Hi, it's shonky product busting time again. We love this here on the eevblog. I got many requests for this one and it's been discussed on the forum and various places. It's the font as' the self filling water bottle on the crowdfunding site of choice Indiegogo and of course it has flexible funding the funding choice of champion scam campaigns everywhere.

So let's check it out. And yes, spoiler, It's a hundred percent grade-a baloney. So what is it? Well, the fountas creates water out of light and air and how does it do this? Well if you go all the way down here, it's a dehumidifier and here it is. It uses a solar panel like a flexible one that you can just unfold and then it's got a Peltier device in there which then cools down one side and a fan for the airflow.

There's another version for a bike as well which uses as your bike goes along. the ride. Here it is so the airflow instead of coming from a fan, it comes from you actually riding your bike and it's a dehumidifier. That's it.

Peltier device cools down on one side and it extracts water out of the air. Yes, technically possible, but hmm. is it gonna work as claim that. Let's bust this thing wide open.

using a basic principle thermodynamic systems. it's called latent heat specific heat and you can just go on Wikipedia and look this up. So in this particular example of dehumidification, what we're looking at is the gas to liquid a phase change specifically and we can get the latent heat of vaporization for this very easy. It's right there in the table on Wikipedia.

So we're going to use the basic equation: Q equals ml. and this is specifically for heat vaporization. It's not for latent heat fusion, which is the solid to liquid phase change. We're looking at gas to liquid or vice-versa phase change.

So Q is the amount of energy released or absorbed during that particular phase change. In this case, we're actually trying to draw energy from the system. we're trying to convert from a gas into a liquid. So this is the energy we have to put into our system into our Peltier device to actually cool down the air to extract the water.

So in this case, the units of energy are kilojoules and M equals the mass in kilograms and L is our specific heat. In this particular case, LV the specific heat of vaporization which we can get from the table. So the amount of energy Q that we have to put into the system in order to cool down the air to convert it to water. and we have a mass of one kilogram of water as what we want.

So we multiply that by 2264 kilojoules per kilogram. And of course, that's a world's easiest equation. It gives us an answer of 2264 kilojoules And look, they've got some data. So let's use their real data here that they've got.

Very comprehensive table. What this one shows us is how much water? the arrow which is the blue circles. Don't worry about the ride, the bike wonder can't produce as much water. Let's go for the arrow.

The blue circles here. You'll note the size of those represents one liter of water. So let's go for the absolute best case scenario for this thing. Okay, not the worst case.

The absolute best case: what we've got here is the amount of water it can produce, the bubble size in what time on the x-axis here in minutes versus on the y-axis the humidity, and the temperature. So let's take the absolute best case here. At ninety percent humidity and 40 degrees C, it's a pretty crap environment, isn't it? It'll take in that condition. Let's call that about a hundred and fifty minutes to produce one liter of water.

90 percent humidity? 40 degrees C Obviously, as the temperature drops, you're going to produce less and less water, even for the same theory given amount of time, even for the same humidity environment. So this is the absolute best case using their own data that this thing can actually produce. So now we can actually do a calculation for one hour. Now they claim to be able to produce a one liter of water in a hundred and fifty minutes in a 90 percent humidity environment at 40 degrees cells.

Sok Accidentally wrote 99% there. Oops. So how much energy do we need to put into the system for one hour to get that one liter of water? Well, we can just take the twenty to sixty four kilojoules we got earlier, divided by two point five because we're 115 minutes and it takes 905 kilojoules to produce one liter of water in one hour. And we can work that out in what's what's kilojoules meant? No one knows where kilojoules that is equal to 250 watts per liter for one hour.

And of course that is just the basic thermodynamics. It's for a 100% efficient system. We haven't talked about anything else involved in. let the temperature gradients and everything like there's a whole bunch of other stuff.

This is 100% efficient system. So what is the 250 watt solar cell look like to produce one liter of water in a one hour? Well, let me show you, this is one of the most efficient 250 watt panels. Look at the size of this thing. It's one of these rooftop installation ones.

This will produce 250 watts in ideal solar insulation ie. middle of summer, the absolute best case conditions. And also. Ah, you've got to track the thing like this.

- you got to track the Sun to get the optimum efficiency out of the damn thing. You're going to be kidding me. They don't fill it up in one hour. Oh Phoo.

But of course that's not going to give you one liter of water. So talking about a 100% efficient system here, that 250 watt panel is 1.5 square meters. Even if you scaled that back for the hundred and fifty minutes that they are claimed here, then you would still need naught point. Six square meter solar panel with a hundred percent efficiency tracking.

The Sun was solar. You know the best solar insulation in the middle of summer. Everything else to get there. Claimed one liter of water on A, but you're not going to get it because it's a hundred percent efficient system.

Ah, you can see how they've just plucked this data out of their ass, but look at this solar panel. it's got to be like 30 centimeters on a side, so no point One square meters one-sixth of the size required to get they're claimed data down here at 100% efficiency in the entire system like I. Don't even have to get into Peltier devices and the rest of these thermodynamics of the thing right there. You know their data is busted.

100% grade-a and remember that was ideal case for 40 degrees C 90% humidity environment. It's just going to drop to bugger or they are out by several orders of magnitude. So sorry to anyone who backed this turd because it will not happen. This thing will produce bugger water and you want to just pissed away your money.

Three hundred and forty-one thousand dollars with three days left. Unbelievable. But this is what you get when you get a art student. This is from like a university school of art.

like Design Arts and Things I Don't want all these awards and got you know awarded and got back to every like mentioned everywhere all over the place. And it's just back-of-the-envelope stuff. You can tell they're out by several orders of magnitude. Now just a quick note about the efficiency there have been saying, you know, assuming a hundred percent efficiency? Well, some people might point out that heat pumps that you typically get in your air conditioner and things like that can actually have more than a hundred percent efficiency in terms of pumping heat.

ie. it might be a five kilowatt heat pumping air conditioner, but it might only take you know 2,000 watts or two kilowatts for example. So it can actually be more efficient than that. But we're not dealing with your more traditional aircon type heat pumps Here, we're dealing with a Peltier device.

And if we go and have a look at one of the you know one of the you know top quality brand went on the market and have a look at the data sheet here. for this one, this is like a 30 watt I've got. Yeah, this is a 36 watt model that we're going to take a look at here and it will actually have a graph for the coefficient of performance cop it's called and here it is here and you can see that the coefficient of performance one on the Y-axis here actually means a hundred percent efficient. Okay, and it can actually go greater than one.

These polio devices can. and this is extremely typical of polio devices. They're almost all identical, give or take. You know, a few tens a percent or something like that.

Or you know, if you get some weird, you know, research, he type one. they can be better, but that's only at low input voltages I Eat low currents, low powers. So when we're operating here, we're going to be operating this thing at the maximum power possible. So that figure the efficiency figure is actually typically taken for these Peltier devices.

A nominal industry rule of thumb is that about 0.4 to 0.7 coefficient of performance. so about 40% to 70% efficient. So the figures we've been looking at and it's going to be worse. Oh, and the different parametric curves here.

There actually are four different Delta temperatures. That's what Dt is. the differential temperature between one plate and the other. so you know the higher the temperature difference between the plates, the lower efficiency you actually get.

But hey, you know these things can actually be reasonably efficient at low powers with low temperature differentials. But that's not what we're dealing with here. And of course, there's nothing new here. No new technology at all.

It's just a Thermoelectric Peltier Effect Dehumidifier and Tada. Here's a buyer's guide of all the Thermoelectric I dehumidifiers on the market. Some of the best ones. Let's take a look at it.

So if we have a look at this one which they rate is the highest tested moisture removal rate in its class. If we have a look at this see this Ivation one we can actually look at the moisture removal rate and see how much. and here it is. It's rated by the manufacturer to remove six ounces of moisture per day from the air and this one night draws about 13 and a half watts and basically exactly what that solar panel wall chip might typically get on a good, you know, cloudless day.

You know, a good solar insolation, good position angle, everything else six ounces? I don't know. Now it says I had to use my convert E Naught point one seven liters per day. that's for tween four hours continuous operation from that solar panel you do not get I own 24 hours of Sun You get like peak during the day and it's a curve like this so even you know like if you're lucky you might get like you know, six hours of sort of. you know, really good usable energy.

Maybe in summer, eight hours or something like that, but you're still knocking your even if you had it for 24 hours, you're still only going to get point One seven seven. That's one of the best and most efficient tested thermoelectric dehumidifiers on the market. And I really shouldn't even have to mention the stupid a bike version. Look, you've got to strapped on the bottom here like the solar panels? are you kidding me? The surface area, the angles, half the side won't be used and your knees will be blocked.

Like like no. Oh geez. luckily a couple Watts out of it. So if we have a quick look at the ride here, this is the render for the thing which is very similar to their prototype which I'll show you on a second.

We have our old friend look the storage battery. Why? Because the solar panels gonna do bugger or and check this out. this is a real hood. Current Status of Technical Development: The basic principles of the Fountas technology: Atmospheric water generation through condensation ie.

a dehumidifier has been proven and tested in monitored conditions. With your support, we will be able enter into a higher development phase, optimize efficiency. Here you think, refine the design and provide test data because we don't have test data. so if they don't have any test data, they've just admitted it provide test data.

Where did this come from came out of their ass. That's where it came from. and more gems. We can't guarantee that Fountas will deliver a constant water output in all conditions and may produce little or no water at all under some conditions.

No. Sherlock So they've been working on this thing for years and they've got a real flashy video. They're all confident it's fantastic. Everyone's sold and right down the bottom here it is.

It's explicitly pointed out that the products which service perks are in the development phase. It cannot be excluded that during development phase, technical, economic, or other circumstances may arise in a delay of the delivery of the perk, production and delivery of the perk in a different form as regards to functionality and/or design and non that production of the perk there same well. If it doesn't work technically and we can't meet our claims which they can't then may just not gonna deliver. It sucked in.

Thanks for the money though, so it's done. I Don't know what else I have to say about this thing. It's just it's just ridiculous. It's a case.

This is what happens when you get a timeline like this where they actually do the engineering. If you have a look at the timeline, they actually did production, design, patent filed Australian Design and World Company founded and then the IndieGoGo campaign. we've got down after the IndieGoGo campaign. Oh, they'll just do some technical development and they'll refine it and optimize it.

You can't design. You can't refine and optimize by several orders of magnitude. They simply failed to do basic engineering. basic physics on this thing you've got to add BAE the laws of thermodynamics.

You just can't get around it. You need this sort of energy to put in and then the efficiency of this system and the whole rest of it. It's bastard. So there you go.

That's the font. Another ridiculous impractical IndieGoGo campaign you'll get bugger or water from. It won't be worth your while and if you want to know a bit more of the physics are behind this Thunder Foots done and excellent video on this is. well.

I'll link that in so check that out. Well there's only one thing left to do with this and that is to do a community service and posted I Found their address on the University website so maybe Lola learnt something from it. so here we go catch you next time. For me, it's like magic because out of thin air and Sun we are bringing this bowl to fill itself with drinkable water.

A bottle that gives you the freedom to go anywhere. And yes, it's complete. But it's not stopped it from being given about 1/3 of a million dollars and featured all over the place. So imagine you have a glass of water and you put a seal on the top.

The water will establish.