US3928145A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Process for producing power, fresh water, and food from the sea and sun
Assignee: Individual
•
Filing: 1974-09-16
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Granted: 1975-12-23
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Expires: 1994-09-16
Abstract
Abstract Solar energy absorbed in surface waters of tropic and sub-tropic seas may be increased by more heat which can be added by intensive solar heaters. The warm sea water, when flash evaporated, gives vapors which may be passed through a heat engine to give power, then condensed at a lower pressure to give fresh water. Heat of condensation is removed by circulating sea water from a depth, often of only a few thousand feet. This is cold, and has considerable nutrients coming from the degradation of sea life. These nutrients are used in known mariculture systems to grow commercial food fish. Various arrangements of flows of the several liquid streams give different variations to produce power and/or fresh water in addition to food fish. These modifications may be optimized with various systems, some of which are well known, but novel in this usage, including the use of a second thermodynamic fluid, conventional multistage flash evaporation, also two of its variation: - controlled flash evaporation and vapor reheat.
Inventors
- 👤 Donald F Othmer
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-01 12:01
CPC Classifications
C; C02; C02F; C02F1/00; C02F1/02; C02F1/04; C02F1/14; A; A01; A01G; A01G33/00; B; B01; B01D; B01D1/00; B01D1/28; B01D1/284; B01D1/2846; B01D1/2881; F; F03; F03G; F03G7/00; F03G7/092; Y; Y02; Y02A; Y02A20/00; Y02A20/20; Y02A20/208; Y02A20/212; Y02E; Y02E10/00; Y02E10/30; Y02W; Y02W10/00; Y02W10/30; Y02W10/37; Y10; Y10S; Y10S159/00; Y10S159/902; Y10S159/903; Y10S203/00; Y10S203/01; Y10S203/21
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 25
Claim 1
Independent Claim
151 words
THE PROCESS OF PREPARING SEA WATER FOR A MARICULTURE OPERATION COMPRISING: A. SUPPLYING HEAT TO A LIQUID SO AS TO RAISE ITS TEMPERATURE, SAID HEAT BEING DERIVED FROM SOLAR RADIATION; B. FLASH EVAPORATING SAID HEATED LIQUID IN A CLOSED VESSEL TO CONVERT A PORTION THEREOF INTO VAPOR AT A LOWER TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE, WHEREBY SOME OF THE SENSIBLE HEAT OF SAID LIQUID IS TRANSFORMED INTO THE LATENT HEAT OF SAID VAPOR; C. SUPPLYING AN INFLUENT OF COLD DEEP SEA WATER SUBSTANTIALLY FREE OF POLLUTION AND OF MARINE LIFE INIMICAL TO PRODUCT FISH, BUT WITH SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNTS OF NUTRIENTS FOR BIOLOGIC GROWTH; D. PREHEATING THE DEEP SEA WATER TO RAISE ITS TEMPERATURE TO BETWEEN 55* AND 100*F BY HEAT EXCHANGE WITH A MAJOR PART OF SAID VAPOR, WHICH IS THUS CONDENSED; AND E. CONVEYING THE PREHEATED DEEP SEA WATER TO SAID MARICULTURE OPERATION, WHICH PRODUCES AT LEAST ONE SPECIES OF FOOD FISH.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
151 words
THE PROCESS OF PREPARING SEA WATER FOR A MARICULTURE OPERATION COMPRISING: A. SUPPLYING HEAT TO A LIQUID SO AS TO RAISE ITS TEMPERATURE, SAID HEAT BEING DERIVED FROM SOLAR RADIATION; B. FLASH EVAPORATING SAID HEATED LIQUID IN A CLOSED VESSEL TO CONVERT A PORTION THEREOF INTO VAPOR AT A LOWER TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE, WHEREBY SOME OF THE SENSIBLE HEAT OF SAID LIQUID IS TRANSFORMED INTO THE LATENT HEAT OF SAID VAPOR; C. SUPPLYING AN INFLUENT OF COLD DEEP SEA WATER SUBSTANTIALLY FREE OF POLLUTION AND OF MARINE LIFE INIMICAL TO PRODUCT FISH, BUT WITH SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNTS OF NUTRIENTS FOR BIOLOGIC GROWTH; D. PREHEATING THE DEEP SEA WATER TO RAISE ITS TEMPERATURE TO BETWEEN 55* AND 100*F BY HEAT EXCHANGE WITH A MAJOR PART OF SAID VAPOR, WHICH IS THUS CONDENSED; AND E. CONVEYING THE PREHEATED DEEP SEA WATER TO SAID MARICULTURE OPERATION, WHICH PRODUCES AT LEAST ONE SPECIES OF FOOD FISH.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
90 words
The process according to claim 1 wherein: a. said liquid which has been heated by means of solar radiation is at least in part said deep sea water after being discharged from said mariculture; and b. said heat of said vapors which is transferred to said influent of said cold deep sea water is the heat of the steam formed by the conversion of some part of the sensible heat of said deep sea water which has been added to the deep sea water by means of said solar radiation.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
25 words
The process according to claim 1 wherein said sensible heat of said liquid is supplied at least in part by heating in a solar heater.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
47 words
The process according to claim 1 wherein said flash evaporation of a part of said liquid is done by a controlled flash evaporation, wherein the temperature of the vapor which is formed is maintained at all times very close to, but below, the temperature of said liquid.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
42 words
The process according to claim 1 wherein said condensation of said vapors is by direct contact with said cold deep sea water in open, dispersed flow; and the condensate of said vapors therefore joins the flow of the warmed deep sea water.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
59 words
The process according to claim 1 wherein: a. said liquid which has been heated by means of solar radiation is, at least in part, water from the surface of the sea; b. said heat of said vapors is the heat of the steam formed by the evaporation of some part of said surface water, which is thus cooled thereby.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
25 words
The process according to claim 6 wherein at least a part of said steam is expanded to do useful work in driving a steam engine.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
30 words
The process according to claim 6 wherein at least a part of said steam is condensed to give a condensate of fresh water thus heating said cold deep sea water.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
24 words
The process according to claim 1 wherein said vapor is condensed by indirect heat exchange to form a condensate which is withdrawn as such.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
33 words
The process according to claim 9 wherein said liquid with said sensible heat is deaerated by an ingestor before a part of said sensible heat is converted to the heat of said vapors.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
22 words
The process according to claim 9 wherein any non-condensible gases present in said vapors are removed by an ingestor after said condensation.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
35 words
The process according to claim 9 wherein said vapors produced in said flash evaporation are expanded to do useful work in driving a steam engine before being condensed to warm said cold deep sea water.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
42 words
The process according to claim 9 wherein said flash evaporation is conducted in more than one stage; and said vapors formed in the respective stages are used to heat in indirect counter-current heat transfer relation said influent of cold deep sea water.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
48 words
The process according to claim 13 wherein said flash evaporations in more than one stage are done by a controlled flash evaporation wherein the temperature of the vapors formed is maintained at all times very close to but slightly below the temperature of the liquid being flash evaporated.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
19 words
The process according to claim 1 wherein said liquid, of which some part is flash evaporated, is sea water.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
35 words
The process according to claim 15 wherein said vapors produced in said flash evaporation are expanded to do useful work in driving a steam engine before being condensed to warm said cold deep sea water.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
72 words
The process according to claim 15 wherein: a. said flash evaporation is conducted in more than one stage; b. said vapors formed in the respective stages are used to heat in a countercurrent relation and by direct contact with a circulating stream of condensate formed of said vapors in open flow; and c. the heat added to said circulating stream of condensate is then transferred to warm said cold deep sea water.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
72 words
The process according to claim 17 wherein the transfer of said heat added to said stream of condensate is accomplished by contacting directly said heated stream of condensate in Open, dispersed, and countercurrent flow relation to a stream of colder water - insoluble, liquid; then transferring the heat gained in said water-insoluble liquid by contacting it directly with a stream of cold, deep sea water in open, dispersed, and counter-current flow relation.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
34 words
The process according to claim 1 wherein said liquid to which has been added heat derived from solar radiation is a second thermodynamic liquid having a normal boiling point between about -43*F and 145*F.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
49 words
The process according to claim 19 wherein said vapors of said second thermodynamic liquid are expanded to a lower pressure while doing useful work in driving a heat engine and are then condensed at said lower pressure to give up heat to warm said influent of deep sea water.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
32 words
The process according to claim 20 wherein said heat derived from solar radiation is used to heat at least some part of the condensate of said vapors of said second thermodynamics liquid.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
177 words
The process according to claim 20 wherein: a. said second liquid is substantially insoluble in water; b. water from at least one level of the sea which has been heated by solar radiation is passed into a closed vessel, to which is also passed the condensate of said vapors of said second liquid in direct contact with said water from the sea; c. the pressure in said closed vessel at the temperature resulting from the addition of said sea water and said second liquid in substantially equal to the sum of the vapor, pressures of said sea water and said second liquid at said temperature of their direct contact; d. a flash evaporation takes place in said closed vessel with the formation of a mixture of vapors comprising principally those of said second liquid, but also containing some water vapor; and e. said mixture of vapors is expanded to a lower pressure in driving a heat engine and is then condensed at said lower pressure to give up heat to warm said influent of deep sea water.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
45 words
The process according to claim 20 wherein said vapors of said second thermodynamic liquid are condensed by indirect heat exchange; and at least some part of the condensate of said vapors of said second liquid is warmed by heat interchange with warm surface sea water.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
27 words
The process according to claim 23 wherein said heat interchange is accomplished by contacting directly said condensate in open, dispersed, and countercurrent flow to warm surface water.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1978-12-22 | 1979-06-23 | 1979-12-23 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1982-12-22 | 1983-06-23 | 1983-12-23 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1986-12-22 | 1987-06-23 | 1987-12-23 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |