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US 7,815,776 B2Granted
Desalinization by evaporation from capillary material
OwnerGeorge E. Wilsoninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and an apparatus for desalinizing raw water are disclosed. The method can include wicking the raw water into a porous material by capillary action and heating the raw water in the porous material with a heating element to form water vapor. The water vapor then can be condensed to form purified water. The apparatus can include a chamber for holding raw water, a heating element, a sheet of porous material and a chamber for collecting water vapor evaporated from the raw water in the porous material.
Claims6
An apparatus for evaporating raw water and collecting the resulting water vapor, comprising:
- a lower chamber for holding raw water;
- a heating element extending over the lower chamber and positioned above or partially submersed in the raw water;
- a sheet of porous material extending over the heating element and having a submersed portion in contact with the raw water and a non-submersed portion above the raw water, where the heating element is in contact with the non-submersed portion of the porous material;
- an upper chamber above the sheet of porous material for collecting water vapor evaporated from raw water in the porous material;
- and
- a vapor-recompression device,
- wherein the heating element comprises a conduit that receives water vapor collected in the upper chamber and transfers heat from the water vapor to the raw water in the porous material, and the vapor-recompression device pressurizes the water vapor before the water vapor enters the conduit.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.