Solar water taking and power generating device and method for water taking and power generating

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11156384-B2
Application number	US-202016933471-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 20, 2020
Priority date	Dec 19, 2019
Publication date	Oct 26, 2021
Grant date	Oct 26, 2021

Abstract

In a solar water taking and power generating device, a concentrating-cooling plate encloses the opening, and at least one freshwater collecting channel is formed between the seawater tank and the concentrating-cooling plate; a cation exchange membrane includes a semiconductor film body, nanoparticles, and a capillary water-transporting conduit, wherein the semiconductor film body is provided with cation-selective channels; sunlight illuminates the cation exchange membrane and the nanoparticles through the concentrating-cooling plate, so that the first temperature, the first seawater concentration and the first electric potential in the first side are higher than those in the second side, respectively. The evaporated seawater enters the freshwater tank after condensed, and the cations transfer from the first side to the second side to form an ionic current.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A solar water taking and power generating device, comprising:
a seawater tank for storing seawater, which is provided with an opening facing sunlight;
a fresh water tank for storing the condensed freshwater;
a condensation water taking unit comprising a concentrating-cooling plate for gathering sunlight and at least one freshwater collecting channel formed between the seawater tank and the concentrating-cooling plate, wherein the opening is enclosed by the concentrating-cooling plate, and the freshwater collecting channel is connected to the freshwater tank; and,
a power generation unit floating on the surface of the seawater, comprising,
a cation exchange membrane comprising a semiconductor film body for generating the photo-Dember effect, nanoparticles provided at a first side of the semiconductor film body facing the concentrating-cooling plate, and a capillary water-transporting conduit for transporting seawater from a second side to the first side, wherein the semiconductor film body is provided with cation-selective channels; and
an external circuit comprising a first electrode arranged on the first side and a second electrode arranged on the second side, wherein sunlight irradiates the cation exchange membrane and the nanoparticles through the concentrating-cooling plate, so that the first temperature, the first seawater concentration and the first electric potential of the first side are higher than the second temperature, the second seawater concentration and the second electric potential of the second side, respectively; subsequently, the evaporated seawater enters the freshwater tank through the freshwater collecting channel after being condensed, cations directionally transfer from the first side to the second side through the cation-selective channels to form an ion current, and electrons of the external circuit transfer from the first electrode to the second electrode to generate a current.

2. A solar water taking and power generating device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein when the temperature difference between the first temperature and the second temperature, the concentration difference between the first seawater concentration and the second seawater concentration, and/or the potential difference between the first potential and the second potential are within a predetermined range, the cation-selective channels are narrowed to a predetermined threshold range such that only cations pass through the channel.

3. A solar water taking and power generating device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the cation-selective channels comprise a negatively charged surface layer.

4. A solar water taking and power generating device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the cation-selective channels are tapered hole or trapezoidal hole channels, which have a diameter of 15-30 nm at the narrowest part and a diameter of 70-100 nm at the widest part.

5. A solar water taking and power generating device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the semiconductor film body is made of carbon nitride or a derivative thereof, and has a thickness of not more than 300 mm.

6. A solar water taking and power generating device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the nanoparticles is made of the material comprising gold, silver or derivatives thereof, and have a size of 10-100 nm.

7. A solar water taking and power generating device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the capillary water-transporting conduit is fixed in a cation-exchange membrane and made of hollow and hydrophilic carbon fiber composite material, and the aperture of single conduit is not more than 0.1 mm.

8. A solar water taking and power generating device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the concentrating-cooling plate for transmitting sunlight and cooling water vapor is made of highly light-transmitting resin and has an angle of more than 45 degrees with the horizontal direction.

9. A solar water taking and power generating device as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the predetermined threshold ranges from 2 nm and 15 nm, and the external circuit comprises a switch, a current measuring unit or a voltage measuring unit.

10. A method for water taking and power generating using the solar water taking and power generating device as claimed claim 1 , comprising the following steps:
the first step: continuously transporting a seawater on the second side to the first side by the capillary force of the capillary water-transporting conduit;
the second step: irradiating the cation exchange membrane by sunlight through the concentrating-cooling plate, wherein irradiating the nanoparticles on the first side to generate local surface plasmon resonance to absorb solar energy, and converting the absorbed solar energy into thermal energy to heat the seawater on the first side and generate steam, and wherein irradiating the semiconductor film body to generate the photo-Dember effect;
the third step: condensing the steam by exchanging heat with outside air at the concentrating-cooling plate to form condensed water, and making the obtained condensed water enter a freshwater tank through a freshwater collecting channel to realize condensation water taking, and meanwhile, the first temperature, the first seawater concentration and the first electric potential of the first side are higher than the second temperature, the second seawater concentration and the second electric potential of the second side, respectively; and
the fourth step: directionally transferring the cations from the first side to the second side through the cation-selective channels under the combined action of the temperature difference, the concentration difference and the potential difference to form an ionic current, and transferring the electrons of the external circuit from the first electrode to the second electrode to generate a current.

Assignees

• Univ Xi An Jiaotong

Inventors

• Qu Zhiguo
• Wang Qiang
• Tian Di

Classifications

• Y02E10/44

  Heat exchange systems · CPC title

• F24S10/13 Primary

  Salt-gradient ponds · CPC title

• H02N3/00

  Generators in which thermal or kinetic energy is converted into electrical energy by ionisation of a fluid and removal of the charge therefrom (discharge tubes functioning as thermionic generators H01J45/00) · CPC title

• F24S21/00

  Solar heat collectors not provided for in groups F24S10/00-F24S20/00 · CPC title

• F24S60/20

  using chemical reactions, e.g. thermochemical reactions or isomerisation reactions · CPC title