The Austrian start-up Fontus has developed a water bottle that can fill itself by collecting water vapour in the air. Under the right weather conditions, the water bottle is said to be capable of generating 0.5 litres of water in an hour’s time.
How does it work?
The bottle contains a solar-powered cooler which essentially contains two chambers. The bottom chamber is kept hot, while the upper chamber is kept cool. The air passes through the bottom chamber. The hot air then moves to the upper chamber where it is cooled. The process of cooling hot air causes condensation resulting in water droplets. The collected droplets trickle down passing through a filter where contaminants are removed. Pure dust and germ free drinking water is stored in the container.
“The idea was to solve a global problem: water issues in areas of the world where there is very little groundwater but very high humidity,” said Kristof Retezár, designer of the bottle. “My intent was to invent a machine or device that would be able to filter the humidity in the air and turn it into drinkable water,” he added.
The device gained exposure when it was shortlisted for the 2014 James Dyson Award. The Austrian government helped it through the development phase. The company now aims to start a crowdfunding campaign to cover the cost of mass production.
