US-12618231-B2 - Self-adaptive multi-mode device for high-efficiency and all-weather water harvesting from air

US12618231B2US 12618231 B2US12618231 B2US 12618231B2US-12618231-B2

Abstract

Provided is a self-adaptive multi-mode device for high-efficiency and all-weather water harvesting from air. Electromagnetic three-way valves and a four-way reversing valve are controlled by a PLC module integrated with energy efficiency algorithms, thus realizing a device for water harvesting from air capable of self-adaptively switching working modes according to the working environment. By controlling the four-way reversing valve, heat energy and cold energy released by the condenser and the evaporator during the heat pump cycle can be fully utilized, and sorbent coatings at the cooling side are always kept in a sorption state, and sorbent coatings at the heat release side are always kept in a desorption state, so that continuous and high-efficiency water supply is realized, presenting higher energy conversion and utilization efficiency than the conventional electrical heating or electrical refrigeration technology.

Inventors

Tingxian LI
PengFei WANG
Jiaxing XU

Assignees

SHANGHAI JIAO TONG UNIVERSITY

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20240703
Priority Date: 20240130

Claims (6)

1 . A self-adaptive multi-mode device for all-weather water harvesting from air, comprising: two sorbent-coating heat exchangers, a plurality of fins respectively arranged inside the two sorbent-coating heat exchangers, a refrigerant closed-loop pipeline for communicating the plurality of fins inside the two sorbent-coating heat exchangers in series, a first three-way valve and a third three-way valve respectively arranged at a first inlet air duct and a second inlet air duct of the two sorbent-coating heat exchangers, fans for providing power to drive air inside the two sorbent-coating heat exchangers, a second three-way valve and a fourth three-way valve respectively arranged at a first outlet air duct and a second outlet air duct of the two sorbent-coating heat exchangers, water collectors configured for receiving water, and a sorption water collection module communicated with the two sorbent-coating heat exchangers via pipelines; wherein the water collectors comprise a first water collector and a second water collector; wherein the plurality of fins comprise a plurality of first fins and a plurality of second fins; wherein the fans comprise a first fan and a second fan, wherein sorbent coatings are respectively arranged on the plurality of fins; a four-way reversing valve, a compressor and an expansion valve are arranged on the refrigerant closed-loop pipeline, and are integrated with the two sorbent-coating heat exchangers to form a heat pump cycle and drive refrigerant to flow inside the refrigerant closed-loop pipeline; and the sorption water collection module comprises an air heat exchanger, and a first inlet and a second inlet of the air heat exchanger are communicated with the second and fourth three-way valves respectively arranged at the first and second outlet air ducts of the two sorbent-coating heat exchangers, a fifth three-way valve and a sixth three-way valve respectively communicated with a first outlet and a second outlet of the air heat exchanger, and a third water collector configured for collecting water produced by the two sorbent-coating heat exchangers.
2 . The self-adaptive multi-mode device for high efficiency and all-weather water harvesting from air according to claim 1 , wherein the two sorbent-coating heat exchangers comprise a first sorbent-coating heat exchanger and a second sorbent-coating heat exchanger, wherein the plurality of first fins are arranged inside the first sorbent-coating heat exchanger, the first inlet air duct and the first outlet air duct are directly integrated outside the first sorbent-coating heat exchanger, and the first fan is arranged at a bottom of the first sorbent-coating heat exchanger or inside the first sorbent-coating heat exchanger; the first three-way valve is installed on a pipeline of the first inlet air duct, and the second three-way valve is arranged on a pipeline of the first outlet air duct; and the plurality of second fins are arranged inside the second sorbent-coating heat exchanger, the second inlet air duct and the second outlet air duct are directly integrated outside the second sorbent-coating heat exchanger, and the second fan is arranged at a bottom of the second sorbent-coating heat exchanger or inside the second sorbent-coating heat exchanger; the third three-way valve is installed on a pipeline of the second inlet air duct, and the fourth three-way valve is arranged on a pipeline of the second outlet air duct.
3 . The self-adaptive multi-mode device for all-weather water harvesting from air according to claim 2 , wherein a first air filter is installed between the first inlet air duct and the first three-way valve; and a second air filter is installed between the second inlet air duct and the third three-way valve.
4 . The self-adaptive multi-mode device for all-weather water harvesting from air according to claim 2 , wherein one end of the second three-way valve connected to the first outlet air duct is connected to the first water collector, and another end of the second three-way valve connected to the first outlet air duct is connected to the air heat exchanger; one end of the first three-way valve connected to the first inlet air duct is communicated with environmental air, and another end of the first three-way valve connected to the first inlet air duct is connected to one end of a fifth three-way valve via a pipeline; and another end of the fifth three-way valve is communicated with external environment; one end of the fourth three-way valve connected to the second outlet air duct is connected to the second water collector, and another end of the fourth three-way valve connected to the second outlet air duct is connected to the air heat exchanger; one end of the third three-way valve connected to the second inlet air duct is communicated with environmental air, and another end of the third three-way valve connected to the second inlet air duct is connected to one end of the sixth three-way valve via a pipeline; and another end of the sixth three-way valve is communicated with external environment.
5 . The self-adaptive multi-mode device for all-weather water harvesting from air according to claim 2 , wherein the first three-way valve, the second three-way valve, the third three-way valve, the fourth three-way valve, the fifth three-way valve and the sixth three-way valve are all electromagnetic valves; the four-way reversing valve is an electromagnetic reversing valve; the first three-way valve, the second three-way valve, the third three-way valve, the fourth three-way valve, the fifth three-way valve, the sixth three-way valve, the four-way reversing valve, the first fan, the second fan and the compressor are all controlled by a PLC module, wherein the PLC module is integrated with energy efficiency algorithms to adaptively switch direct-dew-based atmospheric water harvesting working mode and sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting working mode according to temperature and humidity of working environment to realize continuous energy-saving water production.
6 . The self-adaptive multi-mode device for all-weather water harvesting from air according to claim 5 , wherein a first air filter is installed between the first inlet air duct and the first three-way valve; and a second air filter is installed between the second inlet air duct and the third three-way valve.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This patent application claims the benefit and priority of Chinese Patent Application No. 202410132288.1 filed with the China National Intellectual Property Administration on Jan. 30, 2024, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety as part of the present application. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to the technical field of water harvesting from air, in particular to a self-adaptive multi-mode device for all-weather water harvesting from air. BACKGROUND The technology for water harvesting from air is mainly performed in the following manner: fog-collection-based atmospheric water harvesting, direct-dew-based atmospheric water harvesting, and sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting. The fog-collection-based atmospheric water harvesting technology is only suitable for extremely high relative humidity environments, and thus is greatly limited by region and time. The direct-dew-based atmospheric water harvesting technology obtains condensed water by directly cooling the air below the dew point temperature. This technology is mature with a simple working principle and is more suitable for working in high relative humidity environments. However, it is difficult to operate in low relative humidity environments, typically presenting high energy consumption and even facing the risks of machine frosting and no water production. The sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting technology can harvest water from air in a wide relative humidity environment by means of water sorbent. However, current research shows that the sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting technology has low efficiency at high relative humidity environments, and the energy consumption thereof is significantly higher than that of direct-dew-based atmospheric water harvesting technology, so the sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting technology is more suitable for operation in low relative humidity environments. After retrieval of the prior art, it is found that the existing device for water harvesting from air generally adopts a single direct-dew-based atmospheric water harvesting or sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting technology. For instance, the Chinese Patent Application NO. CN202321057677.X designs a novel structure on the device using direct-dew-based atmospheric water harvesting technology, realizing higher stability and improved condensation efficiency However, the device present high energy consumption and low water production efficiency when operate in low-temperature and low-humidity environments. Even worse, due to the low dew point temperature, this device has the disadvantages of no water production and machine frosting, thus heavily limit their environment applicability. The existing Chinese Patent Application NO CN201710711661.9 designs a using method of a device for water harvesting from air combined with a multi-stage rotating wheel and a refrigeration device. By means of a single sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting technology, the device has wide environmental applicability, but the device has low water production efficiency and low energy efficiency when work in the environments with relative high humidity. However, in real life, the annual and daily relative humidity fluctuate greatly, thus it is difficult to meet the requirement of energy-saving and high-efficiency water production in all-weather wide working conditions only by means of a single atmospheric water harvesting technology. SUMMARY The present disclosure aims to provide a self-adaptive multi-mode device for all-weather water harvesting from air so as to solve the problem of how to meet energy-saving and high-efficiency water production in all-weather-wide working conditions without the restriction of region and time. In order to solve the technical problem, the present disclosure adopts the following technical scheme. The present disclosure provides a self-adaptive multi-mode device for all-weather water harvesting from air including two sorbent-coating heat exchangers, a plurality of fins respectively arranged inside the two sorbent-coating heat exchangers, a refrigerant closed-loop pipeline for communicating the fins inside the two sorbent-coating heat exchangers in series, three-way valves respectively arranged at air inlet ends of the two sorbent-coating heat exchangers, fans for providing power to drive air inside the two sorbent-coating heat exchangers, three-way valves respectively arranged at air outlet ends of the two sorbent-coating heat exchangers, water collectors configured for receiving water, and a sorption water collection module communicated with the two sorbent-coating heat exchangers via pipelines; in which sorbent coatings are respectively arranged on the fins; a four-way reversing valve, a compressor and an expansion valve are arranged on the refrigerant closed-loop pipeline, and are integrated with the two sorbent-coating heat exc