In a world where water is an increasingly precious resource, a desalination installation powered by sea, air and sunshine is likely to please any eco-geek.

A sweeping lattice design intended for Spain's Canary Islands combines Charles Paton's "seawater greenhouse" desalination technology with a public performance space called Teatro del Agua.

"Just as the Prius will replace the Hummer on our nation’s roads, the TeaDesalination Using Sun, Wind And Seatro del Agua will replace the energy-intensive desalination plants of old, worldwide," says Joe Mohr of Cleantechnica.

In this video, Paton demonstrates the project engineering, and discusses how clean-water solutions also help solve the planet's problems. Grimshaw, the architects responsible for the aesthetics of the design, say that the result should be the world's first harbor-side development that is entirely cooled and irrigated by natural means.

The entire structure is oriented to the prevailing northeasterly wind off the ocean, exploiting the natural resources of the islands. Any shoreline location with wind coming off the sea could work the same way.

The design consists of a gigantic honeycomb lattice, with smaller grids (pink) in each section of the lattice. The entire structure is really a series of solar panels, evaporators (pink) and condensers (blue).

First, hot salty air (hot pink arrows) flows through the grid (pink) on the right, toward the blue tubes, which are the condensers. They are filled with very cold seawater pumped up from the deep ocean (that's why it has to be next to a deepwater source, for the heat differential) with holes at the tops, under each solar panel "roof."

Solar-powered fans blow the cold ocean spray out, toward the pink grid, against the prevailing warm sea wind coming through the grid. The combination of cold spray and warm air causes the salt to dry on the grid.

Once the warm, humid sea air, cleansed of salt, reaches the columns, it is rapidly cooled by the  seawater inside each column. The resulting condensation drips down each column, sliding into containers at the bottom. It's stored underground, producing "enough fresh water to supply a city," according to Paton. That depends on the size of this desalination structure and the city size and population.

The diagram below shows how the flow rates could be controlled by louvers on the leeward side. The entire structure tilts so the flat "floors" you see in the diagram below are really solar panels -- that's why the structure is not built straight up and down, but rather angled to maximize the amount of sunlight hitting the panels.

This installation could be built in other places, but it has a few siting requirements. It has to be adjacent to a source of deep water and have steady wind direction off the water source. The place also has to be mostly sunny.

What makes Charles Paton's invention so exciting is that it uses the deep, cold ocean water/warm land air differential like the cold-water powered air-condioning systems that some cities and towns are turning to. But Paton takes that idea one step further -- this structure makes fresh water on a municipal scale using renewable power.

Charles Paton's previous project, the seawater greenhouse, also desalinates water naturally, using just sunshine, wind and seawater, and then uses that water to irrigate crops. He was lead engineer on Britain's Eden Project.

The simple technology has a lot of potential and the sweeping structure of the form is an inspiring change from fossil-fueled desalination plants this could replace.

Via Inhabitat

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