Structural optimization for dew-condensers using computational fluid dynamics

Abstract

Water scarcity has been faced as one of the major threats to humankind this century. We here investigate a rather novel water collection device that wants to face this threat in an innovative form. We particularly find better geometries for the design of passive water collectors that take advantage of dew meteorological phenomena. We focus on the analysis of temperature distribution over a collection of dew-condenser surfaces by using Computational Fluid Dynamics. We detect key patterns for surface designs that maximize the cooling process by radiation while reducing heat transfer produced by convection. This is an especially innovative approach on air wells research field since the influence of geometries in the construction of condensers has had very little attention in the literature. The different geometries being tested allow us to clearly distinct between planar and funnel shapes in terms of efficiency. There are differences in temperature also between those geometries with folding on their faces and the ones without. Finally, we also evaluate the performance of the condensers in front of different wind directions. The findings from this highly multidisciplinary approach in collaboration with an architecture office will be useful for the construction of new dew-condensers in a near future.