Battleangel

A little breakthrough on the humidifier project. It is a bit crude, I know, but sometimes that is the price for your conviction.
Basically, what this 4×4cm unit does is that it causes a mechanical vibration (in the ultrasonic range) that ionizes the water molecules and sends them sky high. To shorten a very long and dull story: It can run for 10 h, ionizing 100ml of water / h. And it runs on 24V (20W).

The upside is that the unit is cheap and .. that is just about the only thing.
On the downside it is extremely fragile. Break the membrane and you’re done for. And it needs periodic cleaning, which is always a problem because of the fragility. Also, 100ml / h isn’t alot so the effect (if any) is local. Last but not least it reguires some sort of “casing” and special container. The mist needs to be able to escape the bowl or wherever you have submerged the unit. I.e. a really flat bowl, but deep enough to have at least 5-6 cm of water.
And on top of this there is a considerable splash from the upraising ions. The mist itself disperses without leaving wet spots underneath the container but the splash effect is considerable. The only way around this is to construct some sort of umbrella that will catch the droplets and guide them back into the main container. Or else you need a main container that is at least 40-50 (diameter), an aquarium design or an extra collector bowl underneath. It is no surprise that these misters are a favorite with zoologists and specifically herpetologist.
The lower the water level, the more it splashes .. and the more ions seem to be able to “get free” without returning to the bowl. Similarly, if you add a cap/umbrella that is positioned too low then most of the mist will end up as droplets on its dorsal side. So it makes sense to just catch “real” droplets. The process (as I was blissfully unaware of until I bought one) obviously needs a considerable splash in order to work. Reduce the splash and you reduce the mist. I need to design a good dropcatcher before I proceed. See the image below …

The initial tests were a bit disappointing. Since I couldn’t disperse the mist and it for the most part stayed in the bowl, it was not possible to increase adjacent relative humidity by more than 2-3 units at best (from 44 to 48% all @23C). I need to make the mist flow out without spraying water all over the place. And I need to do it in style. I am also considering building something more elaborate using a 80mm case fan @ 5V.