This invention teaches a radical approach for manufacturing cohering, concentrating convective current producers and discloses methods of harnessing convective currents via density differences with alternative solutions to some commonly encountered problems in this field. Because this invention is so radical I take care to describe the background to the approaches employed in the exemplary embodiments described later.

Background

Readers skilled in the arts employed in my invention should be familiar with the history of the natural philosophy, science and technology invoked herein since it is well established and runs back over many centuries. Professor Enzo Levi provides an excellent historical review that covers 2.300 years in the evolution of Hydraulic Science; "El Aqua Segun La Ciencia" (The Science of Water - The Foundation of Modern Hydraulics). Almost all the initiators of concepts covered within my invention are well described in his monumental tome, in particular Heron of Alexander, Archimedes, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Torricelli, Venturi et al - through Osborne Reynolds and Sir Charles Parsons up to modern heroes too many to mention here.

To spare the intelligent reader repetition of what should be well understood, I will omit rehearsal of fundamental concepts. However, unfortunately many of these ideas may have been skipped over and I urge readers to ensure their thorough, intimate understanding of terms that previously may have been glossed in haste (e.g. Siphon, Archimedean displacement, Venturi, Henry's Law, cavitation - particularly pre-inception phases, vortices, the profoundly universal implications from the four laws of thermodynamics and so on).

To give a specific example of common misapprehension, there are only two Oceans - at the base of one, as Torricelli remarked, we dwell (Noi viviamo sommersi nelfondo d'un pelago d'aria). The other Ocean (effectively all one recycling body) is made of that most peculiar substance, water. Air and water occupy the genus 'fluid' and, apart from an approximate density difference with three orders of magnitude, they share many similarities in their flowing behaviour. Although water is roughly 1 ,000 times denser than air and sub-classed as a liquid, it remains useful to consider it as part of the fluid family. Both air and water interact constantly, not only with respect to Henry's Law; without this perpetually churning interchange, life as we know it, including our own - would not exist.

There are many brave attempts to harness useful work from our natural world but sadly so many of them echo our early hunter-gatherer forebears who only later employed slash and burn methods of agriculture before civilisation dawned. We burn fuels foolishly - or vainly we try to catch capricious wind and wave - else we look to intermittent sun and tide. Ultimately, all natural energy stems from these prime movers - our sun or gravity. Wind comes from solar radiation and gravity; waves arise from wind - everything energetic leads back to our stars or our earth's gravity, sine qua non. So far we seem to have ignored the massive potential energy that seethes and constantly recycles over two thirds of our planetary surface. It is this potent energy that I seek to harvest and harness with my invention, turning it to useful and productive work. Apart from producing mechanical and electrical energy, I also show how I can produce benign side effects, such as cooling, producing clean water, enhancing fish stocks, safely disposing of waste heat and so on. The Natural Philosophy of the Current Invention

First, a mental picture: if beneath the sea-bed there existed a massive, empty cavern, then clearly a hole drilled in the sea-bed would cause water to rush through it, most likely in the same form as the familiar 'bath tub vortex'. If we placed a turbine at this exit, it would rotate rapidly and we could extract work from what was once potential and is now kinetic energy. That work could then be further translated or transmitted via electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic or other means to a ship- based or shore-based station.

Lacking such a vacant cave and aperture, one could assume that the seawater had no further to fall and could therefore yield nothing useful. However, the Ocean - as noted earlier, perpetually recycles. It does this courtesy of the sun, gravity and density differences.

Convection, the same engine that powers our atmosphere, operates gravitationally on density differences - not merely those caused by temperature. Winds and currents are generally seen to move horizontally, yet convection obeys gravity and operates in the vertical. The reason we see the preponderance of horizontal winds and currents is because, relative to the depths of both the atmospheric and marine Oceans, their widths are several orders of magnitude wider than their heights.

If the entire marine Ocean, to scale, were portrayed as a broadsheet newspaper page, then its depth would be equivalent to the thickness of that page. Convection's vertical preference yields to the more easily available sideways route.

Sometimes vertical movements hold sway - tornadoes in the atmosphere, eddies, rising air bubbles and salt-fingering in the seas - all adopt the vertical mode of transport. Salt-fingering, since identified via Jevons (1857) and Lord Rayleigh (1883) as 'double diffusion' is the mechanism behind "An Oceanographical Curiosity: The Perpetual Salt Fountain" by Stommel; et al (1956).

The Ocean holds (actually continuously captures and releases) over 2.5 % of 'dissolved' air. For the most part there is no ionic bonding involved and the term 'dissolved' should perhaps be modified to 'suspended' albeit in visually hard-to-detect nano-bubbles ('invisibubbles').

This air readily releases and congregates at the slightest reduction in pressure or at any obliging nucleation point such as suspended particles and so on. Rising bubble columns readily entrain surrounding water; such rising water itself will become 'super-saturated' as it ascends into less pressure thereby precipitating more bubbles.

In a kettle one can hear the de-airing process prior to the quiet pause when true water boiling commences. This mechanism is also known as pre-inception cavitation. In the oil and gas industries, their de-gassers operate by means of centrifugal 'cyclonic' devices.

We can see then that the Ocean not only holds potential energy and density differences but also constantly exchanges them by various means. My invention nurtures and encourages this exchange process, then harvests the kinetic energy thus realised. The Technology and Engineering of the Current Invention Prior Arts

Other than the historical heroes mentioned earlier, some publications and patents are educative, in 95 particular those of Nikola Tesla (The Inventions. Researches and Writings of - ISBN 978-1-4351- 4911-3), Barney Girden 1970s, numerous US patents - typically - Induced Controlled Upwelling 978-1-4351-4911-3, 'Extracting Power from a Fluid Flow Rochester et al US 7,150,149 B2, "Gas/liquid separation within a novel axial flow cyclone separator" Cranfield PhJD Thesis 1998 Philip Dickson, and most especially those from Louis Michaud http://vortexengine.ca/index.shtml 100 dealing with his Atmospheric Vortex Engine.

Exemplary Embodiments of the Current Invention

Because this is a radical, new invention with broad and universal scope, I demonstrate some 105 specific, simplified and idealised embodiments to aid the reader's understanding. This simplification should not be interpreted as in any way limiting the universality of variations on these principles that should be apparent to any reader skilled in the art.

This unique combination of the principles and effects of: Bernoulli's Effect (Venturi), Archimedean Displacement, Convection, Siphonic Flow (whether in real or 'virtual' siphon

110 systems), Cyclostrophic (centrifugal effects), Henry's Law, Pre-Inception Cavitation, Cyclonic De-gassing, air/bubble lift pump; all combine within a 'McNulty Dervish Unit' to initiate, then harvest energetic flow in a completely new inventive step. Maxwell's Demon was an imaginary miniature molecule-sorter creature conjured by Maxwell to help understanding; as an homage to Maxwell's Demon, and for brevity, I have referred to the novel mechanism producing the

115 combined sorting effects incorporated above as a McNulty Dervish.

Explanation of Diagrams

In a preferred and idealised exemplary embodiment of this invention I now refer to a series of 120 illustrative diagrams to enumerate and describe the main components.

Figure 1 shows an overview of a simplified system, not to scale, with an on-shore turbine generator assembly TGA, two feed-pipes FP1 and FP2, and a McNulty Dervish Unit MDU.

Figure la shows a view of a ship-mounted system similar to that shown in Figure 1.

Figures 2 a, b, c, d, e & f represent sequential views of operation.

125 Figures 3 a and b show plan and elevation views of a McNulty Dervish Unit MDU, the Venturi Tube VT, the Cyclostrophic Inducing Geometry CIG, the Feed Pipe FP2. The Feed Manifold FM, The Supporting Structure SS, and the Injector Pipes IP.

Figure 4.1 shows a schematic representation of a cooling, condensing and return piping system CCRPS running on from the same type of turbine generating assembly in figure 1.

130 Figure 5 shows a McNulty Dervish Unit MDU without feed pipes but with integrated flow capturing / generator assemblies FCGA (in place functionally of the on-shore/on-ship Turbine Generator Assembly TGA) and electrical feed cables EFG running back to shore (or ship). Operational Sequence

The Turbine Generator Assembly (TGA) initiates the flow by pumping water from Feed Pipe 1 135 (FP1) through Feed Pipe 2 (FP2), then though the Feed Manifold (FM) and ultimately out from the Injector Pipes (IP). Note that this method is purely exemplary and that there are many alternative means of initiating and harnessing flow, some of which are listed elsewhere in this description.

Once flow proceeds from IP then both swirl and upward flow from the top of MDU will ensue.

140 More, displacing water will flow upwards through the MDU from below. As this entrained flow- through develops, the Venturi and cyclostrophic effects will create a centrifugally self-refming low-density vertically axial spinning column extending from within the MDU and upwards towards the sea surface, slightly reminiscent of an air/bubble lift pump. Suction thus created at the IP will reach back through FP2, TGA and FP1. The siphonic flow thus caused can now perform

145 work on the turbine in the TGA and it can now switch to generator rather than motor mode so electricity will flow from the TGA. Note that the (previously surface) water running through the system will be both relatively 'supersaturated' with air and warmer than the deeper water, thus aiding buoyancy effects within and from the MDU. Additionally, extra air could be drawn in or injected within the flow - indeed it would be possible to run an additional or supplementary air-

150 based system conjointly or in parallel with the system as described even to the extent of running the TGA as an air turbine. Excess air (effectively compressed) could also be captured after exit from the MDU and piped back to an air version of the TGA. The warmer water (media) mentioned above may be considerably warmer than simply surface seawater if, during the land or ship-based portion of the flow, it picked up additional heat from the ambient surroundings,

155 whether this effect was used for cooling, condensation or other useful purposes. Again this heat, although perhaps considered normally as too low-grade to perform useful work, would add considerably to the subsequent upward buoyant flow from the MDU.

Power Take-Off and Initiation Processes

It should be emphasised that there are two perpetual energetic cycles on the planet; the water-in- 160 air (hydrodynamic) cycle is generally well known, typically we divert and harness the descending portion for power take-off, via river dams and hydroelectric schemes. Less known is the air-in- water cycle - almost an inverse of the former. Air dissolves in water, compressed 'invisibubbles' sink; later they nucleate, precipitate/expand as 'visibubbles', entrain water with them and rise to the surface. In an analogous manner, I can divert and harness the ascending portion for power 165 take-off. In the bulk of this narrative I have referred to turbines and electricity as the obvious means for extracting energy, but clearly many other forms of power take-off and energy production could be employed at suitable points in the cycle.

Additionally, the means of initiation discussed herein should not be taken as exclusive to other processes. Essentially, any means of causing current flow - including but not limited to:

170 nucleation, precipitation, heating, aeration, rarefaction, pressure changes, sonic modulation, electrolysis - could be employed singly or conjointly to start and/or sustain the process.

Although this description is an outline showing exemplary embodiments, there are many variations and embodiments possible utilising the general themes and approaches outlined herein and the scope of this document should be interpreted in its general principles of utilising this

175 'initiator and harnesser of convective currents' to overcome some of the common limitations encountered in the generation of natural clean energy and the like.

John McNulty