Running out water amidst a 50, 75, or 100 mile bike ride may occasionally be life-threatening, but will undoubtedly always be a huge pain in the neck. Kristof Retezar, a student at the University of Applied Arts in Austria, developed a bike-mounted device that uses solar power to harvests moisture from the air and creates drinkable water.
Fontus, as the device is called, leverages the power of a small cooler called the Pletier element. The cooler, which is segmented into two halves, cools the upper portion and warms the bottom portion using electricity generated from the attached solar panels. As the rider pedals, air enters the bottom section of the device and cools the warm section which in turn cools the cold section even further. This causes the air the move upward into the top chamber, where it’s trapped in perforated holes that permit the water to condense and drip into any 500 ml bottle attached to the device.
The Fontus was conceived as an exercise in design, rather than as a product to sell, although Retezar is considering crowdfunding options to upscale the product since not much refinement is needed and a single unit only cost him $40 to make. The device is capable of producing 17 ounces of water for every hour spend riding in hot and humid conditions.
Source: jamesdysonaward.org
Advertisement
Learn more about Electronic Products Magazine
