj
"I have done well over 3000 mineral evaluations using a combination of blood,
urine and hair tests in my practice. Almost without exception, people who
consume distilled water exclusively, eventually develop multiple mineral
deficiencies. Those who supplement their distilled water intake with trace
minerals are not as deficient but still not as adequately nourished in
minerals as their non-distilled water drinking counterparts even after several
years of mineral supplementation. The ideal water for the human body should be
slightly alkaline and this requires the presence of minerals like calcium and
magnesium. Distilled water tends to be acidic and can only be recommended as a
way of drawing poisons out of the body. Once this is accomplished, the
continued drinking of distilled water is a bad idea."

<http://www.mercola.com/article/water/distilled_water.htm>

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billswift
That link is pure garbage. Its every bit as bad as homeopathy. [Edited to
remove overstatement.]

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ww520
How does it work? The article and the video are light on the theory. What
water collection mechanism of the Namib beetle is employed by the device? Is
the device made of hydrophilic material like the beetle's skin? Or is it
purely the geometry of the device contributing to the water collection
capability?

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bh42222
I think the mechanism is fairly simple. The article mentions pipes deep under
ground. I am assuming they dig deep enough to find permanently cooler
temperatures, then they circulate air and water condenses due to the
temperature differential. They mention it is self-powered so I am assuming
solar cells or tiny wind turbines.

I see two problems with this.

1\. You don't have to dig very deep to find the earth is warm. But maybe if
the desert air is at 100+F then ground temperatures of 50+F are sufficiently
"cool" to condensate water out of the air?

2\. Disastrously poor places are not poor due to lack of tech or knowledge.
War, corruption and general lawlessness tend to keep them poor. Nifty tech
just tends to get broken/stolen/monopolized/regulated to oblivion, take your
pick.

But in more prosperous areas this might work. It does seem like it would be a
lot of work to dig those in. But perhaps once the initial effort is done, you
can just leave them there and forget them. Plant away and don't worry about
watering. Perhaps even more areas of Australia will now grow vine grapes.

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Someone
How do you get the water up from "deep enough to find cooler temperatures" to
where the plant roots are? It will not fill the air pipes, so is there some
secondary piping system? Or will the plants be able to get the water from
there?

Also, I wouldn't call it self-powered if it required wind or solar and those
were separate parts of the system. A sailing ship is self-powered, but IMO, an
electric car that uses electricity extracted from wind is not.

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Gormo
Couldn't you use a heat pipe to bring cooler temperatures closer to the roots?

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marquis
What happens to the IP of these products? Something like this, if open-
sourced, could be incredibly beneficial, but I wonder if this doesn't just
allow Dyson to create a business out of this (which is great for the inventor,
but is this really helping those who need it most?)

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Gormo
What IP would be present in this device? It just seems like a cleverly-
designed condenser - water coolers that refill via humidity condensation are
cheap and common.

Is it the fact that it's self-powering? That might be an interesting
innovation, but the article doesn't talk about that, it just focuses on
condensation, which by itself certainly isn't patentable.

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marquis
Right, thanks for the analysis. I look forward to seeing the specs for this -
I always forget to water and my tomatos are complaining.

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ap22213
Nice contest. It's too bad that the prize is only 10,000 pounds. Maybe one of
these start up incubator countries (like Chile) can mimic this idea, with
bigger purse.

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burgerbrain
Did I hear the part about "sacred water supplies" correctly? Are there really
situations where religion is preventing access to water?

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noodle
I think he meant it more in a non-spiritual way, implying its importance as a
standard water source.

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pedalpete
what would be the effect of having removed the water from the air? I assume
some of the local plants are already able to harvest water from the air, so
would this mean that there is less moisture in the air available for those
plants?

It's a great idea, I just wonder what the side affects are.

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CHsurfer
Since it can only process a relatively small percentage of the air in a region
diffusion should quickly bring the moisture content of exhausted air back up
to the ambient level. In summary, the effect will be negligible.

