Sincerely, Brooks Bradley.
-- The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org To post, address your message to: silver-list@eskimo.com Address Off-Topic messages to: silver-off-topic-l...@eskimo.com The Silver List and Off Topic List archives are currently down... List maintainer: Mike Devour
---------[ Received Mail Content ]----------
Subject : [RE]CS>Solar Distiller: Comment
Date : Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:26:17 -0400 (EDT)
From : "Brooks Bradley" <brooks76...@lycos.com>
To : <silver-list@eskimo.com>
Hello Trem,
About 10 years ago, when we we looking for economical approaches for desalination of water (for drinking purposes)for desert countries bordering oceans/seas......we came upon this, exact technology. The original; design/development was conducted by Siemens (Germany).
It seemed (after our investigation) that their principal interest was as a outlet for their HDP plastic material....for the cone proper. The device worked very well (limiting factor being the daily yield was about 10 to 12 ounces of drinkable water). I, personally, contacted their marketing director in an effort to see if we might work something out for high quantities.....for distribution in North and Central Africa. The best they would do was $50.00 each in quantities of 1000. This was a little steep for us, considering the very limited volume yield. Siemens eventually lost interest in "direct" involvement and it seems they sold their rights to aome enterprising young German who is winning "awards" across the environmental "political realm".....but still (10 years later) has not mass produced the Watercone for general distribution.
Stimulated by the idea Siemens was using, we designed a unit which just "reversed" the cone (turned it upside down) and placed the collection receptacle on a raised (about 2 inches between the bottom of the collection glass and the bottom of the solar unit floor pan). We just filled the aluminum pan (a turkey roaster type from Walmart0 about 1/2 full of "candidate water" and set the collection glass on the pedestal----in the middle of the aluminum pan. The system worked in splendid fashion and produced 2.5 times as much distilled water as did the Watercone-prototype unit. One of the reasons for our improved performance was that we used a 40" diameter piece of 20 gauge galvanized sheeting shaped into a circle and painted it flat-black (on both sides). Additionally, we placed a heavy duty, garden-type trash bag (Black) under the raw water pan.
The mode of operation was: The sun evaporates the raw water; the distillate collects on the underside of the inverted cone and runs down into the collection glass. No matter what type of recycling might occur, only distilled water can enter the receptacle.
Our total parts cost was $9.00 and change per unit. It was ridiculously simple
and one fifth of what Siemens wanted to charge us. We constructed about 25 of these little systems and shipped them over seas (Tanzania, Africa), together with the simple details for constructing additional units. We did, however, encounter some difficulty in getting them to the target villagers (had to employ the assistance of a missionary group to run interference
to prevent low-level "government weasels" from stealing ALL of them them . We were told the units worked VERY well, but we changed our arrangements for the future. Using the sister of one of our auxiliary staff (a local University Professor from Tanzania, teaching at UTA, Arlington) as the on-site program manager, we simply sent funds to her church group and they obtained the materials for additional units locally
and had volunteers assemble the units for distribution in western Tanzania. This worked quite well and since all of our data is in the Public Domain, anyone can make and produce this simple little device. The greatest limitation for the device is that it does require high-grade clear plastic.....for reliable and long-term operation.
I apologize for this lengthy diatribe, but your comment about the Watercone being "inexpensive" punched my button. Inexpensive, at $50.00 each, maybe in the Western world....
but for the people who really need such a device....it is quite steep (even for NGO foundations)....and for the people themselves....PROHIBITIVE (AT LEAST IN MY VIEW).
Trem, please understand that my remarks are in no way intended to compromise your very altruistic intent in relaying the quite useful information on the Watercone. It is, in truth, a very effective device.....but limited in cost effectiveness-----except for NGO's with
deep pockets.
Best Regards, Brooks.
olid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0.8ex 0pt 0pt 0pt; padding-bottom: 1ex;'>
---------[ Received Mail Content ]----------
Subject : CS>Solar Distiller
Date : Wed, 9 Jul 2008 15:02:03 -0700
From : "trem" <t...@silvergen.com>
To : <silver-list@eskimo.com>
Hi folks,
Check this solar still. Saw it in Nexus Magazine today. http://watercone.com/product.html Couldn't be more simple. Cheap too.
Trem
www.silvergen.com
