The Watercone
Links
Idea
The general idea for the Watercone was to develop a solar powered waterstill
for everyone. It must be cheap to produce and easy to use. No instruction
or knowledge must be reqired and no technical maintenance neccessary except
little cleaning when needed.
Design
The design of the Watercone is purely driven by functionality, production
method, cost effectitety and usabitity. The Watercone is a transparent
polycarbonate coneshape object without bottom. The polycarbonate cone
is made out of a thin weiht and material saving vacuum formed foil with
a thickness of 1-4mm. Inside the revolving bottom edge is a large gutter
to accumulate the downrunning clean waterdrops. The gutter edge ends in
a second smaller upide down gutter that prevents the clear water to be
contaminated by saltwater when pouring out. On top of the cone there is
a bottle neck with a screw closure that prevents the 100% air humidity
to escape and loose water.
Where to use
The Watercone is mainly developed for middle-term supply of fresh water
in poor and hot regions by using seawater or dirt/brackish water as source.
The basic principle of the Watercone is solar powered evaporation and condensation of seawater or brackish water. The heat of the sun evaporates the seawater. Just pure water molecules are in the air, the salt and dirt remains on the ground or in the saltwater. Inside the colder coneshell, the molecules condensate and are growing into drops. These drops are downrunning inside the shell into the large gutter. By opening the screw closure and turning the cone upside down, you can pour out the potable water. On an average sunny summerday the Watercone produces 1-1.5 liters of freshwater in 24 hours with a used surface area of 0,5 square meter..
As soon as we have first data you`ll find them here.
Looking at the natural water sources, more than 70% of the earth is covered by water however 97,2% of it is salty seawater. The remaining 2,7% freshwater are mainly fixed in the polar caps and the glacier of the mountains. Only 0,642% is easy accessible water in the rivers and lakes and as ground water.
20% of the global population (1,2 billion) have no access to fresh water because of economical, ecological, geographical or political reasons and the situation worsens permanently. 2,4 billion people have no sanitation or sanitary facilities. Referring to UNICEF and WHO information, 4 million children die from lacking hygiene and contaminated water every year. 2003 will be the official "Year of freshwater" announced by UNESCO..
© AUGUSTIN.BIZ 2002 International patent pending