Solar still

Patent · Tue Aug 26 00:00:00 EDT 1980

OSTI ID:6727328

Gruntman, L R

A solar still adapted to float on a body of water has a toroidal evaporating chamber with sunlight admitting and absorbing, respectively, top and bottom walls for vaporizing water from the body admitted to overlie the bottom wall. A surrounding inner float ring and underlying toroidal inflatable float support the chamber. A condenser depends from and communicates with the evaporating chamber through elongate coaxial vapor outlet and air return tubes, and in turn supplies distillate to a pendent holding tank. A rotatable shaft extending coaxially down through the evaporating chamber carries a fan to propel vapor from the evaporating chamber into the condenser due to rotation of a windmill atop the chamber. A curved reflector is rotatably driven atop the inner ring to direct additional sunlight on the evaporating chamber as the sun moves overhead. An outer float ring loosely coaxially surrounds the inner float ring. The annular water surface between the float rings, covered by a transparent film, forms an oxygen production zone occupiable by oxygen producing phytoplankton fed by nutrients in water brought up from beneath the thermocline by thermosiphon flow between the warm condenser and a surrounding heat skirt. Pump units mounted on the outer float ring remove distilled water and any oxygen produced, the latter for example to a device for dissolving the oxygen below the thermocline in the body of water.

• Assignee: IFI; ERA-06-007413; EDB-81-016161
• Patent Number(s): US 4219387
• OSTI ID: 6727328
• Resource Relation: Patent File Date: Filed date 19 Dec 1977
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
SOLAR STILLS
DESIGN
WATER
SOLAR DISTILLATION
BLOWERS
DRINKING WATER
EVAPORATORS
OXYGEN
PHYTOPLANKTON
PRODUCTION
SOLAR REFLECTORS
TANKS
TUBES
VAPOR CONDENSERS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
CONDENSERS
CONTAINERS
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
NONMETALS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLANKTON
SOLAR CONCENTRATORS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
140909* - Solar Thermal Utilization- Miscellaneous Solar Applications- (1980-)