Design of a mobile community level water treatment system based on Humidification Dehumidification desalination

Abstract

In order to successfully deploy the mobile desalination technology being developed at the Rohsenhow Kendall Heat Transfer Laboratories, it is necessary to design a three dimensional, solid model of the technology. This Humidification Dehumidification (HDH) based technology aims to be applied at community level water supplies, bringing clean water to those countries with inadequate water infrastructure. The mobility provided by the model would allow the HDH based desalination setup to be moved to other communities with a higher demand for clean water at a moment's notice. The model described herein describes a preliminary plan on how to organize the components of the desalination system. Two systems were created for this purpose, a single-dehumidifier system (SDS) and a multiple-dehumidifier system (MDS). These systems maximize on the amount of accessible space while minimizing on used material. While the SDS assembly may need rearrangement due to a federal width limitation preventing its deployment in the US, the MDS assembly is more promising. Nonetheless, the SDS assembly may still be deployed in areas such as India or Africa, where regulations are not as stringent.