Fog harvesting: A sustainable design and material analysis

Fog harvesting offers a sustainable solution to the pressing issue of water shortages. This method involves a vertically oriented mesh positioned perpendicular to the incoming fog, which allows fog to condense on its surface. The condensed droplets then flow down to a gutter or water-collection syst...

Full description

Autores:
Ortiz Ortiz, Mariana
Tipo de recurso:
Trabajo de grado de pregrado
Fecha de publicación:
2024
Institución:
Universidad de los Andes
Repositorio:
Séneca: repositorio Uniandes
Idioma:
eng
OAI Identifier:
oai:repositorio.uniandes.edu.co:1992/74427
Acceso en línea:
https://hdl.handle.net/1992/74427
Palabra clave:
Recolección de Neblina
Transferencia de Calor
Sostenibilidad
Condensación
Conductividad Termica
Ingeniería
Rights
openAccess
License
Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Description
Summary:Fog harvesting offers a sustainable solution to the pressing issue of water shortages. This method involves a vertically oriented mesh positioned perpendicular to the incoming fog, which allows fog to condense on its surface. The condensed droplets then flow down to a gutter or water-collection system, providing a source of drinking water. Given the acute water scarcity, especially in rural communities situated in mountainous or arid regions, this project aims to investigate and design an economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable system capable of collecting 3.7 liters of water per day. To achieve this objective, the project experimented with the harp mesh mechanism, utilizing materials with varying thermal conductivities to analyze the mesh efficiency when changing the heat transfer rate. A fog simulation device was designed, along with scaled-down meshes created using 3D printing for the frames. The investigation demonstrated that all the tested materials were capable of collecting the same amount of water. When scaled up to a 1-meter by 1-meter mesh, these materials can each collect 3.7 liters of water in a fog-like environment.