Patent ID: 8535486

Claim:
A water desalination system comprising: an evaporator for evaporating saline water to produce water vapor; an adsorber in vapor communication with the evaporator during an adsorption process reversibly adsorbing the water vapor received from the evaporator by an adsorbent material; said adsorber in selective vapor communication with a condenser configured to condense the water vapor to provide desalinated water, and; a desorber configured to desorb the adsorbed water vapor from the adsorber for collection by the condenser; said adsorber comprising at least two adsorbent beds configured to adsorb the water vapor, and; the adsorber including a cooling water circulation system, proximate to the at least two adsorbent beds for selectively cooling said at least two adsorbent beds to aid in the adsorption of the water vapor; a selectively operable set of valves arranged to simultaneously permit a first bed of said at least two adsorbent beds to be in vapor communication with the condenser while said desorber desorbs the water vapor and permit a second bed of said at least two adsorbent beds to be in vapor communication with the evaporator such that said second bed reversibly adsorbs the water vapor.