Ford engineer created an air conditioner that condenses the drinking water from the air

Many modern car models have air conditioning. Thanks to them, even the hottest summer does not affect the comfort of the trip. He got into the car, turned on the air conditioner, and you went in coolness, not paying attention to the scorching sun rays outside. Water is drained from the air conditioner evaporator right under the car , so often under a car with a running air conditioner you can see a puddle.

Doug Martin [Doug Martin], one of Ford’s engineers, decided that water shouldn’t be wasted. He created a prototype system that collects evaporator water, purifies it and turns it into a drinking one. Not a drop of water is lost in vain - everything goes into business. The driver and passengers get the opportunity to cool on the road with clean and fresh water. This drainage system for the car was named "On-The-Go H2O".

Martin began work , inspired by the idea of ​​a sewer basin from Peru . This system also condenses water from the air, and turns it into drinking. Actually, water collects billboard, which is both a social advertisement and a source of drinking water. “Such billboards can be placed in various places where drinking water is most needed,” says Francisco Kilka, one of the project participants. In Peru, little liquid water, but the humidity is about 98%, that is, to extract water from the air is quite simple.
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The system uses a reverse osmosis process for water purification. After filtration, the water is distilled into tanks of 20 liters each. For three months, this type of billboard collects about 9450 liters of drinking water. This is quite a lot. If we consider that one person needs about 2 liters of water per day to drink, then a billboard can provide 50 people with drinking water. And this is just one billboard. If there are several, then there is enough water for a small village.

Doug Martin decided to try to make a similar system for the car. He does not work on his own, but in collaboration with John Rollinger, his colleague. Collected from the air, the water is purified, as mentioned above, and is injected into a special tank. And from there you can dial it into the cup, just by opening the faucet.


The performance of the system is sufficient to obtain water for all passengers of the car. In one hour, the “water from air” system can collect about 2 liters of clean drinking water. In a city or a cool area, this method of obtaining water may not be useful. But in the desert or just a dry region is just a gift. Water, if it is not needed, you can simply collect and transfer to a person who is very thirsty, being far from the source of drinking water.

If necessary, any water can be driven through the cleaning system and turned into drinking water. So far, the project is a prototype, but the inventor hopes to make the On-The-Go H2O system accessible to all. When this happens, while, unfortunately, is unknown.



Ford employees offered some more interesting ideas. This, for example, the application "Phone as Car". The idea is to allow any Ford car driver to adjust the microclimate of a car without digging into a pile of menus and settings. One click, and all auto systems work in the usual way. When autonomous machines appear, such a system can also be useful. For example, a user calls a robotaxy, which arrives with the microclimate preferred by this person and setting up all other systems.

The application has a translation function. A passenger in a car can use this function in conjunction with the Ford Sync platform in order to communicate with the driver in an understandable language. The driver speaks a few words in his own language, while Sync translates these words and transmits the passenger. The developer of this system decided to create something similar after traveling to China, where he did not understand anything that taxi drivers told him in this country.


And one more development from Ford engineers is a hoverboard on wheels, which is called “Carr-E”. The development of the system is still underway, but now the hoverboard can roll its passenger at a speed of 15-20 km / h. This system, according to its developer, is perfect for transporting a person with a cargo (for example, bags from a store) for a short distance. The system can move independently, in a following mode. In this case, the person goes home from the store, and the hoverboard obediently carries all the purchases.

According to representatives of the Ford company, none of the presented developments will be implemented in the coming months. But there is hope that these projects will still be implemented.

All this - side projects. As for the main ones, now the company is working hard to establish a mass production of UAVs by 2025. Now employees do a lot to ensure that such robotic cars are available not only to rich people, but also to those who cannot afford an expensive car.

The first batch of such drones will be released in 2021. But these robomobils will work as a taxi. According to the company, there is no steering wheel or pedals in the Ford drones, and the driver is not needed here.