Water Bottle Fills Itself From the Air

mbstone writes "The Namib Desert Beetle generates water from water vapor via its shell, which has alternating hydrophilic and hydrophobic bumps which channel water droplets into its mouth. Scientists at MIT developed a self-filling water bottle using this technology, and have announced a contest for the best design of a countertop water-from-air generator."

Comments

3L per square meter per hour @ 75 percent humidity

[zill]

You know what they say, the bottle is half empty for pessimists and 1 year away from being full for an optimist.

Water Vaporware

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like vaporware to me.

Re:Hydrophobic?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not hydrophobic, I have gay friends!

I'm not hydrophobic, some of my best friends are wet.

Re:3L per square meter per hour @ 75 percent humid

[zill]

I did. It's roughly 0.7mL per hour for a 710mL coke bottle; takes around 40 days to fill it up.

Re:3L per square meter per hour @ 75 percent humid

[GameboyRMH]

And now imagine instead of being a bottle, it's a dense matrix made to maximize surface area and fresh air is pushed through with a solar-powered fan to accelerate the "condensation." Sort of like an evaporative cooling chiller in reverse. It could be really useful in humid tropical areas and a good alternative to desalination plants.