Thermal Storage for 24-Hour Operation

A global population of 11 Billion inhabitants is forecasted by 2100, ALL needing clean air, drinking water and plentiful food, enabled with non-polluting, sustainable, energy supplies; while having zero environmental impact! The majority of earth’s current population are far from having all, or some, of these basic needs met today! Earth’s ecology and environment are currently exhibiting very troubling indications of severe stress; hence mankind is confronted with extremely challenging existential issues!

If mankind rapidly solves the critical issues of secure and sustainable supplies of pure drinking water and clean energy, to fulfil ALL human needs, then most other existential issues can be resolved, synergistically and symbolically. There is no fundamental shortage of water or sources of energy on planet earth, however, approximately 74% of the world’s population are somewhat water insecure, with approximately 2 billion not having secure access to healthy drinking water.
 

Whereas there is no fundamental shortage of water on earth, 97% resides in the oceans and is too salty for human consumption or agricultural uses, of the remaining 3% only 0.5% is readily accessible for human needs, however this resource is stressed and becoming rapidly depleted! Huge volumes of brackish water, unfit for human or animal consumption and most agricultural purposes, resides in vast subterranean, sustainable and naturally replenishing, aquifers, being available to much of humanity. Hence, between aquifers and the oceans there is actually no global water shortage!
 

The challenge - water desalination, and purification, requires huge energy resources, which must be provided by non-polluting, renewable and sustainable means.

Insufficient, clean and sustainable, energy resources, for all human needs, on a global basis, is the fundamental issue to address, in order to secure healthy drinking water, for every person on the planet. Currently the great majority of global energy needs are met by combusting fossil fuels, which are rapidly destroying the planet’s environment, is unsustainable, and must be replaced with clean-energy sources and technologies! Employing the, currently predominant, energy generating technologies, for desalination of water, sufficient to provide for all human needs, would result in an uninhabitable environment!

Great progress is underway in many sectors of clean and renewal energy technologies however, there is currently no single, ideal, clean energy solution to address all human needs! The only viable and available, unlimited and inexhaustible, source of clean energy is the sun; when utilizing its full radiation-energy-spectrum. The majority of the energy emitted by the sun may be harvested as heat however, the challenge then becomes how to utilize thermal-energy optimally and economically, for all global energy needs.
 

Deluge Technologies Inc. (DTI) introduces a concept which addresses all identified challenges, to meet global water purification and clean energy needs,among other potential applications, in a unique manner that is sustainable and environmentally responsible.
 

DTI technology, simply stated, converts Solar-Thermal-Energy to mechanical shaft- power, efficiently and sustainably, at low cost, with zero adverse environmental effects; which may then be applied to critical applications, such as water purification and generation of clean electrical energy, for example.

There are three (3) critical elements of the DTI technology: 

1. Thermal Hydraulic Engine (THE) 

2. Concentrated Solar Energy (CSE) 

3. Thermal Energy Storage (TES) - ‘Battery’.
 

 DTI technology operates entirely in the ‘Thermal-Domain’, requiring zero fuels, the ‘power-cycle’ requiring no phase-change’, and produces zero emissions or waste-stream.

 

The two (2) major, global, clean energy technologies, which currently contribute to about 30% global renewable energy, ie, Solar Photo-Voltaic (PV) and Wind Turbine, electricity generation, are inherently intermittent and hence somewhat unreliable for essential ‘base-load’ requirements. Huge and costly efforts are under development, globally, to implement large electrical energy battery storage systems, in order to provide secure ‘base-load’ electricity supply, however these are far from providing 24x7, extended duration, uninterrupted, service solutions.
 

DTI technology overcomes the foregoing inherent system production intermittency issues, in the following manner.
 

1. The CSE system collects and stores Solar-thermal energy, optimally, at about 1,200F, during sunlight periods, by means of a proprietary design of flat mirror arrays, focused on a solar concentrator heater element; the whole assembly automatically tracking the sun.  The concentrated solar thermal energy (CSE) is transferred to the TES-Battery. 

The TES-Battery is scaled, in thermal-energy storage capacity, to meet specific application requirements, with capability to store thermal-energy, essentially, indefinitely. The TES-Battery is maintained at 1,200F, when Solar-energy is available, and comprises of arrays of ‘natural-material-Adobe’ elements, heated via closed loop forced-air circuits, between the CSE and TES.

The concept and principles of the DTI-TES-Battery, established, over millennia, for many applications, employing widely available, natural, Adobe materials, all of which are fully
recyclable. 

DTI further enhances the water desalination, purification, process, by extracting an additional 9% of pure water, from the typical Reverse-Osmosis (RO) waste-stream, by means of
a proprietary distillation process. 

The DTI water desalination process is differentiated by producing 99%, by volume, of pure drinking water from the respective water source. The extracted salts and solids are utilized in the adobe mixture, to form TES thermal-energy storage elements. - - -The DTI water purification process has a zero waste-stream! Typically large desalting-RO systems discharge a highly concentrated brine-stream to the local environment, causing huge ecological and environmental damage.

2. Thermal energy is drawn from the TES-Battery, at 180F, as needed, in order that the THE (Thermal Hydraulic engine) may operate, uninterrupted, 24x365. DTI systems operate continuously from the TES battery, henc is independent from Solar-thermal energy variability.
The unique ability of the Deluge-Thermal-Hydraulic-Engine technology to develop power,
and to accomplish, work, at about 180F, results in extremely economic consumption of thermal-energy; greatly reducing vulnerability to thermal-energy source variability; enabling reliable 24x7 operation. 

The CSE, TES and THE technologies are highly modular, being scaled/optimized, to enable uninterrupted system operation, for whatever periods needed, to ensure 24x7 performance, for the prevailing environmental conditions; according to the specific application requirements.

 

A. DTI technology is configured for continuous desalination of formerly unusable brackish water, from renewable aquifers, and sea-water sources.

B. DTI systems operate ‘off-grid’ generating electrical energy for internal system requirements and for export to local communities and/or the national grid.
 

C. DTI technology enables pipeline water-conveyance pumping, as huge volumes of sea and purified water are required to be conveyed over very long distances, via pipelines, from water sources to end-users, reliably 24x365.
 

D. DTI technology is uniquely applicable for highly distributed, off-grid, rural community locations. Where secure pure water and ‘green’ electricity resources are costly or sparsely available, DTI enables secure, independent, community-based, water purification and electrical energy production. .

Wherever brackish water/aquifers are available, and along coastal locations,many, (possibly thousands) of DTI community systems may supply local water and energy needs. In such a scenario, the overall, combined, effect of numerous independent community DTI systems would significantly relieve water depletion stress on existing sources, and would positively reduce environmental damage. 

     - DTI systems would, typically, be connected to the local and national electricity grid, in order to export produced ‘green’ electrical energy

     - DTI systems would, typically, have access to Natural Gas supplies, if needed.

     - DTI systems operate from any source of 180F thermal-energy, including waste-process-heat. Numerous sources of thermal-energy may be utilized, depending on local prevailing conditions. 

     - DTI technology enables significant global potential to utilize, widely available, low-temperature, geothermal-energy, for sustainable, uninterrupted, 24x365, applications.

DTI Systems uniquely employ proven, standard, commercially available, components and materials, which are fully recyclable, having minimal environmental impact.  No exotic, rare or limited resource materials are used in DTI systems.