The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 18, 2013
Filed:
May. 03, 2010
Richard L. Henderson, Portland, OR (US);
Richard L. Henderson, Portland, OR (US);
Other;
Abstract
A solar energy conversion and distillation apparatus floats on a body of saltwater and includes a matrix of buoyant distillation modules that produce and collect distilled water for on-shore usage. The distillation modules and other buoyant structures are mutually joined within a peripheral seawall to form an atmospheric barrier, and each distillation module includes a submerged energy absorber layer to form an energy conversion chamber that confines a shallow volume of solar-heated seawater. Water vapor in the air above the confined water condenses on chilled heat exchanger conduits, and the energy absorber layer is water permeable so that confined water lost to evaporation and condensation is replenished with water from a thermal reservoir underlying the energy conversion chamber. Buoyant mistifier units in each distillation module enhance the evaporative surface area of the water vapor subject to condensation.