Patent ID: 11971198
Assignee: RENEWABLE RESOURCE RECOVERY CORP.
Field: Thermal processes and apparatus (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC F  C  E | IPC C  E  F

Claim 0:
1. A bell-end-to-spigot-end sealingly interconnected array of advanced-design, buried, concrete-Single EPipe cylinder sections, disposed for gravity transport of human and other fluent wastes and especially purposed for heat transfer between a known heat-pump and connected circulation system for energy-transfer fluid of a first building with liquid and vapor wastes flowing within the sections from either an adjoining neighborhood or a second building, each section being purpose-sized for the defined-flow-rate waste stream being generated from either source, each section configured with at least one wall-integrated-heat-exchange channel coupled into the known circulation system, each section having an overall length in the range 1-5 m, and each section comprising:
a concrete pipe with an inner conduit radius (INTrad_64) about 150 mm;
said pipe-wall thickness range being about 0.09 to 0.16 of the pipe ID;
said concrete (48) being a particular Special-Batch [SB] including Portland-clinker cement and other additives prepared under special compounding conditions sufficient to preserve its homogeneity during molding into the cage held within a form especially adapted to mold features onto the cylinder exterior;
said concrete (48) including at least 10 w/o CaCO3 added as fine-disperse powder particles smaller than 40 micrometers in diameter;
said concrete (48) including 0 to 1.8 kg/m3 of synthetic polyolefin macrofiber (47);
upon controlled, documented hydration for at least 25 days, said hydrated concrete (48) having a compression strength in the range 20<MPa<40;
said pipe provided with custom-designed reinforcement-cage elements encapsulated within said concrete wall and further configured to connect mechanically and thermally therewith, and thereby explicitly support, at least one HE-channel (58) of OD at least (64a9) and channel-wall thickness at least 1 mm integrated within the concrete wall of said section and connected externally to said heat pump (40) for circulation of thermal-exchange fluid (42) between said array-sections and one of said sources (23);
said cage elements being one of: steel bar, wire or mesh having 250 yield strength, MPa<400;
said cage-elements including multiple, special-purposed circumferential and longitudinal members, C-steel and L-steel, sized to at least (64a6) and (64a4) respectively, joined together into a wall-encapsulated, adequately-covered, 3D cage construction sufficient to support the wall zones which may come under tension due to specific external loads and to prevent crack spreading within the concrete wall of said pipe;
said purposed L-steel members being aligned parallel to axis of said section between said pipe ends, positioned radially about said section axis at at least a distance (64a1), spaced apart circumferentially at least an angle 360/(64a2) and, together, having a combined sectional area (64a4) times (64a2);
said purposed C-steel members each being configured as a toroid-helix (64a5) centered about the section axis, extending as a wrap between said bell and spigot ends, spaced apart laterally at least a distance (64a7) and, each having an area at least (64a6);
said cage includes at least one HE-channel (58) having an outside diam at least (64a9), wrapped helically among said reinforcing steels, fixed at each turn thereto and extending generally lengthwise between said bell and spigot ends;
said HE-channel configured as a cylindrical helix at least (64a3) centered about the section axis with a pitch of at least (64a8) across the said section length;
said channel being made of bespoke HDPE tube (60) having a defined min. bend-curvature radius of about 500 mm, a TYS of at least 23 MPa at 23° C. and a wall thickness of at least 1.5 mm;
the available external-heat-transfer-area of each helix-turn of said channel of selected OD (64a9) embedded into said pipe section of (INTrad_64) is in the range 0.9<area, m2<1.5;
for the case of C-steel and HE-channel wrapped parallel with the same helix pitch over the bundle of L-steels, the thermal connection between these particular elements tied together is surface contact along entire active channel length;
said cage and channel components are further configured spatially to provide sufficient 3D layer spacing using an arrangement of radial spacers (45) fixed between the steel elements;
both ends of each said channel (58) are provided with wall-integral bosses (57) encompassing section-external extensions (58c) of terminal portions of said encapsulated channel(s), (58d) and (58e), which are configured during mold preparations to extend outward from the external surface of said final section a distance of at least 150 mm from the adjacent encapsulated tie point (58a);
the axis of each said channel extension (58c) being: [a] in a plane perpendicular to the section axis, [b] tangent to the helix axis of the adjacent encapsulated portion and [c] held at a curvature radius of at least 500 mm prior to final placement while the channel is fluid-pressurized during molding to at least 300 kPa;
whereby when a flow of thermal-exchange fluid is delivered by said heat pump into HE-channels of said sections of the array at a temperature different from that of said liquid and vapor waste streams flowing therein, heat can be exchanged with said adjoining neighborhood or designated building.