Performance Investigation of 18 Thermoelectric Cooler (TEC) Units to Supply Continuous Daily Fresh Water from Malaysia’s Atmosphere

In this work, an atmospheric water generator (AWG) system called the medium-scale AWG (MSAWG) was designed, fabricated, and tested in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) under the outdoor tropical climate conditions of Malaysia to investigate the amount of fresh water production in successive periods of 24 h. The MSAWG consisted of 18 thermoelectric cooler (TEC) units, 18 internal finned heat sinks, 18 external finned heat sinks, 18 direct current (DC) cooling fans, an air-conditioner mesh air filter, and an axial ventilation fan. It was found from the results that the hourly values of water production of MSAWG were proportional to the hourly rates of relative humidity, but they were inversely affected by the corresponding hourly values of the ambient temperature. Night-time and early morning were the most effective times to produce the highest amount of fresh water from Malaysia’s atmosphere using MSAWG, as the increase in the rates of relative humidity and the decrease in the values of ambient temperature occurred over these periods. Based on the varied hourly rates of relative humidity with the ranges between the minimum rate of 55% and maximum rate of 85%, an equation of Y = 0.2285X + 36.675 with R2 of 0.9404 was achieved from the 48 h experimental work to estimate the water production of MSAWG in Malaysia, where Y and X were indicated as the rate of relative humidity and the value of water production, respectively, in this equation. In conclusion, the MSAWG produced a consecutive cumulative water volume of 3.432 and 6.997 L experimentally in the periods of 24 and 48 h, respectively. The estimated cost per liter for MSAWG was USD 0.466. Some water quality parameters of the fresh water produced by MSAWG were analysed in the laboratory, which showed that they met the World Health Organization (WHO) drinking water standards. Therefore, MSAWG can be employed as a sustainable alternative to generate annual daily fresh water from Malaysia’s tropical atmosphere and aid in mitigating the problem of unpredicted water shortage in the country.