Air conditioning and water-harvesting

Abstract

A system that provides both air conditioning and atmospheric water-harvesting has a refrigerant compressor and a refrigerant condenser that serve separate evaporators for the air conditioning subsystem and the atmospheric water-harvesting subsystem. The system can be controlled to operate in one mode that maximizes water production output or another mode that maximizes efficiency in terms of water output per unit of electricity consumed. The ability to switch between maximized water production and maximized water-production efficiency can be implemented in a stand-alone, dedicated water-harvesting system as well.

1 . A combination air conditioning and water-harvesting system, comprising:
 an air conditioning subsystem comprising an air conditioning evaporator;   a water-harvesting subsystem comprising a water-harvesting evaporator;   a refrigerant compressor; and   a refrigerant condenser;   wherein the refrigerant compressor and the refrigerant condenser compress and condense refrigerant that is supplied to both the air conditioning evaporator and the water-harvesting evaporator; and   wherein the water-harvesting subsystem is configured to cool atmospheric air to a lower temperature than the air conditioning subsystem is configured to cool the atmospheric air, whereby the water-harvesting subsystem causes more moisture to condense out of the atmospheric air than the air conditioning subsystem does.   
     
     
         2 . The air conditioning and water-harvesting system of  claim 1 , wherein the system is configured to selectively operate in one of two modes, the two modes comprising a maximum-water-production mode and a maximum-efficiency mode. 
     
     
         3 . A water-producing device, comprising:
 a refrigerant evaporator;   a variable-speed refrigerant compressor and a refrigerant condenser which, respectively, compress and condense refrigerant that is subsequently supplied to the evaporator; and   a switch that controls operation of the device such that the device operates in one of two modes comprising a maximum-water-production mode and a maximum-operational-efficiency mode.   
     
     
         4 . The water-producing device of  claim 3 , further comprising a control module that controls the mode in which the device operates. 
     
     
         5 . The water-producing device of  claim 3 , wherein the switch is manually operable so as to manually select the mode in which the device operates. 
     
     
         6 . The water-producing device of  claim 3 , further comprising a control module that controls the mode in which the device operates, wherein the switch is further configured to permit manual override of the operating mode selected by the controller so as to permit manual selection of the mode in which the device operates.