nir-vana innovation network

Several are places in constant need for drinking water, especially isolated places, rural areas or small islandic territories only to mention a few.
The system patented by an Italian inventor includes a prism structure, consisting of a plurality of slabs (glass or plastic material, but also of photovoltaic panels or other materials), hermetically connected, leaving open the lower surface which is immersed in the water so that it can enter into the prism autonomously. The prism is anchored to a support structure permanently fixed to the bottom of the basin.
The facility, hermetically closed by the slabs and water at the lower side, becomes an “assisted solar furnace”. Inside the prism, placed just immediately below the water surface, there are electrical resistors powered by the renewable source (wind turbine, etc) associated with the system. Those resistors, combined with the energy collected from the irradiation of the sun, have the function to heat (about 20° to about 100 °C) and bring quickly to boil the water surface inside the prism. The steam thus generated is then conveyed, by convective motions, into a separate reservoir placed below sea level, in which, due to the reduced temperature, the steam condensates and turns into purified water.
The liquid thus obtained can be transferred and then be used.
The water produced at the end of the process is desalted and suitable for pharmaceutical or other industrial uses. After further cheap remineralisation processes, the water can become drinkable.
The system is cost-effective and efficient. The inventor estimated the yield and the energy needs compared to a module of about 5 m of side: placed in the Mediterranean environment, the system, associated with 8 MW wind turbine, with 6 hours of sunshine per day could produce more than 100 m³ of water.
The inventor is interested in finding an industrial partner to license the patent and start commercialize the product derived.

Advantages & innovations

The system is cheap and needs minimal maintenance. The system is based on the solar furnace and water evaporation and condensation processes, accelerated thanks to the association of heat produced by resistors powered by energy produced from other renewable sources (solar, wind). Due to its use peculiarities, the system is particularly suitable to be combined with offshore wind turbines. The innovation can produce pure and drinkable water without chemical or bacteriological methods, and due to the positioning directly into the seawater, it avoids the storage and treatment of the resulting salt. Unlike the others existing solutions, it does not use pumps and is designed to be placed directly into the water basin treated. The system can be customized and dimensioned to produce the water amount required.

Stage of development

Concept stage

Partner sought

The inventor aims to license his patent. The counterpart could be a multi-service company interested in creating the plant for the production of distilled water for the medical or industrial sector. Innovation can also be of interest to companies in the sector of the production of energy from renewable sources, in particular solar, wind and marine energy, since it is designed to be integrated/associated with a renewable energy source.