We all have seen the dripping water out of an air conditioner’s outlet. This water is the result of the condenser in the AC, which condenses the water vapour in the air due to its sudden expansion and then expels it out of the system. By an estimate, a car can drop off 64 oz (1.9 l) of water per hour – enough to fill almost four bottles.
A powertrain controls engineer at Ford; Doug Martin wanted to do something about the wasted water. Thus, he came up with an ingenious prototype which collects that wasted condensation water and recycles it to be safe for drinking and other purposes.
We have also seen the billboard in Peru capturing humidity in the air and converting drinking water, and Martin says that billboard was originally his inspiration. Working with John Rollinger, his colleague at Ford, he created the “On-the-Go H2O” system, which collects air conditioner condensation, filters it and then pumps it into a faucet inside the car.
This system is ideal for people who like to or have to make long journeys, and will cut down their breaks for buying water along the way. It would also be handy for people in the water-stressed areas if the system can be tweaked and used to filter dirty water for their usage. The applications of the design are endless, and if On-the-Go H2O is ever made commercial, it can be a huge hit both in the automobile industry and in other applications.
Watch the video of the system in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuR3HltxyzY
Would you like to have such a water recycling system inside your car?
Let us know in the comments section below!