METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ACCELERATING DISSIPATION OF A LANDFALLING TROPICAL CYCLONE

Disclosed herein is a method and system for accelerated dissipation of a tropical cyclone and/or a hurricane specifically as it makes a landfall in order that its strength and access to further geography are significantly reduced in an irreversible manner. A storage tank and pipeline-based system for forcefully dispensing large amounts of cool dry air into the landfalling cyclone and/or hurricane system is the key embodiment proposed herein by which large scale dilution of the cyclone/hurricane fuel (vapor) is achieved. Other embodiments suggest augmenting this system with dry air drawn from adjoining arid or desert territories, and introduction of seeding materials or cloud condensation nuclei.

A better understanding of the objects, advantages, features, properties and relationships of the present invention will be obtained from the following detailed description which set forth an illustrative preferred embodiment and which is indicative of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The present inventor proposes herein a novel approach for accelerated dissipation of a landfalling cyclone and/or hurricane characterized in the manifestation of large-scale and sudden dilution of the vapor concentration in the vapor-rich air entering into the cyclone and/or hurricane system thereby stripping the latent heat content released from condensation from water vapor resulting in weakening of the cyclone and/or hurricane system. Site of such intervention is deliberately selected in the landfalling zone wherein supply of vapor from landed territory is virtually non-existent thereby preventing the cyclone and/or hurricane system from regaining strength and thus making the weakening effect irreversible. In alternative embodiments of the present invention, the air to be injected is drawn from depots and conveyed along specially designed conduits optionally augmented with supply of air drawn from adjoining arid or desert areas and in another embodiment, with seeding materials.

Construction, positioning, actuation and operation of this system are few novel areas described in the detailed description to follow.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a method and system for accelerated dissipation of a cyclone and/or hurricane specifically as it approaches land in order that its strength and access to further geography are significantly reduced in an irreversible manner. Principally, general purpose of the present invention is to assess disabilities and shortcomings inherent to known systems comprising state of the art and develop new technology by incorporating all available advantages of prior art and none of its disadvantages.

For purposes of this specification, the term ‘landfall’ shall mean and refer to zone near coastal region along path of a cyclone and/or hurricane system and shall include substantially the inshore and offshore regions in addition to the coastline itself. Tropical Cyclone ‘TC’ is the generic term used hereinafter for tropical storm, and tropical hurricane. Typhoons and cyclones are synonyms of hurricanes. Henceforth in this patent application the term ‘tropical cyclone’ or the term ‘TC’ will include tropical storm, tropical cyclone, tropical hurricane, typhoon and cyclones.

Reference is hereby made toFIG. 1and the following description which briefly illustrates anatomical features of a tropical cyclone.

Eye: The eye101of a TC000is roughly a circular area of light winds and fair weather formed at the centre. There is little or no precipitation.

Eye-wall: Immediately outside the eye is the eye-wall region consisting of an inner eye-wall102and an outer eye-wall103. Eye-wall104is the region of vigorous tall/deep clouds, strong updrafts, heavy rainfall, and the strongest winds.

Spiral rain bands: Spiral rain bands105are the bands of thunderstorms circulating outward from the eye-wall104that are part of evaporation/condensation cycle that feeds the tropical cyclones heat engine.

The inventor draws parallels from real life to base his methodology for accelerated dissipation of landfalling cyclones. Notable examples are:a) Hurricane Lili was a category 4 hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico beginning early on Oct. 3, 2002. She rapidly weakened from a category 4 to a category 1 storm with her maximum sustained winds decreasing by 51.8 mph in the 13-hour period until she made landfall in Louisiana. It was found that this unexpected rapid weakening was caused by a natural input of low level drier air which moved into Lili from her west side explaining partially why Lili weakened rapidly.b) Hurricane Gustav—It formed on the morning of Aug. 25, 2008, about 260 miles (420 km) southeast of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and rapidly strengthened into a tropical storm that afternoon and into a hurricane early on August 26. Later that day it made landfall near the Haitian town of Jacmel. It inundated Jamaica and ravaged Western Cuba and then steadily moved across the Gulf of Mexico. Once into the Gulf, Gustav gradually weakened because of increased wind shear and dry air. It weakened to a Category 2 hurricane late on August 31, and remained at that intensity until landfall on the morning of September 1 near Cocodrie, La. Advection of dry air at on the western side of Opal aided in weakening the storm by helping to reduce the latent heat release in the inner core of the storm, leading to the collapse of the inner eye wall.

In these presents, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of participating components and to the description set forth hereinafter. The present invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

From teachings of classical theory, it is known that the primary energy source of a tropical cyclone is the release of the latent heat from water vapor condensing in the cyclonic system. Solar heating of oceanic water is the initial source for evaporation and formation of water vapor. It is an intention therefore of the present invention to weaken the convective masses that drive the cyclone's engine thereby weakening it when it is most vulnerable—when it is landfalling and its source of vapor on land is practically cut.

What is needed primarily for purposes of the present invention is therefore an understanding of how a TC charts course and what intensity it harbors to accurately predict the path and hence plan site(s) and extent of intervening the landfalling TC.

From state of art studies, it is evident that forces affecting the steering of tropical cyclone systems are the higher latitude westerly wind, the subtropical ridge, and the beta effect caused by changes of the Coriolis force within fluids. Accurate track predictions depend on determining the position and strength of high and low pressure areas, and predicting how those areas will migrate during the life of a tropical system. The large scale synoptic scale flow also determines tropical cyclone's motion. The deep-layered mean flow through the troposphere determines the track direction and speed. If significant vertical wind shear is present in a storm, then for predicting the cyclone track the lower level wind speed is helpful. Determination of the intensity of a tropical cyclone is based on visible and infrared satellite image studies. There are several visual patterns that a cyclone may take on which the upper and lower bounds on its intensity can be defined. The patterns that are commonly used are curved band pattern, shear pattern, central dense overcast pattern, central cold cover pattern, banding eye pattern, and eye pattern.

The present inventor incorporates these technologies to his advantage in plotting sites of intervening a landfalling TC and further to plan the amount and duration of said intervention. Use of computer simulations using state of art simulation software in this perspective is intended to be covered by the present invention. Combining forecast models and data from Earth-orbiting satellites and other sensors with the determination of the forces that act on tropical cyclones; track forecasts of tropical cyclone is achieved. Besides, such computer studies can be based on the software like computational fluid dynamics software, wherein available data about the landfalling cyclone, like cyclone tracks, intensities, wind speeds, vapor content, sea surface temperature etc. can be incorporated. Similarly, data related to the terrain where the TC is expected to make a landfall, available data related to that TC from Earth-orbiting satellites, and other land based TC-monitoring systems etc can also be utilized.

To attain purpose of the present invention, attention is hereby drawn to accompanying figures which illustrate various embodiments of the present invention. In the following description and accompanying drawings, numerals and symbols are used for purpose of illustration and accordingly relate the details contained.

The present invention is characterized in including a novel, unique, cost-effective storage tank and pipeline-based system capable of injecting massive amounts of cool dry air into a landfalling TC. Operation of said system causes large-scale dilution of the vapor contained in the vapor-rich air of the landfalling TC thereby weakening it irreversibly and thus reducing further destruction imminent from inward progress of the TC.

According to constructional aspects of the present invention and specific reference toFIG. 2, it can be seen that to achieve the above mentioned effect, multiple storage tanks (‘primary depots’) represented by201are installed along the TC-prone coast lines where a TC is expected to make landfall. The primary depots201are designed to hold liquefied air, for example, in the range of up to 200,000 tons each for release in the gaseous state into the approaching TC. Said depots201, in alternative embodiments of the present invention, may comprise a single tank or multiple tanks of smaller capacity together building up total capacity intended for the depot201. Said primary depots201would generally have double containers, wherein the inner container contains liquefied air and the outer container contains insulation materials. Modern liquid air storage tanks of full containment type having a pre-stressed concrete outer wall and a high-nickel steel inner tank and efficient insulation between the walls may be deployed. Generally, the primary depots are cylindrical in shape, perpendicular to the ground with flat bottoms and have a fixed or floating roof. Large tanks tend to be vertical cylindrical or have rounded corners from vertical side wall to bottom profile and designed to withstand hydraulic/hydrostatically-induced pressure of the contained liquid air.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, liquefied air is to be kept in its liquid state at very low temperatures. One of the ways to maintain the temperature within the tank to remain constant if the pressure is kept constant is by auto-refrigeration, that is, allowing the boil off liquefied air to escape from the tank. Upon requirement, cool dry air is released from said primary depots after being heated and converted to ordinary natural gaseous air. Release of liquefied air can be augmented and accelerated by suitable evaporators, vaporizers or heaters. (Generally, vaporizers utilize a large burner to minimize emissions. One of such available Vaporizer is Linde Engineering's combustion vaporizer).

According to another aspect of the present invention, the said primary depots201and pipelines202can be installed underground or partially underground or on the ground depending on considerations of costs, engineering feasibility and geographical aesthetics. There are usually many environmental regulations applied to the design and operation of storage tanks, often depending on the nature of the fluid contained within them. Aboveground storage tanks differ from underground storage tanks in the kinds of regulations that are applied. Most storage tanks are designed to handle varying degrees of pressure. For example, such storage tanks are used for storing liquefied natural gas, wherein the tank type is the full containment tank. Here, the storage tanks are roughly 55 m (180 ft) high and 75 m (250 ft) in diameter (=250 000 m3). Other examples of such large storage tanks are the 180 million liters full containment type for Osaka Gas Co. Ltd. or 200 million liters Membrane type for Toho Gas Co. Ltd. Infrastructural costs may be reduced by installing multiple primary depots of smaller capacity to together hold requisite amount of liquefied air required for performance of the present invention.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the pipeline routes along the coastal areas are planned using topographic maps followed by actual ground surveying. Pipelines can be constructed working from one end to another or simultaneously in sections which are then connected. A pipeline is preferably cleaned, primed and coated with a tar-like material to prevent corrosion and wrapped in an outer layer of heavy paper, mineral wool or plastic. If the pipe of a pipeline is to be buried, the bottom of the trench is prepared with a sand or gravel bed. The pipe may be weighed down by short, concrete sleeves to prevent its lifting out of the trench from groundwater pressure. After the underground pipeline is placed in the trench, the trench is backfilled and the surface of the ground returned to normal appearance. After coating and wrapping, aboveground piping is lifted up onto prepared stanchions or casements, which may have various design features such as anti-earthquake shock absorption. Pipeline202may be insulated or have heat trace capabilities to keep products at desired temperatures throughout transport.

Vaporizers included above have to be utilized for quickly converting the compressed and liquefied air in the primary depot201into the gaseous state. Here, prior to the utilization of vaporizers, the liquefied air stored in the primary depots201is agitated so that the natural composition of the air is maintained when the evaporated air is released into the TC. Instead of primary depots201containing liquefied air, in yet another embodiment, primary depots201containing compressed air may also be used for easier handling of the contained air.

Referring toFIG. 3, it can be seen that liquefied air from the primary depots201is released in a controlled manner via suitable outlet(s) represented by301wherein each of said outlet(s)301includes a valve for controlling release of the vaporized air. Common art spring-loaded valve plugs, cocking arms, dump valves, their variants and their combinations may be used to control the flow, pressure and temperature of the released vaporized air in response to the actuation signalling done automatically or manually by electrical, hydraulic or pneumatic means.

Referring toFIGS. 2 and 3, it may be seen that multiple depots201are installed along the coast line203where the TC is expected to make landfall. Interconnecting pipelines202are arranged to transport air discharged from said depots201. Air pumps or high capacity propellers are installed in said pipelines202to maintain high pressures needed for delivery into the TC via release means represented by301installed on depots201(not shown in figure) and pipelines202. To increase the points of introduction of the said cool air into a cyclone, several branches204are incorporated in the said pipelines202, wherein, attached to each said branch, a plurality of ‘cool air release means’301(CARM) are included. The said pipelines and their branches are mainly installed onshore along the hurricane prone coast line203. However, some branches205possibly extend offshore or even up to the nearby islands. A network of pipelines is thus designed for effective multiple point introduction.

The CARMs301, are a plurality of devices that are connected with the said pipelines202for release of massive amounts of cool air rapidly into the desired locations in a TC. For the effective and efficient injection of massive amounts of cool dry air in a landfalling TC, such CARM devices301are preferably regularly spaced at an interval of 500 meters on the said network of pipelines202. However, the frequency of said CARM devices may vary as per the geographical layout of the land.

The said CARMs301can also be installed on the said pipelines202or juxtaposed alongside the said pipelines202. The CARM device301may consists of an air driving pump or a high capacity propeller driven by electric motors or diesel engines so as to forcefully inject air in massive amounts into the TC. The CARM301has a discharge valve which controls the air discharge at a desired flow rate and allows continuous automatic control of air discharge. In alternative embodiments, preferably at each location of a CARM301, an auxiliary depot with means for dispending seeding material (SMRM) represented by206is also installed for the simultaneous release of seeding materials like silver iodide, dry ice, salt, urea, ammonium nitrate, compressed liquid propane, compressed carbon dioxide etc along with the cool dry evaporated air. SMRM206can also contain cloud condensation nuclei such as microscopic dust, smoke, aerosols etc. for simultaneous release along with cool dry evaporated air. A combination of the above mentioned materials may also be used for the release.

FIG. 3depicts such hurricane prone coast line203in USA depicting US coast and Gulf of Mexico. Liquefied air from depots201is evaporated and then transported in gaseous state through pipelines202. The said pipelines202may be varying in size from several centimeters to a meter or more in diameter. Evaporated cool air is thus moved to long distances through network of pipelines202and driven by large pumps located along the route of the pipeline202at specific locations or intervals. (Distance between the two consecutive pumps is determined by the pump capacity, viscosity of the product, size of the pipeline and the type of terrain crossed etc). Pipeline pumping pressures and flow rates are controlled throughout the system to maintain a constant movement of cool air within the pipeline202.

In the embodiment where depot201comprises multiple smaller tanks, the smaller tanks are connected via pressure guide rings which receive air under pressure from one or more connected tanks and direct the air through an output pipeline towards the CARM301. Flow of air under pressure is controlled by a power regulator and controller which monitors the power output from the generator and transmits electrical signals to adjust the open and closed positioning of a tank output valve on each of the plurality of tanks. Generally, pipeline operations include pipeline control, pumping and controlling the evaporated air outflow through delivery terminals. The size and length of the pipeline, pipeline pumping stations, pressures and flow rates are to be completely controlled in order to ensure appropriate flow rates and continuous operations. Generally, an operator achieves a computerized control for the pumps, valves, regulators and compressors throughout the pipeline system from a central location. A large liquefaction plant (not shown in the drawing) may be conveniently installed near the coastline where the primary depots are installed for charging said primary depots201with liquefied air.

Monitoring and tracking systems mentioned hereinabove allows understanding of location of various regions of an approaching TC like the eye101, eye-wall104, inner eye-wall102, outer eye-wall103, spiral rain bands105and updrafts (not shown in the drawing). When these regions of a TC come over the CARMs301, then by appropriate actuation, massive amounts of cold dry air is introduced rapidly into the said various prejudged regions of the landfalling TC. Here, the liquefied air stored in the depots201is agitated, prior to the vaporization and release, to maintain the natural composition of the air. The conversion of the liquefied air to the gaseous air is augmented and accelerated by evaporators or vaporizers or suitable heaters and driven by the propellers and other means described hereinabove.

FIG. 3depicts southern US coastline203and a horizontal cross section of a landfalling TC000, a spiral rain band105and the eye-wall104. Cold dry air is introduced at site represented by302into the eye-wall104and at site303into the spiral rain band105of the landfalling TC000. As a part of the landfalling TC000is on the land, the simultaneous introduction of cold dry air in huge quantities directly into the above defined parts of the TC severely interferes with the TC resulting in its faster dissipation.

It is known that TCs are vital sources of rain. Therefore, the inventor also proposes modifying the landfalling TC so that fresh water in the form of rains can be received on land while limiting the destruction. Referring back toFIG. 3, it can be seen that for yet another embodiment, along with each of the plurality of CARMs301, SMRMs206are also installed for the simultaneous release of the seeding materials and/or cloud condensation nuclei along with the large quantities of cool dry air. Here, dispersion of tonnes of seeding materials or cloud condensation nuclei by cargo planes could also be added for further enhancement of the dissipation of the TC (not shown in the drawings). In yet another embodiment, such sprinkling of seeding materials or cloud condensation nuclei in to the swirling TC along with the introduction of massive amounts of cool dry air as described in the preferred embodiment for carrying out the dilution of the vapor contained in the vapor-rich air of the landfalling TC would have a synergistic effect. The dual intervention of the cyclone would surely starve the cyclone of its energy. For the purpose of sprinkling of seeding materials or cloud condensation nuclei in to the swirling cyclone along with the introduction of massive amounts of cool dry air as described in the preferred embodiment, auxiliary depots are juxtaposed in the vicinity of the release means and made to suitable dimensions capable of holding seeding materials intended to be optionally dissipated along with output of the contents of the primary depots.

The reader would now be aware that the present invention draws its applicability from the selection of site, time and mode for intervention, which in fact, bring together the situation that a TC is landfalling and naturally deprived of its vapour fuel to a substantial extent for forceful injection of cool dry air from CARMs and seeding materials/cloud condensation nuclei from the SMRMs and/or cargo planes which makes possible the synergy required for accelerated dissipation of the landfalling TC.

The region near the sea surface is vapor rich. This vapor provides latent heat to the TC's engine. As the cold dry air is artificially introduced in massive amounts as described hereinbefore, the vapor in the lower zone of approaching TC will get condensed. The introduction of cloud seeding material and/or cloud condensation nuclei via the SMRM devices (auxiliary depots) placed at the ground level will enhance the precipitation of this condensed vapor. The blown seeding material would mix up with the air flows of the TC enhancing the precipitation by providing nuclei. This precipitation will starve the TC by depriving it of its vapor fuel. One of the methods employed in the SMRM would be blowing the seeding material, stored in SMRM devices, by powerful blowers in to the desired locations of approaching cyclonic system. Another mechanism that could be employed in SMRM devices would be blowing fumes of silver iodide upwards by blowers. The seeding material would rise into the clouds due to flows of the TC winds and interact with the clouds with resultant good precipitation.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention as depicted inFIG. 4, pipelines401are laid to bring dry air from the adjoining arid or desert areas like Chihuahuan Desert, Texas, United States. A large quantity of such dry air is pumped through said pipelines401to introduce it into the pipelines202towards the CARMs301. Said dry air may itself be used as a heat source for evaporating the liquefied air contained in primary depots201. A massive amount of dry air from the desert places is therefore rapidly introduced in a landfalling TC in order to accelerate the dissipation of that TC.FIG. 5depicts the dry air from adjoining desert being actively carried through pipelines401towards the pipeline-based cool dry air dispensing system comprising depots201. This embodiment is intended at application of the present invention wherein primary depots201are not needed, and air from pipelines401and202are used instead.

As will be realized, the present invention is capable of various other embodiments and that its several components and related details are capable of various alterations, all without departing from the basic concept of the present invention. Therefore, the invention should not be regarded as being limited in scope to the specific embodiments of method and system or operations disclosed herein, but instead as being fully commensurate in scope with the following claims.