New ‘Dune stillsuit’ turns breath, sweat, pee into drinking water

YouTube channel Hacksmith Industries has successfully jerry-rigged a working “Stillsuit” inspired by the “Dune” science fiction universe. 

Using a combination of computer parts and health and safety personnel protective equipment (PPE), their “stillsuit” made drinkable water from the wearer’s sweat, breathe, and pee.

In Frank Herbert’s 1965 epic, “stillsuits” are essential survival gear for the inhabitants of the fictional desert planet of Arrakis. According to the lore, these suits can recycle most of the wearer’s body moisture to enable them to survive the harsh environment.

It consists of a sleek body-hugging suit with a mask or tube covering the wearer’s mouth and nose. In more recent adaptations, this has included an iconic tube that inserts into the wearer’s nostrils.

However, while fictional, the team at Hacksmith Industries thought they’d try making a working prototype. Surprisingly, they were pretty much able to make the concept work.

The “stillsuit” is made from common parts

While their prototype isn’t anywhere as “cool” as the ones featured in the film adaptations of the novel, they were able to function as intended. However, with much less efficiency than presumably, the real “stillsuit” would function.

The team achieved this feat by combining a Tyvek suit with an off-the-shelf Dune costume for much-needed aesthetics. The “stillsuit” business end consists of a thermoelectric cooler that condenses water vapor out of the air inside the suit.

They do this through a completely different approach to compressors you’ll be familiar with in your fridge or air conditioning units.

These devices are designed to cool computers and other electronics by running an electrical charge through two different types of metal. When in operation, one side of the device gets hot while the other is cold.

When tested on the workbench, it could condense water droplets out of the air relatively quickly. The team integrated this device into the suit by exposing the “cold” side inside the suit and the “hot” end outside.

For the wearer’s breath, a respirator was fitted with a plastic tube that passed the exhaled air over the same thermoelectric cooler for much the same purpose. In this sense, it worked akin to a reverse dehumidifier.

The team then fashioned a way to collect the liquid water into a drinking bladder within the suit. This was combined with an in-line water filter purchased from a local sports supply ship.

The suit actually works

This combination enabled the water to be collected, filtered, and then drunk by the wearer of the “stillsuit.” It was an impressive achievement, especially given the suit took less than a day to jerry-rig together.

When asked how the water tastes, Sherk, the suit’s guinea pig, replied that it was “warm!” The recycled water tastes, well, “Just like water!”

Of course, this one-day build “stillsuit” would pale in comparison to the “real” ones from the “Dune” universe. But, given that the franchise is set 20,000 years into the future, we can give the Hacksmith Industries team a much-needed break.

Who knows what kind of futuristic technology would exist in the far future?