Fontus Bottle

It looks like they spent all of their time on the website and marketing.  The concept of extracting water from humid air is old, just not very efficient.  The system probably uses a peltier cooler to drop the air temperature below the dew point.  Peltiers are not very energy efficient devices.  Form their own website “After more than 30 experiments, I finally achieved a constant drop-flow of one drop of condensed water per minute.”  There is a serious lack of engineering on the site.

I thought about this problem during an extended trip to Indonesia.  They have a huge water quality problem, high humidity and needs a low tech solution.  It is possible that this would work in the tropic but on a much larger scale.  Additionally, I think that it would be useless in the Sierras and Southern California where the humidity is low.

Great concept but weak on any real data.  There is a simple test, fill a metal sport bottle with ice cubes and hang it in the air.  Catch the water droplets that condense on the outside of the bottle.  That will give you an idea as to how much water you can collect from the air.

My 2 cents

I agree with Jon F.  To condense water you have to drive the air temperature below its corresponding dew point.  Cooling in a compact device is almost always done with a Peltier cooler which are not very efficient.  At 100% relative humidity the air temperature is the same as the dew point, so you don’t have to cool the air much to get condensate.  As an example I looked of Bishop, CA in June (Eastern base of the Sierra’s).  Average air temperature is 76 deg F and average dew point is 21 deg F.  That means you would have to cool air more the 45 degrees F to get any condensate.

to continue and double down on the nerdy analysis.  They claim in the right circumstances they can condense out 0.8 L of water in an hour.  Once you have cooled below the dew point you must keep extracting energy to drive the condensation process.  I did some quick back of the envelop calculations.  To condense 0.8 L of water in an hour would take 500 W-hr of energy.  An AA battery contains about 1.5 W-hr of energy.  So you would need over 300 AA batteries to run this thing for an hour in ideal conditions (not accounting for the inefficiency in the Peltier cooler)…. I think they are overstating their capabilities.

Well, I guess we’ll wait and see what they claim on their crowd funding effort.

Their website claims that one is coming. For all of the reasons already stated, I’m a tiny bit skeptical. I’d like to be pleasantly surprised, though.

If it is solar powered you wouldn’t need to worry about the batteries (though presumably extra weight and can’t use at night?) I would guess they are using some special coating to help make condensation more efficient ala http://loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=12-P13-00046&segmentID=8 or http://www.nbdnano.com/fog-capture.html And I see in the photos they have a shot with it on a bike, set up to take in air like a ram scoop, so maybe that is how they get the high numbers for the right conditions. If the air is moving 20MPH and is foggy they could just be pulling the fog out of the air pretty quick. Interesting to see how it pans out, as there does seem like some good potential if that tech gets nice and refined.

Sigh.
Nerds.
Just don’t give them any money.

Cheers

Well, videos show solar panels charging the unit (built in batteries).  Special materials won’t help my calculations, because that just reduces losses (and I assumed no losses).  It very well could be their “ideal conditions” calculation is based on supersaturated conditions (air temperature below the dew point) making this more of a cloud/rain catcher than a water condenser.  Condensed water in the atmosphere (fog/clouds/rain drops) is really good at absorbing pollution.  I’m not sure I would want to drink it.

It is an interesting idea, but I don’t have much hope of it being a viable product anytime soon.

This is the perfect crowd sourcing / kickstarter program.  Sexy, cool, green and high tech.  This concept will attract a lot of press and get investors excited about the possibilities. The industrial designer (and I use that term loosely) has made some nice sketches and great videos and all of the concepts look promising

I have managed a lot of engineering products and this is really simple.  What are your claims and what are the engineering/physics principles that demonstrate feasibility?  If you can’t pencil it out on a piece of paper you do not get to pass go and collect $200.  High on fluff and gloss, low on any calculation or data to support his goals.

I think that a system can be made to pull water out of the air in tropical climates like Indonesia.  It doesn’t have to be small, but would need to work 24/7 to meet the basic needs as a viable option.  Then, you would need a battery storage device to work with the solar panels.  You would also probably need a fan to increase the mass flow rate of air needed to optimize the water production rate.

The idea is not new at all given that the Incas already did that back in the good old days.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_water_generator

The new bit is to get something not much bigger than a 1 L bottle to collect water quickly  enough so that you don’t die of thirst waiting for it to happen.

As  it is, it look to me like one of those 90% ready products that sound really good and way out there yet the 10% that is not working is the bit that …stops them  from working.

Anyway I think I’ll get my Earl to tell me where I should get the Fontus bottle to work.

https://www.meetearl.com/

yeah, you need much bigger, but that looks sexy and will get some donors : )

there was some documentary on PBS (?) about a project in Africa.  50 feet high, 30 feet in diameter. (?)  Indigenous materials.  Maybe you need a sheet of plastic inside for the water to condense on and drip down.  Once a day or whatever, you go and collect the water.

This is the perfect product for a Kickstarter campaign. I can’t wait.

Just think about it. If the Death Valley Kickstarter guy would have had one of these, he would have been well hydrated and been able to complete his project. Also, this might be the missing link in the A to Z project. Probably wouldn’t be of much value when learning how to pack raft though.

Embrace it!

For pack rafting you can seal it in a bag with wet gear and use it as a dryer ! ?

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On a bike with a dynamo maybe this would be viable.

For a hiker I seriously doubt the viability of this from a power consumption standpoint. The mass of the power storage and the apparatus could be so great that just carrying extra water for the same mass would be the superior choice.

A device that you could hang and fill a hydration reservoir while you sleep at night, maybe using a hanging-clock weight mechanism (and your pack/gear as the weight ballast) to drive a dynamo to generate power, now that would be neat.