Procedure For Obtaining Water From A Mass Of Atmospheric Air And A Machine For Obtaining Water By Condensing The Humidity In A Mass Of Air

Abstract

A procedure for obtaining water from a mass of atmospheric air comprising the following stages. Creating a flow of air and circulating it through the secondary circuit of an exchanging element for preliminary cooling, which may or may not initiate the change of water's state from vapour to liquid; subjecting the flow of pre-cooled air to further cooling capable of lowering the temperature to at least below the dew point in order to originate the change from vapour to liquid or continue to the process if it was initiated during the preliminary cooling; collecting the condensed and/or frozen water; recirculating the flow of dry, cool air through the primary circuit of the exchangers in order to use the residual cold for preliminary cooling.

1 . Procedure for obtaining water from a mass of atmospheric air wherein it comprises the following stages: creating a flow of air from a mass of air and circulating it through the secondary of an exchange element for the purposes of preliminary cooling, during which the change of the water from a vapour state to a liquid state may or may not be initiated; subjecting the pre-cooled flow of air to definitive cooling to the point where the temperature falls to at least the dew point in order to provoke a change of state in the water vapour or continue the process if it was initiated during preliminary cooling; collecting the condensate and/or frozen water; recirculating the flow of dry cool air through the primary circuit of the exchangers to use the residual cold for preliminary cooling.  
   
   
       2 . Procedure according to  claim 1 , wherein natural air currents are used in the generation of air flows.  
   
   
       3 . Procedure according to  claim 1 , wherein artificial means are used to generate the flow of air.  
   
   
       4 . Procedure according to  claim 1 , wherein the flow of incoming air can optionally be subjected to additional preliminary cooling before being sent to the exchangers' secondary circuit.  
   
   
       5 . Procedure according to  claim 4 , wherein the additional preliminary cooling is produced by a cooling machine.  
   
   
       6 . Procedure according to  claim 4 , wherein the additional preliminary cooling is produced using a flow of water and exchangers.  
   
   
       7 . Procedure according to  claim 4 , wherein if the definitive cooling is provoked by an evaporator in a conventional cooling machine comprising a compressor, evaporator and condensator, the flow of outgoing air exiting the exchanger's primary circuit will have an impact on the condensator, taking advantage of the residual cold to evacuate the heat generated therein, this being equivalent to the heat taken from the incoming flow of air plus the equivalent in calories of the energy consumed by the compressor.  
   
   
       8 . Procedure according to  claim 7 , wherein if the temperature of the incoming air is too high, an additional flow of air will be added to the flow of circulating air, after exiting the exchanger's primary circuit and before having an impact on the condensator, which will cooperate in evacuating the heat generated in the condensator.  
   
   
       9 . A machine for obtaining water by condensing the humidity in a mass of air wherein it comprises a sweeping machine with a main intake and outlet, between which a forced flow of air is established; the machine comprises cooling equipment which is adequately engineered to lower the temperature of the air flow to below the dew point in order to condense the humidity in the air; at least an air-air exchanger to use the residual cold of the flow of dehydrated air exiting the cooling equipment to pre-cool the incoming flow; and at least a turbine or fan to generate the incoming-outgoing flows through the respective inlets-outlets; the machine is also equipped with a collector or vat to collect the condensate.  
   
   
       10 . A machine according to  claim 9 , wherein the cooling equipment comprises a compressor, an evaporating unit and a condensation unit so that the evaporating unit acts as the cooling element of the cooling equipment which is placed inside the loop described by the flow between the two circuits of the cross flow recovery device in order to reduce the temperature of the air to below the dew point, while the condensation unit is positioned at the outlet of the cooled and dehydrated flow of air from the secondary circuit of the flow recovery device, after the connection with the intermediate intake in order to take advantage of the residual cold to evacuate the heat in the condensator and thereby improve the machine's general efficiency.  
   
   
       11 . A machine according to  claim 10 , wherein if the temperature of the incoming air is too high, the machine is also equipped with an intermediate intake of outside air that is connected to the circulating flow at the outlet from the secondary circuit of the air-air exchangers and before entering the condensator so that the extra flow is able to cooperate in the evacuation of the heat generated in the condensator, equivalent to the heat from the flow of incoming air in the evaporator plus the equivalent of the energy consumed by the compressor.  
   
   
       12 . A machine according to  claim 9 , wherein the turbine or fan is located adjacent to the outlet through which the cold, dehydrated air is expelled from the machine.  
   
   
       13 . A machine according to  claim 9 , wherein it is equipped with an additional preliminary cooling element for the incoming air.  
   
   
       14 . A machine according to  claim 13 , wherein the additional preliminary cooling element consists of conventional cooling equipment.  
   
   
       15 . A machine according to  claim 13 , wherein the preliminary cooling element consists of an exchangers that uses the cold from a natural water current and/or from a flow of water cooled by a machine.  
   
   
       16 . A machine according to  claim 9 , wherein the air-air exchangers is composed of a cross flow recovery device.  
   
   
       17 . A machine according to  claim 9 , wherein the cooling equipment consists of an air-air exchanger with two circuits: the air from which the humidity is to be extracted flows through one circuit and a flow of cool water flows through the other.  
   
   
       18 . A machine according to  claim 17 , wherein the flow of low temperature water comes from a hospital cooling machine.