Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

INTRODUCTION

The next challenge to human life in the world is how to solve the future
problems that appeared in the world. The most three critical problems that face human
life are energy crisis, water crisis and pollution . Fresh water supply and sustainable
energy source are of the most important topics on the international environment and
development plans. They are also, critical factors that govern the lives of humanity
and promote civilization. The history of mankind proves that water and civilization
are two inseparable entities. This is proved by the fact that all great civilizations were
developed and flourished near large sources of water. Rivers, seas, oases and oceans
have attracted mankind to their coasts because water is the source of life The problem
of providing remote areas with fresh water can be solved by using three techniques ,

a) Transportation of water from other location.

b) Desalination of saline water (ground, or underground)

c) Extraction of water from atmospheric air.

Water transportation from other locations is usually expensive and of high

initial cost to those remote areas. The desalination of saline water (ground and
underground) is also expensive, high initial cost and related to water existence in
zone. Atmospheric air is a huge and renewable reservoir of water. This endless source
of water is available everywhere on the earth surface. The amount of water in
atmospheric air is evaluated as 14000 Km3 , whereas the amount of fresh water in
rivers and lakes on the earth surface is only about 1200 Km3 Because of pure water
scarcity in many regions worldwide, finding alternative methods for pure water
generation becomes beneficial enough to motivate many researchers to work on
related topics. Atmospheric water generation is one of the promising methods for
getting pure water. Atmospheric water generators (AWGs) apply vapour compression
refrigeration to extract water vapour from the surrounding air. They produce drinking
quality water and they require moist air and electricity

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

CHAPTER 1

1.1 Global Challenges

Fresh water is one of the earth's most valuable resources. With an increasing
global population and economic growth, our planet gets thirstier. Habitat is created in
regions that don't have sufficient precipitation, so the population and agriculture is
often supported by water stemming from aquifers. However, these water sources can
be over-exploited as well, and are thus limited. In some areas these aquifers, that have
been filled over tens of thousands of years, are becoming increasingly depleted, and
others have seen salinization due to an intrusion of ocean water. Also the climatic
change will influence the areas where a constant freshwater supply is available, and
though the models vary, an increasing water scarcity similar to the projected one in
Fig. 1 is likely. Fig. 1.: Projected water scarcity in 2025 according to Seckleret al.
Economic water scarcity refers to regions that need to embark on massive water
development programs to actually utilize their otherwise sufficient water resources.
Therefore, humanity cannot solely rely on precipitation as source of fresh water,
especially also because surface waters can easily be polluted and are thus often nosafe
for human consumption.

Fig1.Projected water scarcity in 2021

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

The most abundant water source is undoubtedly sea water, and the recent decades
have brought forward new technologies and vast improvements for seawater
desalination techniques. Yet, some of the desalination techniques only work
economically when implemented at large scales, and all of them are bound to the
vicinity of a water body. This means that transportation costs have to be considered
for the economic and energetic water price as well. For remote areas, this implies that
the prices per m can increase significantly. Fortunately, our planet supplies us with a
very sustainable form of water transport powered by solar energy. By 2025 the
scarcity of water becomes enormous so we have to step forward to a new technology
rather than the conventional water generation. Atmospheric water generator can
replace the conventional water harvesting methods. The advantages of atmospheric
water generators are

 Portability of Water - Water produced by the AWG conforms the

World Health Organization (WHO)

 Simplicity of Use – It is operable by persons of limited technical

experience.

 Safety – AWG is not pose a hazard to users at any point during its
normal operation

1.2 Feasibility study

Fig 2. Global humidity index

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

The mandatory condition required for producing water from atmospheric air is 50%
relative humidity and a dry bulb temperature of 25.From the figure it is clear that
most of the countries have a relative humidity greater than 50%.India is a country
with most of the regions comes under this category. So it is economical to extract
water from air in our country.

1.3 Methodology

Refrigeration cycle to bring the water in the air below its dew point. The dew
point of the water is dependent on the vapour pressure and humidity and tends to be a
relatively low temperature compared to the ambient conditions. To reach the dew
point the air running through the unit will have to be cooled a considerable amount.
This approach is expressed in Fig.3 below:

Fig 3. Refrigeration cycle

1.3.1 VCRS

Vapour compression refrigeration systems are the most commonly used

among all refrigeration systems. As the name implies, these systems belong to the
general class of vapour cycles, wherein the working fluid (refrigerant) undergoes
phase change at least during one process. In a vapour compression refrigeration
system, refrigeration is obtained as the refrigerant evaporates at low temperatures.
The input to the system is in the form of mechanical energy required to run the
compressor. Hence these systems are also called as mechanical refrigeration systems.
Vapour compression refrigeration systems are available to suit almost all applications

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

with the refrigeration capacities ranging from few Watts to few megawatts. A wide
variety of refrigerants can be used in these systems to suit different applications,
capacities etc. The actual vapour compression cycle is based on Evans-Perkins cycle,
which is also called as reverse Rankine cycle. Before the actual cycle is discussed and
analysed, it is essential to find the upper limit of performance of vapour compression
cycles. This limit is set by a completely reversible cycle.

Fig 4. VCRS

Thermodynamic Analysis

The thermodynamics of the vapour compression cycle can be studied with the
help of a temperature versus entropy diagram as shown in Figure 3. At point 1 as
shown in the figure 3, the circulating refrigerant enters the compressor as a saturated
vapour. From point 1 to point 2, there is compression of the circulating refrigerant at
constant entropy and it comes out of the compressor as superheated vapour. Between
point 2 and point 3, the vapour travels through the condenser where there is removal
of the superheat by cooling the vapour. From point 3 to point 4, the vapour travels
through the rest 4 Of the condenser and thereby resulting in a saturated liquid. This
process occurs at constant pressure. From point 4 to 5, the saturated liquid refrigerant
is routed through the expansion valve resulting in a sudden drop of pressure. That
process is responsible for adiabatic flash evaporation and auto-refrigeration of a
portion of the liquid which is known as Joule Thomson effect. The adiabatic flash
evaporation process occurs at constant enthalpy. From point 5 to 1, the cold
refrigerant which is in a partially vaporised state is routed through the coils present in

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

the evaporator which is responsible for its complete vaporisation by the warm air that
is circulated by a fan present in the evaporator. The evaporator works at constant
pressure (isobaric) and boils of all available liquid thereby superheating the liquid and
vapour mixture of refrigerant. The resulting refrigerant vapour then flows back to the
compressor inlet at point 1 thereby completing the thermodynamic cycle. It should be
noted that the above representation of the thermodynamic cycle does not take into
account real world irreversibility like frictional pressure drop, slight internal
irreversibility during the compression of the refrigerant vapour and non-ideal gas
behaviour. Hence, the above idea simply represents an ideal vapour compression
refrigeration cycle.

Fig 5 Temperature vs entropy diagram

B. Peltier Effect

Petlier effect is the phenomenon that a potential difference applied acrose

thermcouple causes a temperature difference between the junctions of different
materials of thermocouples.This effect is the opposite of seabeck effect(named after
the scientist who discovered it in 1821).The seabeck effect is that if different materials
are connected in two separate places and the intersections are kept in different

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

temperatures then a potential difference between the junctins will develop.Later in

1834 Jean petlier found that the opposite of seabeck effect is also true.that a potential
difference can cause a temperature difference regardless of what the ambient
temperature is.

Fig 6. Peltier cooler

1.4 Working

Fig 7.Working Model

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

Moist air is allowed to pass through the evaporator coils using blowers.
Temperature of evaporator coil is maintained below the dew point temperature of air
by circulating refrigerant through coils. Heat of moist air gets absorbed by refrigerant
and vapour gets condensed. Condensed water is stored in a tank which is further
pumped to a filtering unit and to the water supply line. After condensation cooled air
from evaporator section can be used to cool the condenser coils. Vapour refrigerant
from evaporator is compressed to high temperature and high pressure. Then the
refrigerant is allowed to pass through condenser from which it rejects its heat and get
converted into liquid refrigerant. The liquid refrigerant is passed to evaporator and by
taking heat from evaporator section it become vapour. This process is repeated.

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

CHAPTER 2

2.1 Calculation

The following table shows the required dew point temperature at different values of
dry bulb temperature and relative humidity.

Table 1 Working conditions and dew point temperature

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

Table 2 Working conditions and dew point temperature

Table 3 Working conditions and dew point temperature

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

Table 4 Working conditions and amount of water

The tables 1, 2 and 3 show the required dew point temperature at different
values of dry bulb temperature and relative humidity. In each tables the dry bulb
temperature is kept constant and the relative humidity is varied. Table 4 shows the
amount of water that can be obtained at different working conditions.

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

2.1.1 Evaporator

An evaporator should transfer enough heat with smaller size as possible. It

should be light, compact, safe and durable. The pressure loss in the evaporator should
be as low as possible as well. Some design factors should be considered

 Evaporator temperature.
 Refrigerant properties.
 Refrigerant effect
 Tube selection

RH1=50% RH2=40%
T1=350C T2=100C
W1=.0177546 W2=.0025

Fig 8 Evaporator Coil

Let the amount of water to be produced in 1 hour is fixed as 1 litre and we takes worst
scenario as follows.

Relative humidity (RH) of incoming air = 50%

Temperature of incoming air = 35 0C

Value of specific humidity at inlet w1= 0.0177546

Value of specific humidity at outlet w2 = 0.0025

w=w1-w2
=.0177546-.0025
w =.0152546 kg of water vapour/kg of dry air
Tin = 350c = 308 K,
Tdp = 23.09 0C
w =

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

m v = 1 ltr per hr

= Kg/S

ma = 1
3600 x 0.01525
= 0.0182Kg/Sec.
hfgv = 2500 KJ/Kg
Amount of heat to be extracted , Q = m v x hfg + ma Cp(Tin – Tdp)+ mv Cp(Tin – Tdp)

= ( ) ( )

=920 KJ/Kg

2.1.2 Design of duct

Volume flow of air = m•
ρair
= 0.03769
1.225
Now A x V = 0.03769


For rectangular duct
L2V =0.03769

L = ( )
L

fig 9 Rectangular duct

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

 For circular duct

Πd2/4 x V = 0.03769

d ( )

fig 10 Circular duct

for different velocity , V finding L , d using excel sheet

Diameter of
Length of cicularr
Sl Velocity(v) Retangular duct(d) in
no m/s RPM of Fan(N) duct(l) in metre metre
1 1 96.50582139 0.17538529 0.197900985
2 2 272.9596829 0.124016128 0.139937129
3 3 501.4589576 0.101258744 0.114258187
4 4 772.0465711 0.087692645 0.098950493
5 5 1078.967884 0.078434686 0.088504011
6 6 1418.340118 0.071600745 0.080792739
7 7 1787.312824 0.066289409 0.074799542
8 8 2183.677463 0.062008064 0.069968564
9 9 2605.657178 0.058461763 0.065966995
10 10 3051.782031 0.055461698 0.062581786
11 11 3520.809596 0.052880655 0.059669392
12 12 4011.671661 0.050629372 0.057129094
13 13 4523.436936 0.048643127 0.054887858
14 14 5055.284073 0.04687369 0.052891263

Table 5 Variation of D with velocity

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

 Graph

16
14
12
10
Velocity(v) m/s
8
6 Length of Retangular
duct(l) in metre
4
2
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Fig 11 .Variation of L with velocity

16

14

12

10
Velocity(v) m/s
8
Diameter of cicularr
6 duct(d) in metre

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Fig 12 .Variation of D with velocity

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

6000

5000

4000

3000 Velocity(v) m/s

RPM of Fan(N)
2000

1000

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Fig 13 Variation of Velocity with RPM

Area of duct
Mass flow rate of air = 0.0182 Kg/S
Density of air = 1.225 Kg/m3
Volume flow rate of air = m•
ρair

= 0.0182/1.225
= 0.01485 m3/S
Taking velocity of air = 3.5 m/S
Area = 0.01485/3.5 = 4.2428x10-3 m2

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

2.1.3 RPM of blower

Velocity of air = πDN/60
= 3.5 m/S
rpm, N = 909.45 rpm

2.1.4 Design of FAN

fig 14 Fan

V = πdN

60

N =

Power of FAN

P1 + V12 = P2 + V22
ρg 2g ρg 2g

P1-P2 = V22-V12
ρg 2g

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

V1 = 0

V2 = 3.5 m/S

P1-P2 = 1.225 x 3.52

ρg 2

Power of fan = (P1-P2) x volume flow rate

= 2.45 x 0.03769

= 0.2827W

2.1.5 The Design of Evaporator

Tho=13.86

Thi=25

fig 15 counter flow heat exchanger

1.Convection between refrigerant and tube

Properties of refrigerant at-28oC

𝜌=676.6 Kg/m3
V=.402*10-6 m2/S

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

µ =228.317 x 10-6
Pr=2.138
Cp=4469 J/KgK
K=0.5484 w/mK
To find Mass flow rate of refrigerant
hfg x m•=heat removed
=920 KJ/Kg
hfg =1389.73 (at 1.3153 bar evaporator pressure)
m• =6.62*10-4 Kg/S

ReD = 4m•
πµD
= 4 x 6.62 x 10-4
Π x6 x 10-3 x 271.99 x 10-6
= 516.49

Nu = 3.66+ .06686 x (D/L) x ReD x Pr

1+.04[(D/L) x ReD x Pr]0.67

=3.66+ .0668 x (6x10-3/.45) x 516.49x2.138

1+ 0.04[(6x10-3/.45) x 516.49x2.13]0.67
= 4.456

hi = Nu x Kf
d

= 4.456x.5484
6 x 10-3
hi =406.876 w/m2K

Convection between air & Cu tube

Tf = Tw+Tα
2

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

Tw = Wall temperature = 5 oC
Tα = Fluid temperature = 35 oC

Tf = 20 oC

Properties of air at 20 oC

µ =18.14 x 10-6 NS/m2

V =15.06 m2/S

𝜌 = 1.205 Kg/m3

Pr =0.703

Cp =1005 J/KgK

K =0.02593 w/mK

α =21.417 x 10-6m2/s

Re = 𝜌vd
µ
= 1.205 x 3.5 x 6 x 10-3
18.14 x 10-6
=1394.98

Nu = [0.43 + 0.50 x Re0.5] x Pr0.38

= [0.43 + 0.5(1394).5]0.7030.38
= 16.71

ho = Nu x Kf
d
= 16.71 x 0.02593
6 x 10-3

= 72.215 W/m2K

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

Overall heat transfer coefficient U

U = 1

1 + 1 +1 + ln r2
` ho hi 2πKL r1

= 1

1 + 1 + 1 + ln 4
406.876 72.215 2πx386x 3
= 60.35 W/m2K

By using LMTD Method

LMTD = ΔTi-ΔTo

ln(ΔTi/ΔTo)

ΔTi = 35- -28

=63 oC
ΔTo =10- -28
=38oC

LMTD =
( )

=49.45oC
As =

=0.3085 m2

No of coils =

=37

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

2.1.6 Condensor Design

Fig 16 T-S diagram

From isentropic compression

p1-vx Tv =constant

p1 =1.3153 bar

T1 =-28oC

=245 K

P2 =8 bar

1.3153-.4 x 2451.4 =8-.4 x T21.4

( ) =( )

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

T2 =410.378 K

Since for isentropic process

S1 =S2

S1 =6.0327 KJ/KgK (Sg when p=1.3153 bar)

S2 =6.0327 KJ/KgK

S2 = S21 + Cp ln

Cp value NH3 vapour when temperature =130oC=2273J/KgK

S21 =5.3977 KJ/KgK

6.0327 =5.3977+2.273 ln

T21 =310.06 K

462.28
381.917

301K 298K

Fig 17 counter flow

Heat to be released by condenser = m• x hfg

hfg =1193.87 KJ/Kg

m• =Mass flow rate of refrigerant

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

=6.62 x 10-4 KJ/S

Heat to be released =m•hfg+m•Cp(T2-T21)

Qreleased =6.62 x 10-4x1193.8 + 6.62x10-4 x 2.273(410.378-310.06)

=0.9413 KW

=941.3 W

This heat is released by Natural convection

Qconvection =hAs(Ts-Tα)

Ts =

=360.22 K

T2 =35oC = 308 K

For natural convection ,ho=17 W/m2K

941.3 =17xAsx(360.22-308)

As =1.06033 m2

πDLn =As

n =125

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

CHAPTER 3

3.1 Analysis Of Designed Coil

Proposed design of coil

fig 18 model 1

fig 19 model 2

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

fig 20 model 3

Selected Design

The duct is a rectangular block having dimensions as 375x. The 26 coils are
arranged in both lower and upper sections. The air enters through lower section and
passes over the coils and enter into the upper section through the vent provided at the
interface having dimensions. The air leaves at the same side of entering. All the walls
are having 1mm thickness. All other walls are insulated to reduce heat loss except
bottom wall. The propose design drawn in catia is shown below.

Fig. 21 Catia drawing of coil

A simplified model is made to conduct analysis to check whether the

generation of water is possible at the given inlet condition of air. The simplified
drawing in catia is shown in figure below.

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

Fig. 22 Simplified design in Catia

The simplified drawing is imported to ansys workbench and meshing is done.

Fig 23 workbench imported drawing

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

Fig. 24 Meshing

The boundary conditions given for analysis are

The inlet is specified as velocity inlet and air velocity at inlet section is given
as 3.5m/s. The outlet is specified as pressure outlet and gauge pressure at outlet is
specified as zero. All walls except bottom wall are set as stationary wall having zero
heat flux. Temperature at bottom wall is maintained at saturation temperature of air.

Fig. 25 Meshing in fluent

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

CHAPTER 4

4.1 Result

The temperature profile of air at 308k and 303k inlet temperatures are shown
in figure. From the figure it is clear that at 308k inlet temperature of air (which is the
worst scenario) temperature of air leaving at outlet is below the dew point
temperature. So it is clear that at 308 k and temperature below the same having
relative humidity above 50% water generation occurs.

fig.26 Temperature flow(303 K inlet air)

Fig. 27 Velocity variation along flow(308 K inlet air)

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

Fig.28 Outlet pressure at 308 K inlet temperature

Fig.29 Inlet pressure at 308 K inlet temperature

The variation pressure at inlet and outlet section are shown in figure 16 and
17.Outlet pressure is constant which is equal to atmospheric pressure . Along the flow
direction pressure get reduced to atmospheric pressure from the inlet value. Velocity
distribution along flow is shown in figure 14.

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

Fig.30 Temperature variation along flow (inlet air temperature 303 K)

Variation of temperature air along the flow is shown in fig 17. Temperature of
air surrounding to coil is less than due point temperature of air. So water vapour in air
is condensed to liquid.

Fig.31 pressure inlet at 303 K inlet temperature

Fig. 32 outlet pressure at 303 K inlet temperature

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

Fig. 33 velocity variation along flow(303 K inlet temperature)

The variation pressure at inlet and outlet section are shown in figure 18 and
19.Outlet pressure is constant which is equal to atmospheric pressure . Along the flow
direction pressure get reduced to atmospheric pressure from the inlet value. Velocity
distribution along flow is shown in figure 20.

Fig. 34 Fabricated product

Fig. 35 Fabricated coil

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

CONCLUSION

This project presents, a study of compression refrigeration system for water

extraction from humid air and is carried out by designing the components of the cycle
through establishing a comprehensive mathematical model describing the entire
processes accomplished within the major components of the unit based on heat and
mass conservation balancing considering steady flow processes. The sizes of major
components involved within the system have been determined. The amount of the
extracted fresh water from humid air is determined for certain operation conditions

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Project 2016-17 Atmospheric Water Generator

REFERENCES

[1] Brown, D.R., Fernandez N., Dirks J.A., Stout T.B. "The Prospects of
Alternatives to Vapor Compression Technology for Space Cooling and Food
Refrigeration Applications". Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNL). U.S.
Department of Energy, 2010

[2] Arora C.P, Refrigeration and air conditioning. Tata McGraw-Hill

Education, 1July 2001

[3] Kabeela A.E, Abdulazizb M., Emad M.S. “Solar-based atmospheric

water generator utilisation of a fresh water recovery: A numerical study”, 2014

[4] Anbarasu T., Pavithra S. “Vapour Compression Refrigeration System

Generating Fresh Water from Humidity in the Air”, 2011

[5] Kothandaraman and S. Subramanyan “Heat and mass transfer data

book C. P”., 2002

[6] RK Rajputh ,”Refrigeration and air conditioning”

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