Rice engineers develop resonant power system for extra environment friendly photo voltaic desalination
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Could 15, 2025
Rice College researchers have launched a novel desalination expertise designed to reinforce the effectivity and adaptableness of solar-powered water purification. The brand new system, described in a research printed in Nature Water, leverages a resonant power switch strategy that overcomes the intermittency of daylight, a typical limitation in standard photo voltaic desalination programs.
In contrast to conventional desalination programs that depend on fragile filtration membranes and centralized infrastructure, the Rice group’s Photo voltaic Thermal Resonant Power Change Desalination (STREED) system makes use of a streamlined, membrane-free design. This revolutionary strategy captures and reuses thermal power in a self-sustaining cycle, enabling steady freshwater manufacturing even when daylight is intermittent.
The STREED system operates by tuning the move charges of heated saline water and air to create a resonant thermal change, just like how power oscillates between magnetic and electrical fields in {an electrical} circuit. This methodology permits the system to effectively recuperate and switch warmth, considerably decreasing power loss and upkeep calls for.
“Our key innovation is utilizing insights from electrical engineering and the physics of oscillators to tell the adjustment of the system’s inside move charges to match the solar’s shifting energy all through the day,” stated William Schmid, a doctoral pupil in electrical and laptop engineering at Rice and Nationwide Science Basis Fellow. “This light-dependent move management hasn’t been executed earlier than.”
Aleida Machorro-Ortiz, a graduate pupil in Rice’s Utilized Physics Graduate Program and a co-lead writer on the research, highlighted the system’s sturdiness. “The system operates robustly and with minimal upkeep across the clock,” she stated.
The prototype, examined in San Marcos, Texas, produced as much as 0.75 liters of ingesting water per hour and demonstrated a 77% larger water-recovery effectivity over standard programs when examined utilizing varied photo voltaic depth profiles from areas throughout the USA. This efficiency signifies that the system can obtain excessive energy-to-water effectivity with out counting on peak photo voltaic situations, making it appropriate for a variety of climates.
The design’s simplicity is one other benefit. As an alternative of utilizing membranes, the STREED system employs a single heated channel of saline water paired with an adjoining air channel that captures evaporated water vapor. This vapor then condenses in a warmth exchanger, separating pure water from contaminants with out the danger of membrane fouling.
“We had been intentional in utilizing sturdy, low-maintenance supplies to make the system simply scalable and accessible,” stated Alessandro Alabastri, assistant professor {of electrical} and laptop engineering at Rice and a corresponding writer on the research.
The research’s different co-authors embrace Naomi Halas, College Professor and the Stanley C. Moore Professor of Electrical and Pc Engineering; Qian Ye, a Rice graduate pupil; Pratiksha Dongare, former Rice school and senior physicist at SLB; and Peter Nordlander, Wiess Chair in Physics and Astronomy at Rice.
Analysis Report:Resonant energy transfer for membrane-free, off-grid solar thermal humidification-dehumidification desalination
Associated Hyperlinks
