When David Wright remembers his childhood, he remembers being with his dad on the lake.
“Some of the best times of my life,” he said.
But with our Arizona heat, a day on the lake can quickly turn into a barbecue.
“I couldn’t sit down here, it’s like, ow, ow,” Wright said, speaking of how hot the seats get.
So why not make a good thing even better? Wright and his dad of Mr. Misters had an idea – put solar panels on the Bimini top to power a long-lasting battery for the misting system. Then, draw water from the lake and purify it so you don’t have to worry about a pesky tank.
“It’ll drop the temperature quite significantly,” Wright said. “Right now, you guys are probably roasting. Me, I feel fine, I feel great.”
Electrical engineering student Adam Standard worked on this for his senior project as part of ASU’s eProjects program. And he said it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
“The pump system was five people, and the whole Bimini top with the solar panel is another 5 people,” Standard said.
Standard and Wright accept that this is a total first-world problem, but it doesn’t have to stay that way.
“This concept can apply to so many different things, and could apply to third world situations as well,” Wright said.
They’re still perfecting it, but they plan to blow the misting market out of the water in the next three to four years.
Article courtesy of AZ Family
