Solar still
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
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Retort or still
Related Subjects
140909* -- Solar Thermal Utilization-- Miscellaneous Solar Applications-- (1980-)
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
BLOWERS
CONDENSERS
CONTAINERS
DESIGN
DRINKING WATER
ELEMENTS
EQUIPMENT
EVAPORATORS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
NONMETALS
OXYGEN
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYTOPLANKTON
PLANKTON
PRODUCTION
SOLAR CONCENTRATORS
SOLAR DISTILLATION
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SOLAR REFLECTORS
SOLAR STILLS
TANKS
TUBES
VAPOR CONDENSERS
WATER