Water is all around us - even in the desert - in the form of moisture in the air. A new wind turbine prototype uses the power of the wind to extract that moisture.
Australian farmers have been using renewable energy for over 130 years in the form of windmills used to pump water from under the ground.
Over time, the water source these windmills work can run dry or become so brackish, it’s unfit for stock and human consumption. Sinking a bore can also be an expensive, hit-and-miss affair and general groundwater depletion has become a major concern.
The WMS1000 wind turbine takes a completely different approach.
Air is drawn into the unit through vents situated just behind the turbine’s nose. A large condenser with a heat exchanger the equivalent of one meter wide and five kilometres long extracts the moisture from the air and the resulting water is piped away for storage and use. The 30kW wind turbine produces all its own power for the process and its self-cleaning condensing system contains a food grade stainless steel alloy able to sustain the process of creating potable water for decades.
The WMS1000 wind turbine features a direct drive generator that doesn’t require a gearbox; reducing maintenance and associated costs significantly. A hydraulic tilted mast avoids the need for heavy lifting equipment in maintenance and repair situations. The unit has a rotor 13 metres in diameter, a mast height of 24 metres and a nacelle 6 metres long with a 2 metre diameter.
Assuming suitable wind resources, the WMS1000 is capable of producing 350 litres of water a day in a desert area and up to 1,000 litres of water a day in coastal zones according to the company behind the unit, France-based Eole Water. Minimal wind speed required for water production is 7 metres per second and nominal is 10 m/s. The maximum wind speed the turbine can operate in is 50 m/s.
As deserts can be rather still places with little wind, Eole Water has this scenario covered too. The company is also developing a 30kW solar panel based and shipping container sized unit. Solar panels provide the electricity to power a suction turbine and other componentry similar to their wind turbine model.
Another renewable-energy based concept we reported on last year was the Airdrop - a solar and wind power assisted device that extracts moisture from the air for irrigation purposes; created by an Australian university student.
