Big Neutrino Ballons

							 Really Big Balloons

       Joe Van Ryzin
Makai Ocean Engineering, Inc.


         Makai Ocean Engineering
Basic Forces


         Fresh water
         buoyancy: 300 k tons




                                              Drag
                                  Veloc       tons
                                 10 cm/s       30    max current
      268 m dia                    1 kt       540    tow
                                   2 kt      2160    tow
                                   5 kt      13500   tow




                   Volume:      10 megaton
                                10 x 10^6 cu m
                   Area:        226,000 sq m
                   Makai Ocean Engineering
Problem with Buoyancy #1:

Anchoring:     Provide 300k tons weight or hold-down

    Steel:            375 mill $
    Lead              396 mill $
    Concrete           53 mill $
    Salt                5 mill $
(plus transport - however all have to be transported and all ~ same weight)

Tie into bottom:   20-60 mill $ - maybe - a guess
                         problem: 5000m!




                           Makai Ocean Engineering
Problem with Buoyancy #2:
Structural Loads.

   Due to pressure, have inside pressure at ~ 1 atm
   (assuming a teardrop baloon, 230m dia and 320m high)




                 50 kN/cm

               50 kN/cm

   Material: similar to Amsteel blue, UHMW PE, greater tensile load than steel in cable
   Estm price: $.33/kN-m in standard ropes - assume $.25
   Low cost per tensile load for exotic materials
   Thick:                       3.81 cm
   Estm fabric cost:      $2500/sq M $565 million total

   If steel:                    2.5 cm      6780   cu m estm
                                          52,206   tons
                                            20%    fresh water buoyancy
                                         417.648   $ million $8/kg assumed
                                 Makai Ocean Engineering      $15/kg finished ship
       Towed steel structure?
• Steel structure pre-fabricated in modules
• Assembled in deep water
• Filled with special water – offsets weight of
  steel. Not fresh.
• Tow to site and submerge.

• Expensive – and forced to transport you
  water to the site in an inefficient structure
                  Makai Ocean Engineering
                          Towing

Can the inflated sphere be towed?
Cost per 1000 km one-way tow
 Towing:       for              Tugs at    Cost at Tug Return Total Tow
  speed     1000 km     Pull    200 t ea $700/T-day 12 kt        per
   kts        days      tons        #     $ million           1000 km
    1         22.5      540        2.7       8.5       0.7       9.2    unsafe
    2         11.2     2162       10.8      17.0       2.8      19.8
    5          4.5     13517      67.6      42.6      17.7      60.3

                                                      1.87 days




                            Makai Ocean Engineering
       Fresh Water Problems

• Anchoring is expensive
• Must deliver weight (in either anchor, salt or
  whatever) anyway
• Buoyancy within sphere, because of diameter, is
  a significant structural problem for fabric balloon.
• Any leak – serious problem



                   Makai Ocean Engineering
 Alt: deliver special salt and fresh
                water
• Reduce balloon costs by perhaps 90%, keep
  buoyancy to 0.1% of that of fresh water (300
  tons, more then enough).
• Deploy concrete-weighted balloon just slightly
  negative – use fresh water to offset anchors.
• Deliver to site: special salt.
• Produce fresh water at site with RO
• Pump mixed solution to bottom through long
  HDPE pipeline.

                   Makai Ocean Engineering
 Mini OTEC
• First Hawaii
  deep water
  pipeline
• HDPE
• Flexible
  mooring and
  intake pipe



                 Makai Ocean Engineering
       Delivering Fresh Water

     Producing and Pumping Water:

      Pipe Dia               days to     RO Cap $
        inch      kT/day        fill      million $
         20         56         178           39
         30        162          60          113     2000 hp
         40        340          30          238
         50        615          16          431
                                         $700/cm/d


5 km long HDPE pipe assumed. 30” pipe reusable – estm $10m
                        Makai Ocean Engineering
               Deliver Salt to Site
Produce Water and deliver salt to the site:
   Deliver 300 k tons salt
   Produce 10 million cu meters of fresh water on site

                                        60    days of pumping
  Ship    Bulk Carrier    Initial             water cost Salt Cost
Transport     size      transport standby $3/cu m                    Total
  Trips     k tons        $ mill     $ mill      $ mill     $ mill   $ mill
    1         300          4.5         9           30         5       48.5
    2         150          4.5        4.5          30         5        44
    4          70          4.2        2.1          30         5       41.3
    6          50          4.5        1.5          30         5        41
                       $15/ton trans pacific bulk transport
                                  $0.5/ton-day
                                              assume works 25% of the time.
                                                         John Learned $
                            Makai Ocean Engineering
            Prelim conclusions
• Fresh-water filled not a good idea
• steel structure: no cost advantage and have serious
  deployment issues.
• Need to transport water in any case: cheaper to make
  on site
• Fabric balloons are workable structure.
• Fabric balloon deployed empty, deliver salt and produce
  fresh water at site to fill balloon over several trips.




                     Makai Ocean Engineering
             Prelim wild guess
•   Fabric balloon: $56 million
•   Anchoring: $5 million
•   Salt and water delivery: $42 million
•   General deployment: $15 million

• Total:    $118 million??




                     Makai Ocean Engineering