A new solar desalination system takes in saltwater and heats it with natural sunlight. The system flushes out accumulated salt, so replacement parts aren’t needed often, meaning the system could potentially produce drinking water that is cheaper than tap water.
It looks like the idea here is "distill water, but not entirely, so that the concentrated brine remaining washes away rather than becoming salt crystals.
I’m a little skeptical that this is the first time someone didn’t fully evaporate the water in the brine – at least with commercial reverse osmosis systems, it’s the norm to have concentrated brine remaining.
But maybe they are the first, or maybe it’s the specific method (“eddies”?) of avoiding having crystals form.