Technion Team Gets Prize for Water-from-heat Tech

Researchers at the Technion Institute of Technology and their partners in Africa have received a prize for the development of a technology that creates water from heat, which aims to provide clean water to third world countries.

The recipients of the newly set up Mauerberger Foundation Fund (MFF) Research Award for Transformative Technologies for Africa are Prof. Yehuda Agnon, Associate Prof. Mark Talesnick and Asst. Prof. Guy Ramon, along with Leslie Petrick of the University of the Western Cape in South Africa and Mekelle University in Ethiopia. Also receiving the award were three NGOs: Technion’s Engineers Without Borders (EWB), South Africa’s FLOW and Ethiopia’s Drop of Water.

The scientists have developed a low-cost system powered by renewable energy to extract water from humidity in the air. The technology is different from other techniques that generate water from air in that it converts heat into mechanical power in the form of an acoustic wave. This wave acts as a “virtual piston” that is capable of performing a cooling action.

The technology does not require electricity, as it uses only local heat.

The Phase Exchange Thermoacoustics (PXT) technology developed by the Technion researchers is thus “a candidate for low cost, small scale conversion” devices for rural and developing areas, said the Technion’s Ramon.

Source: Times of Israel

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Taxonomy

• Community Supply
• Rural Area Water Supply
• Water from Air