A Sustainable Community

Solar Thermal Atmospheric

Water System for Rural India
Only 1.2% of all the water in the world is available to
us as fresh water through surface and ground water
resources. This water supply is stressed by a growing
global demand and the per capita availability is shrinking
fast. Ground water is often contaminated and also has
to be pumped out from greater depths. A major solution
is offered by atmospheric moisture. Over 70% of planet
earth consists of water bodies that release over 500
billion liters of water as vapour into the atmosphere.
Dehumidification technology extracts this moisture as
condensate and makes it available to us. This project
is an attempt to set up community Solar Atmospheric
Moisture Extractor (AME) and developing a techno-
socio-economically viable paradigm of sustainable
community water management, surrounding it. Among
several modes of dehumidification available to us the one
which is attractive for our purposes is the one which
utilizes solar thermal energy in an adsorption chilling
process of refrigeration. The technical advantage of this
mode is its freedom from grid electricity which is scarce
in rural India. In addition, it has no moving parts and so
can be easily maintained by rural population. Finally, it
relies on solar thermal energy, which is available during
most of the year in India.

Objectives of the project:

1.To design and develop an adsorption chiller
device which will condense atmospheric
moisture;
2.To design this device such that it is connected
to a solar thermal collector for energy;
3.To develop a viable prototype of a solar thermal
atmospheric moisture extractor.
4.To develop its scaled-up version for field trials
and monitor the system..
5.To develop an organizational model for the
participation of the different economic and social
stake-holders.
Expected Outcome:
1.A replicable techno-economic model of
energy efficient and easily manageable solar
atmospheric moisture extractor for bulk water
supply to a rural community.
2.A replicable institutional model of community
organization to adopt this technology.
3.A social impact assessment (SIA), a techno-
economic assessment (TEA) and an environment
impact assessment (EIA) report of the activity.

Target population/ Beneficiary:

A rural population of around 2500 people in Tamil Nadu.
 Budgett Rupees In Lakhs

Year 1
113.5

Year 2
395.3

Year 3
34.5

Year 3
543.3

Faculty
(i)Prof. M.P. Maiya, Head, Refrigeration laboratory
Department of Mechanical Engineering , IITM

(ii)Dr. S.S.Sivakumar, Managing Trustee, Pure Water Foundation, Chennai

Contact
Jo se ph T h o m a s
V P D e ve l o p m e n t , D e v e lo p ment Office
IIT M a dra s A lu m n i Ch a r it a b le Trus t
Inte rna t i o nal a n d A lu m n i R elat ions office
2 nd F l o o r, ICS R B u ild in g
Indi a n I n st i t u t e o f Te c h n o lo gy, M adras (IIT M )
Mo b i l e : +9 1 9 8 8 4 0 4 9 1 1 6
Offi c e : +9 1 ( 4 4 ) 2 2 5 7 4 9 24
E ma i l : j o e . v p . d e v e lo p m e n t @alum ni.iit m .ac.in