Self-filling waterbottle announced!

Biomimicry is the term given to using nature as an inspiration for sustainable technology ideas, and a young company has joined the biomimicry brigade with its prototype self filling water bottle, which mimics the Namib desert beetle. NBD Nano, a startup of four graduates with degrees in biology, organic chemistry, and mechanical engineering, hopes to bring their prototype to market. They say that, like this beetle, their bottle can pull water from the air. Their self-filling water bottle is said to be capable of storing up to three liters every hour.

"We have developed a proof of concept and [are] currently creating our first fully-functional prototype," Miguel Galvez, one of the co-founders, said.

"We realize that water is such a large issue in the world today, and we want to try to alleviate those problems with a cost-efficient solution," said Deckard Sorensen,

NBD Nano plans to enter the worldwide marketplace between 2014 and 2015.

This is great! Just imagine the possibilities that this water bottle would have (providing it is successful). The bottle can produce water out of thin air. If this actually latches on in the market and people start buying it, that would be great!

No more dehydration for people stuck somewhere without water!

links:

phys.org...
www.nbdnano.com...

Haha, reminds me of a episode of cougar town...

reply to post by daaskapital


I am looking it differently than you.
If everyone had one and pulled the water out of the air,would we have less rain and more drought??

To every action,there is a reaction.


Also,if it creates condensation from air I think thats good,if it takes water from the air than I think that is bad.
I am thinking creating condensation is how this works but I only skimmed the article.

If this works, and isn't too costly...I'll take two.

reply to post by daaskapital

Very cool(and refreshing ) I wonder if they can develop this tech to a larger scale and create single water sources for villages?
Biomimicry is a fascinating field with such a plethora of practical design and function. Coupled with nano-tech, we should expect many new technologies/products that can benefit our lives. Now I am waiting for the mechanized bird suit that will allow us to fly and glide.

Maybe one day we will have a bottle that provides food sustenance too, some type of bio plasma goo that is nutritious.

Peace

ETA: TED link:www.ted.com...

Originally posted by DrumsRfun
reply to post by daaskapital

 

I am looking it differently than you.
If everyone had one and pulled the water out of the air,would we have less rain and more drought??

To every action,there is a reaction.

Hmm. That may be a problem

I didn't really consider the possible negative reaction...it is an interesting one.

We will have to wait and see

Someone will become insanely rich if this is true. Imagine no more plastic bottle waste.

Sounds too good to be true (not the tech - just the possibility of it entering the market)

I wouldn't be surprised if these guys "partner" with a larger company who facades to handle marketing/distribution but is in fact, owned by Coke or PepsiCo. Invention buried = profits saved

reply to post by DrumsRfun


I highly doubt that capturing condensation in a water bottle for private drinking use could effect local weather...

Even if 90% of said population were to do so, the numbers just don't add up but I get where you're coming from,


SS

reply to post by DrumsRfun


True, but there is a reaction to that too

And if we do...

We have to pump less water out of the ground or otherwise..

So unless we use MORE water .. things will be equal ..

Maybe even better as the groundwater table will be less distorted...

reply to post by Spike Spiegle


Agreed.
Creating condensation is good,taking water from the air is bad.

Wow now all we need is to add a wind up kettle and we can have tea whereever and whenever we want.
Huzzah!!!

If this is true - it is awesome. Lots of places have issue with water sources and this type of technology can really help. Clearly if 3 liters is possible for a relatively small bottle - larger volumes also can be obtained from bigger containers.
3 liters per hour sound too optimistic though.Just found on Wiki that max air humidity is 30 gr of water vapor per cubic meter of air. Either surface area in the bottle is going to have to be huge ,which is not easy, or it is going to be like giant hoover which means that there will be a need in strong power source.
Anyway - i wish them good luck and hope they prove me totally wrong.

Boring.
Now wake me when they make a self filling beer bottle.
That's something I'll pay for.

Originally posted by DrumsRfun
reply to post by daaskapital

 

I am looking it differently than you.
If everyone had one and pulled the water out of the air,would we have less rain and more drought??

To every action,there is a reaction.


Also,if it creates condensation from air I think thats good,if it takes water from the air than I think that is bad.
I am thinking creating condensation is how this works but I only skimmed the article.

edit on 26-11-2012 by DrumsRfun because: (no reason given)

Dehumidifiers use the same concept as this water bottle. We have been using dehumidifiers for 50 + years and so far it hasnt had any affect on the local weather. The one in my basement can sometimes fill the entire 2 gallon tank in a day. This is taking way more condensation out of the air then this waterbottle.

What I am seeing is the ability to have pure drinking water without the Government additives. In some places it would also mean access to much better water than what is naturally available.

Put one of these bottles above otherwise undrinkable water and do the conversion thingy.

Sounds great.

P

reply to post by daaskapital


This sounds so amazing! imagine the water problems they could fix!... Uff imagine water without fluorine... Im getting myself one of thoose, and if they are cheap enough ill buy a bundle and donate to charity!

Originally posted by DrumsRfun
reply to post by daaskapital

 

I am looking it differently than you.
If everyone had one and pulled the water out of the air,would we have less rain and more drought??

To every action,there is a reaction.


Also,if it creates condensation from air I think thats good,if it takes water from the air than I think that is bad.
I am thinking creating condensation is how this works but I only skimmed the article.

edit on 26-11-2012 by DrumsRfun because: (no reason given)

I agree. I would rather go with this:

www.amazon.com...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353977736&sr=8-1&keywords=water+purifier+pen

Not water out of thin air, but still very practical.

There are also desert leaves that can do that. They actually look pretty fleshy. Some of them have very deep roots as well. The leaves have these deep grooves that collect any dew and channel it to the roots.

I live in the south and it is very humid anyway. I found one day a few inches of water inside some stacked rubbermaid containers. The moisture just got trapped inside those. I bet it would taste awful, like plastic though.

A solar still would work pretty well around here. I also heard about this thing that turns salty or brackish water into clean water. It works like a solar still to collect the steam.

www.fastcodesign.com...


I think that UV light will kill some impurities in water if you can't boil it. You can put water into a plastic jug and leave it in the sun to settle. The light will kill some stuff. You should definately filter water through cloth and then boil water if you can though.

I also heard of this thing that gets water from the leaves of trees. It is basically a bottle that you put around the tree leaves. It collects the humidity from the tree leaves. The tree keeps sending moisture into its leaves and it keeps getting vaporize out and then collected in the bottle. You can collect some water in this bottle and drink it, but you have to wait for it to collect. It might take overnight or something but you can have a little water.

This bottle snapped around the leaves but maybe there is a way you can make your own. It needs to have a wide mouth or be able to go around some leaves but it needs to be sealed so moisture is trapped condenses.

LOL you guys are hilarious! I had to sign up just to comment on this one...

Where do you think the water comes from in condensation? It comes from the air.

Condensation is just about temperature differentials causing the water to 'condense'. Technically any time you take water out of the air you are causing it to 'condense' because it is going from a gas to a liquid.

As for affecting rainfall.. if it's raining, theres no need to use this technology. You could perhaps worry if people are hanging huge sheets of this material over crops in an entire farming region, but if people are using it in a place like a desert where the air humidity is only ever 0-30%, they would not be affecting rainfall at all, and it would give them a source of water to grow *something* at least.