Design and fabrication of a water distiller

Abstract

The objective of this project is to design and fabricate a low cost water distiller capable of producing water that is pure in all ramifications for domestic and commercial consumers. The critical components of the distiller are made of stainless steel. These parts include the tank, the lid/condenser and the distilled water collector. Selection of material used is based on both their physical and chemical properties. The tank has a square base and the opening end of the tank is slanted. This will make the condensate to trickle downward for collection at the end of the lid. The lid is continuously cooled by water at room temperature that runs from a tap. The distiller is able to produce 29.4 x 10-3 litres (29.4 ml) of distilled water in 10 minutes. Once the water is boiled, the heater can be switched off and continuous cooling of the condenser/lid could last 30 minutes. The volume of water produced is approximately 105.3ml. Distillation continues until the temperature drops to room temperature i.e. 25°C by which time, the volume of distilled water will drop since the production of steam will decrease due to the drop in temperature of water in the tank. The water distiller is designed and fabricated from locally sourced materials and this makes it cheap and affordable to the common man in our society.