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A German design student has created a tent-like device that harvests water from fog.
The DropNet is the brainchild of Imke Hoehler, who created it as part of her industrial design course at Germany’s Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design.
Simply put, it's a fog collector that collects tiny droplets of water from the air and then causes them to coalesce.
<img src="http://cdni.wired.co.uk/674x281/d_f/DropNet-3.jpg" alt="DropNet"/> Hoehler says it is constructed from an inexpensive mesh of polypropylene, which is "a special fabric using horizontal and vertical fibres to create a triangular pattern". This mesh traps droplets of water, which will then flow along the fibres to tiny channels or drain gutters at the edge of the DropNet, where it can then be collected in a small tank. These have an integrated filter within and so the water is drinkable straight away.
The polypropylene fabric is stretched over a frame, much like a tent is. However, the designer claims that it will be durable enough to withstand strong winds.
<img src="http://cdni.wired.co.uk/674x281/d_f/DropNet-4.jpg" alt="DropNet"/>
Hoehler claims that the design could harvest 10-20 litres of water per day in the right conditions, and "an array of several structures could easily supply a whole village with clean healthy drinking water". Quite the extravagant promise. And she adds that the DropNet is easy to put up (not like most tents then) and will be able to stand on both flat and uneven ground. <img src="http://cdni.wired.co.uk/674x281/d_f/DropNet-2.jpg" alt="DropNet"/> The designer lists Chile, Haiti, Peru, Nepal and Spain as suitable locations for the DropNet or indeed any "arid, coastal areas with altitudes between 400m and 1200m which exhibit a lot of fog accumulation".
But could such a simple design really be an answer to the increasingly desperate quest for water in some parts of the world? Your comments below.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
