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US 2014/0190352 A1Published application
Liquid collecting permeable structures
AssigneeMassachusetts Institute of Technology
InventorsKyoo-Chul Park, Shreerang S. Chhatre, Gareth H. McKinley, Robert E. Cohen
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Abstract
A structure for collecting liquid droplets from an aerosol can have a structure and properties that are selected for efficient liquid collection. In particular, the strand radius and spacing of a mesh, and a material for coating the mesh, can be selected to provide efficient collection of water droplets from fog.
Claims21
A device for collecting droplets of a liquid from an aerosol, comprising:
- an aerosol-permeable structure including strands having a characteristic radius, and a characteristic spacing, a characteristic spacing ratio;
- wherein the outermost surface of the strands comprises a material having a low contact angle hysteresis for the liquid.
A method of making a device for collecting droplets of a liquid from an aerosol, comprising:
- identifying aerosol conditions, wherein the conditions include an average droplet size of the aerosol and a wind velocity of the aerosol;
- selecting a characteristic radius, a characteristic spacing, and a characteristic spacing for strands of an aerosol-permeable structure, so as to provide efficient droplet collection for the identified conditions;
- selecting a material having a low contact angle hysteresis for the liquid;
- and
- applying the material to form the outermost surface of the strands.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.