Abstract

BAUTISTA-OLIVAS, Ana L.; TOVAR-SALINAS, Jorge L.; PALACIOS-VELEZ, Oscar L.  and  MANCILLA-VILLA, Oscar R.. Atmospheric humidity as optional source of water for domestic use. Agrociencia [online]. 2011, vol.45, n.3, pp.293-301. ISSN 2521-9766.

Water shortage in arid and suburban areas is a worldwide problem, so it is necessary to evaluate options for obtaining water by unconventional methods. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate a source of water supply through collection by condensation of water vapor from the atmosphere, with the prototype higroimán (hygromagnet) CP-HI-03, which induces the dew-point conditions. In this study conducted in México City from March 14 to June 3, 2008, the performance of seven levels of temperature and two times of operation of the prototype were analyzed. Means of results of relative humidity, air temperature, coil temperature and volume of water collected with the prototype were analyzed with the Tukey test (p≤ 0.05). The maximum amount of water collected was obtained with a relative humidity of 69.8 % at an average temperature of the higroimán of -10.6 °C condensing 1.980 L in a 15 h period. With the higroimán, water from the air is obtained and with higher relative humidity higher amount of water is obtained with less consumption of electric energy.

Keywords : condensation of water vapor; relative humidity; absolute humidity; dew point; hygroscopicity.

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