English Abstract
Abstract:
Water Scarcity is a worldwide dilemma, thus, investigating sustainable methods of water production is one of the sustainable development goals. The following thesis investigates capability of creating an off-grid photovoltaic powered atmospheric water generating system that operates via underground region condensation in Bahrain (shallow subsurface).
The principle is to have a system which produces water from thin air through forcing warm-humid atmospheric air underground at colder shallow depths, causing water vapor to condense by reaching the dew point due to heat transfer. Consequently, the main objective is to analyze if it is theoretically viable and if so, how much water can be generated in a year.
The methodology closely mimics the shallow underground temperature profile in Bahrain through simulating a 3D model in COMSOL Software by deducing necessary Multiphysics and boundary conditions. To then pair it with a copper pipe and inject within it annual atmospheric air weather records and obverse thermodynamics behavior. Sample COMSOL results are compared with the simplified model to detect deviation between the quantity of water generated. Finally, to size required PV system components.
Hence, underground temperature profile at the surface ranged from 58 and 18 °C during the hottest and coldest intervals of the year while starting to stabilize annually at set temperature boundary conditions of 25 °C at 6-7m depth. Also, after using a 34m long copper pipe of 32.4mm ID with coil design, results were a total 29.2kg of water could be produced for 69 days/yr or 0.42 1/day. The average deviation between models was 43.4% due to volumetric flow rate integration. Sized PV system was a 50 Ah battery, 40W Panel and 5A SCC. Lastly, Recommendations for future work provided.
