For the better part of human history mechanical pumps and suction techniques have been used to bring water uphill. By using dynamic pressure, downhill kinetic energy, pumps, suction and heating up the fluid mankind has been busy getting those fluids to market or desired areas. We deliver oil and natural gas in pipelines, water in canals and pipes and a variety of fluids in this fashion. Material memory polymers are now available and seem to be a good fit for moving fluid uphill. Material memory works like a human muscle; it constricts and then moves back to its normal shape. Think more the toy; Stretch Armstrong and how you can stretch it and it simply goes back to its originally designed shape. If we line the pipelines with material memory manufactured substances we can cause them to constrict and then open which will flush the fluid forward and then the suction will quickly fill in the less dense areas of fluid and we do this over and over again. The constriction would be caused by acoustic transducers sending in sound waves; the sound waves will travel thru the walls of the pipe into the center and then bounce outward, the material would then come back into its original shape like a rubber band. Thus pushing the liquid forward without using huge pumps, which are high preventative maintenance issues and cause severe problems when one goes down. In fact if we wanted too, we could use the electromagnetic energy, which escapes from high tension power lines, put the pipeline underneath and use that energy as pulse power for the material memory movement. We need to be thinking of the ways to conserve energy and be efficient stewards in our infrastructure so we can get the best bang for our buck. Think on this. |
