Safe Drinking Water Thanks to Simple Solar Lens

Civil Engineering Student from the University of Buffalo Developed a Solar/Water Lens for Water Purification

As a summer research project, DeshawnHenry built a water lens from inexpensive, accessible materials that can clean 99.9% of pathogens in one litre of water by heating the water to 54 to 66 degrees Celsius in about an hour."We designed a six foot tall by three foot square frame out of wood," says Henry. "The lens is made out of plastic sheeting on the top of the frame with water poured on top. The lens focuses sunlight onto a container of water to be treated."

As the sun moves, the water treatment container has to be adjusted to remain directly under the solar lens' focal point. What is more, Henry says for the water purification system to be successful at the household scale, it would have to be several times larger than his prototype. His next step in the research project will be to build a larger lens and frame to be able to disinfect a larger amount of water.

Henry's biggest challenge was determining the optimal plastic sheeting and size of the lens. He also had to test how much water each thickness of plastic sheeting could hold until it brakes. "Plastic sheeting that was 0.7 millimetre thick worked the best, but could only support a small lens, so it could only treat a small amount of water," the inventor reports.

Henry says he is most excited about the potential to see his project applied in developing countries in desperate need of safe drinking water.

Source: SolarNovus

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• Purification
• Technology
• Solar Energy