Efficiency of Water Extraction in an Electrostatic Wire-Cylinder System

Concerning the increasing need to control humidity or efficiently collect and retain water from the air in various applications, phase-change heat exchangers are typically used for these purposes, operating at low temperatures below the dew point to facilitate the condensation of water vapor. However, it should be considered that the energy required for cooling the condenser in such devices can become significant regarding their primary functions. This paper presents an experimental study concerning the implementation of an enhanced electrostatic phase-change rate water condenser with a wire-cylinder design. This improvement is achieved by promoting the nucleation of water vapor and fine droplets on mobile charge carriers generated through corona discharge. Furthermore, the electric field pushes water vapors and droplets toward the cooled condenser wall. Water droplets and vapor are studied in terms of additional potential introduced to the evaporation energy barrier on the surface of the droplets through dielectrophoretic interactions with charge carriers. The experimental results on the phase-change effect of the corona discharge reveal a significant improvement of at least 15% in condensation rate.