The Ballistic Cold Water Pipe

The Ballistic Cold Water Pipe is a new concept for OTEC and mariculture applications. The water is projected upwards into the empty pipe from a nozzle at the bottom as a free jet appreciably separated from the pipe wall at high speed ( m/s). The jet rises nearly to the barometric level where it is collected and pumped to the application. For a 670-m deep pipe operating at 15 cubic meters/second flow, nozzle friction will cause about 2-m head loss, collection losses will be about 2 m, and friction between the jet and the residual gas in the pipe will be negligible. The pipe walls must be thick to withstand the external pressure, but since the diameter is so small compared to an equivalent conventional pipe, it is lighter, less expensive, and much more rugged.