Effect of Electrostatic Field on a Fog Harvester Efficiency with Metal Porous Collector

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran

Abstract

Among the different methods of water supply, extracting water from atmospheric fog has recently received more attention from scientific communities due to its advantages and unique features. In this method, water droplets are trapped and separated from the air using metal meshes. The main challenge facing this technology is the low efficiency of water harvesting from humid air. To overcome this issue, the idea of using a metal porous collector has been tested in the presence of an electrostatic field. Parameters such as the porosity percentage of the collector, airflow speed, electric field intensity, and the distance between the emitter and the collector (field distance) on the water harvesting efficiency were studied experimentally. In the range of investigated porosities, the efficiency of the fog collector has its maximum value with a porosity of 95.6%. Also, reducing the field distance increases the efficiency. Investigating the effect of electric field voltage on the efficiency of the device showed that with the increase in voltage from 15 to 24 kV, the efficiency increases from 21% to more than 42%. At this voltage, the phenomenon of voltage saturation has occurred, so that a further increase in voltage does not have much effect on the efficiency. Investigating the effect of flow speed showed that the maximum efficiency of the device was achieved at a speed of 1.1 m/s.

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References

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Amirkabir Journal of Mechanical Engineering
Volume 55, Issue 1
April 2023
Pages 45-60

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