FAST METHOD TO

MEASURE EVAPORATION

Submitted by-
Milind S. Sarode
Under the guidance-
Prof. A. A. Gawai
 Topics
 What is evaporation
 Importance of its measurement. And uses
 Current method to measure evaporation
 Introduction to fast method to measure evaporation
 Experimental setup
 Construction
 Working
 Area of the use
 Advantages
 Conclusion
 Introduction to evaporation

Evaporation is the process by which water turns from liquid to a gaseous state.

Many factors, including the atmospheric parameters and the heating load, govern
the process of evaporation.

Apart from being an integral process in the water cycle, evaporation also plays a
major role in regulating water loss in plants through a process called transpiration
Importance of measurement of evaporation

Moisture loss is an important process in the water cycle.

Out of the three ways in which moisture loss occurs in nature, the contribution from
the water surfaces is the largest.

Being the most dominant energy component related to the earths’ surface,
evaporation has been studied globally.

 Therefore Accurate, precise, and timely estimation (or measurement) of the rate of
evaporation is important.
 It is useful for -

Farmers to gauge water requirements for their fields.

Botanists to study the dynamics underlying transpiration by plants.

 Weather stations to characterize the local atmospheric condition.

 Current method to measure evaporation
 Currently, pan evaporimeters are the most commonly used devices to measure
evaporation rates.

They resemble large pans that are filled with water.

The change in water level over a day gives the evaporation rate from that area for
that day. Generally in mm/day.

But the disadvantages of the methods are that,

1 The evaporation rates are for one whole day,
2 Needs over a large area (generally of 1 square metre).
3 Also needs an open ground to place the device.
 Introduction to fastest method-
 On 4 December 2020 IISC BANGLORE have find a simple method of directly
measuring evaporation.

 It is the type of direct method, to measure the rates of evaporation in natural

conditions.

 The novel idea is to reduce the time of measurement (which is often hours in the
direct methods) to a few minutes.

 The proposed device is easy-to-use, portable, inexpensive, accurate, precise, and

fast.
 Experimental Setup

Experimental Setup of evaporimeter

 The proposed device consists of a filter paper connected to a capillary tube that takes water from a reservoir to the filter paper,
thereby wetting it and thus mimicking an evaporating water surface. By measuring the distance travelled by the lower meniscus in the
capillary tube over a couple of minutes, the evaporation rate is estimated.
 Construction-
 Filter paper (FP, with dimensions of 20 mm x 20 mm x 0.18 mm) is kept wet with
water using a unique method.

The FP is connected to a thick-walled glass capillary (GC, with inner diameter of 0.57
mm and wall thickness of 6 mm)

 Which takes water from a glass reservoir (GR) and supplies it to the FP.

The distance between the GC top and free water level in the GR is kept to a
minimum (initially this distance was 6 mm).
 The GR has a small breathing hole, which maintained the atmospheric
pressure inside the reservoir.

 The FP was kept horizontal using a flat acrylic piece at its bottom. This
ensured evaporation only from the top exposed surface of the FP.

 The entire setup was insulated with polystyrene (except the top evaporating
side) at all the sides.

 Aluminium reflector sheet was placed at these sides to prevent the

unwanted heating routes.
Working-
 A wet horizontal FP was used to mimic a water surface.

 The FP is hydraulically connected to a reservoir via a capillary.

 The FP remains wet, while the water level in the reservoir

decreases with time due to evaporation from the FP alone.

 The IR camera measures the surface temperature of the evaporating FP.

 We measured the rate of evaporation of water from the wet filter paper by filming
the movement of the lower meniscus in the GC once the assembly (FP plus GC) was
taken out of the reservoir.

 A digital camera captured this motion.

Area of the use-
 It gives you an idea of evaporation rate even from a small leaf.
 Useful to scientists studying the physiological process of transpiration in plants.
 Stomatal responses can also now be addressed, in a better and more controlled
way by using this device.
 In oceans to study changing evaporation patterns in the open sea.
 At weather stations to estimate evaporation rates in the atmosphere.
 Advantages-

 This device could show the evaporation rate within niche environment.
 It is being able to measure the very small amount of water that is lost in evaporation
from the surface in a minute. (about 1 microliter)
 It takes about 2 to 6 minutes for estimation of evaporation.
 It is the simple method of directly measuring evaporation from a small surface
nearly about two square centimeters
 Conclusion-
 A simple device capable of measuring the evaporation rate has been proposed.
 The results obtained from the model agreed reasonably well with the
experimentally measured values.
 This rapid way of measuring the evaporation rate is a novelty and is expected to
be helpful in the agricultural sector and meteorology.
 The device can also be included as a part of the weather stations
 The IISC Bangalore said that they are looking for interested companies to take it
up to make it into a product. And . make the device commercially available.
 They also have been doing some experiments in the polyhouse [a kind of
greenhouse used to grow crops in a controlled environment]
Thank you