A Summer Problem
Monday, July 10, 2023 at 7:39AM Heat and no/less water. An approach on how to solve or at least make it more bearable.
The issue of water, cooling and air conditioning.
Are there interested islanders who like to join/try to work on a solution ??
Water....made me thinking after picking up my sprinkler from the TIVFD.
Freshwater or ground water (for drinking/watering plants/store water - wild fire protection) or a system for cooling/freezing/air conditioning seem to be an increasing issue in the future. In the winter we have water and don't need cooling - in the summer water is in high demand and we have heat and no or little rain for month. The main problem is and will be the amount of energy needed to achieve all of water generating/cooling. And as more high tech and complicate it get as more difficult and expensive it is to use a system/setup for the average person. I could continue now talking maybe wait for decades that a solution pops up - where as maybe for me there are not so many decades left!?! OR I just start and do something. Since I am always up for a challenge - I am doing. And if for me if a solution doesn't work the first time than it has to be adjusted till it works!!
Now learning from history - as so often there is already a useful approach. There is a actually long forgotten way by just using the sun as energy source - a way I always wanted to try but never did. Now it seems right for me to do and get started and time to do it is not really the issue anymore.
Invented by Otto H Mohr in California 1938 was the solar operated fridge/cooler - working after the Joule-Thompson effect. It never really went in production because it wasn't interesting enough for the big industry making money - like so many useful solutions. It is a closed cycle with NO mechanical or electric parts used just the sun as energy source. But don't worry it is not a nonsense perpetual motion machine. Please feel free to search the internet for solar fridge Otto H Mohr in California 1938.
Like every fridge/freezer/air conditioner a coolant is compressed and when it is expanded again - it freezes/cools. Just Physics! Now with the solar operated Joule-Thompson effect the compression is done by heating/vaporizing a liquid coolant with sun light instead of using a compressor to create pressure like in every fridge/freezer. Now I would use CO2 instead of Ammonia or Freon as coolant and then expand it through a small nozzle to get the same effect. When the sun is not available the CO2 will condensate and get liquid again to start over with the next sun. The process slows down without sun, and it will not run at night!! For me that is perfectly fine. This is a simple way to cool air (fridge/freezer/air conditioner) or even produce water by condensation just the humidity of air. Please have a look at my sketch to produce water from condensing air humidity(... like put an open fridge outdoor). It is nothing new just combined different. It will not generate m3 of water a day, but it will run continuously - little by little when the sun is shining. For air conditioning or fridge/freezer the cooling part would be in a box/old fridge or inside the building.
But to make it clear I am absolutely not interested to run a business or making money or sell anything. The system should be available for everyone. It will be simple, easy to assemble and free for everyone and everyone should be able to just buy the parts online or in a hardware store. But operating at own risk!! No warranty!! There are no dangerous parts at all. Worst cast - maybe wrong assembly - just a little leaking CO2.
So, if there is anyone who like to join and is up for this unusual approach to build it - not scared to fail with the first trials?!? I start now. And sorry I will start slowly - since everyone who knows me - I have a few other projects on the side too. :)
But the next summer comes for sure and better start slowly now as talking and do nothing!!
Thanks,
Matthias
contact info >> please check Thetis phone book - there is only one Matthias I guess :)