The SHiSH

Abstract

The SHiSH is the “Snow or Sand Hill in Screwing Habitat or Store” The SHiSH and all of its derivations were invented to be able to survive and perform useful work in areas of extreme temperature, either heat or cold, and in many cases to take advantage of the lower temperature in the depths of the substrate on the desert. The inventor of this and other related patents in process is also the author of an article focused on albedo (Ref 1) in describing ways to reduce the heat globally while we learn how to better reduce emissions and continue to invest in doing so. These inventions will enable us to better deal with global warming.

Description

Albedo is a measure of the amount of sunlight reflected back (preferably all the way to space) and the measure is from 0.0 to 1.0. The ocean is about 0.06 so absorbs most of the energy striking it, fresh snow is 0.6 to 0.8 so reflects most of the energy back.

One way to decrease the heat is to enhance or boost the albedo of various surfaces on land, sea or air i.e. Albedo Enhancement (AE). The article (Ref 1) was published in the MDPI Climate Journal of Mar. 7, 2023 and as of September 12^th has been viewed by over 2600 people.

In researching and exploring Albedo Enhancement possibilities the author has invented a number of items and the ones contained here are related to a habitat or store to enable tolerance underground, or above, of temperature and comfort extremes, in a SHiSH. Other inventions pertaining to Albedo Enhancement (AE) have been initiated as provisional patents separately. It is hoped that income from licensing of these many inventions will sustain the Foundation long after I have retired so it can continue to Help Offset Global Warming.

There is a significant problem in collecting scientific climate pertinent data in the desert due to the extreme heat and unpleasant conditions. This reduces the number of scientists visiting such sites, especially in the warmer months in the daytime and restricts the ability to set up and service weather data collection stations. A major part in solving the removal of excess heat causing global warming may occur in the deserts with Albedo Enhancement (AE) (Ref 1). AE increases the reflection of short-wave radiation back into space, and scientists and workers need protection where exposed to excess heat or cold. Their equipment and supplies also do far better with protection. The genesis of this concept was to find a way to use the naturally cooler temperatures deeper in the sand (Ref 3), to make this possible. A wider possible range of uses of the SHiSH is possible and is reflected in the specification and claims and in particular could be valuable in countries with deserts in providing refuge from the heat or in snow fields in providing refuge from the cold and wet.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTIONS

Many business opportunities would be opened up by the availability of cooler surroundings in the desert and these include tourism, mining, taking advantage of Albedo Enhancement (AE) possibilities in the desert to earn carbon credits with the farming of carbon credits and also for humanitarian applications such as for refugees where the heat is overwhelming. Deserts provide a unique low cost opportunity to use AE to help cool the world with projects such as reactivated salt flats so activities there can be aided by SHiSH and indeed SHiSH or its functional equivalent may be essential to carry out these projects. The same applies in snow country as generation of snow cover has similar AE benefits and snow generation devices or glacier observations in remote locations require habitat and storage space for the operators.

One of the designs was initially inspired by nature's design of a seashell with a helical thread on its tapered body with bumps or irregularities on the surface which grip the sand once it has penetrated. Decades ago, the inventor saw a video of a shellfish in a fish tank with a sandy bottom. It partially righted itself underwater to thus present its point into the sand and then used the extended flesh foot to push on the sand surface to rotate the shell and screw it into the sand for security. A human use of this as a desert habitat includes one of the SHiSH described below in many forms along with various additional concepts and ways to provide habitat and storage out of the heat or similarly, out of the extreme cold, in snow.

Application and Evidence

Amongst other global heat offset projects the inventor is exploring the Albedo Enhancement (AE) of salt flats and desert areas with the purpose of boosting their reflection of shortwave radiation back into space and so reduce the excess solar radiation striking the earth. This and other valuable projects require scientific research in the desert and extreme cold with worker habitat and storage during implementation.

Not far under the surface, temperatures are bearable and habitable. The initial objective of this is document is to define this habitat or storage device, the SHiSH, which would better enable research to be carried out in the heat of the desert by having a cool space to retreat into intermittently, or for much of the day, when necessary. Desert surface temperatures at night can be as low as freezing.

The heat in the desert sand varies diurnally and at some desert locations the huge disparities, which are herein be used to advantage, were indicated as follows: “Subsurface temperatures (Section 3.3.3.3 from J Laity (2008) Deserts and Desert Environments)(Ref 3):

Temperatures decline very rapidly from the soil surface to depth Ref 4 (Wang and Mitsuta 1992). One researcher placed soil thermistors at depths of 2, 20 and 35 cm below the surface during the month of June at Sharouwrah, Saudi Arabia. The phase-shifted amplitude decrease with depth. At 2 cm depth, daily temperatures fluctuate by as much as 47° C.; for example, on 31 May 1981, the daytime maximum was about 68° C. and the nighttime minimum about 22° C. (a range of 46° C.). For the same period the corresponding air temperature maximum was about 40° C. and minimum was 20° C. (range 20° C.). At 20 cm depth, soil temperatures averaged about 41° C., with a diurnal range of about 4° C. and at 35 cm depth there is essentially no difference in day/night temperatures, with the soil maintaining an essentially constant temperature of 38° C. Thus, at night the surface soil temperatures are considerably cooler than those at depth.

At night the surface is cooling but the sand at a depth of 10-20 cm is still warm and transferring heat to layers above and below it. Deeper layers continue to gain heat, so that the maximum temperatures at 30-50 cm occur when the surface is at its coolest and minimum temperatures are reached when the surface is at its hottest. Measurements have been taken in animal burrows at depths of 70-100 cm and records for the midday period indicate temperatures ranging from 25° C. to 31° C. Inter-particle humidity increases with depth in sandy conditions (Ref 4) and humidity in burrows is higher than at the surface. Also, recordings were made in the Kuwaiti desert of a relative humidity of 72% in jerboa burrows during a period when the air above the ground was at 12%. Thus, animals retreating into burrows enjoy a higher relative humidity and a temperature at depth that is out of phase with that at the surface and is normally near a minimum at the time when temperatures at the surface are highest.”

DESCRIPTION

Underground Habitats

Designs herein include suitable devices for human “burrows” or spaces to enable escape from excessive heat or cold where suitable substrates exist. As Global Warming increases and heat waves become more prevalent, such SHiSH devices will become more valuable as temporary or more permanent shelters.

One configuration of the SHiSH is a tapered shell, with a thread on the exterior to assist in the penetration of the sand when the shell is rotated. This will take portions of the shell to cooler areas in the deeper substrate if it be sand or other substrate. The upper diameter and length of the SHiSH will depend on the purpose of the SHiSH.

It can be seen to possibly have application for tourism (many well-off Middle Eastern people leave the cities and go into the desert for parties and relaxation in the winter and at night) and for refugee camps and Nomads or voluntary or involuntary desert populations. Cooler residences could be constructed near oases and water from the oases used to dampen the sand in the right places and or levels to reinforce the cooling action.

It also has application in deep snow. One function for personnel in the snow would be to provide a dry space in a base for storage or personnel, as sleeping on the snow melts the snow in immediate contact and could induce hyperthermia. As such it could be used in areas where snow cover is being created to boost albedo. It could be used at any angle from upwards into a sand or snow hill or horizontal and down to vertical (Diagram G).

As Global warming progresses it will have rapidly expanding application by more and more people out of necessity. Any substrate of sufficiently low shear and low displacement resistance such as mud or salt flats with soft under-soils, may also provide suitable locations. In South Australia, at Coober Pedy, the opal miners live underground in desert country, utilizing the cooling there, but the opal rich soil is hard and compact, and holes are dug with excavators and shovels and picks.

Average wind velocities have increased with global warming and desert dust storms have become more prevalent. The SHiSH will provide better protection from dust storms than tents.

The SHiSH shape is designed to allow easy penetration and setting up in the substrate and various accessories devices can assist and add to its effectiveness. Some of the potential shapes and functional differences are shown in Diagrams A, B, C, D, E and F. They typically include a thread on the outside to assist in gripping the substrate and assisting penetration by rotation. Another variation uses Air injection into the sand ahead of the penetrating surface and would be possible without the thread to great ease motion into the substrate. Multiple panels units using this would be possible as in Diagrams J, K1, K2 and N. Another variation would have an open nose and the substrate would be removed from its center after it had penetrated the substrate. Less portable than a shovel for this removal but better device would be an Archimedes screw suitable for lifting the sand up and out of the top of the SHiSH. It could be small, and hand powered, or large and machine powered. It might be air driven or air assisted in such a way as to move the sand up the curves of the Screw.

In the sand dunes or suitable substrate, the SHISH, in one version, is a tapered screw of useful diameter (for habitat or storage) in the upper portion with a pointed front and a threaded surface to initiate penetration and it could be all tapered (Diagram A) or have a cylindrical shape above the ‘screw-in” portion (Diagram B).

Another version would be shaped with an open nose, including a cylinder (Diagram F), with interior excavation as the SHiSH was moved into the sand. Such interior excavation could be carried out by a manually operated or machine operated Archimedes screw to lift the sand and drop it outside the SHISH.

Driving Devices: A driving device to supplement manpower is desirable and in some substrates necessary, to screw in the SHiSH or otherwise assist. Such a driving device to rotate the screw and cause it to screw into the sand might be driven off the wheels of a four-wheel-drive vehicle or by a winch. Alternatively, the driving device could be manual if a lever were inserted into slots or holes in the top at right angles to the direction of the screw or cylinder axis. Alternatively, a strap or rope wrapped around the body could provide a force at right angles to the circumference on the side or top of the body. Around the SHiSH is wrapped the driving strap designed such that, as it is unwrapped with either manpower or a winch or a vehicle to pull the strap to turn the Screw habitat, the SHiSH screws into the sand or soil. An identical strap or additional strap may have to be deployed on the other side of the SHISH while it is being inserted. Two straps or ropes could thus be used to enable them to be pulled in opposite directions both applying torque in the same direction and thus enabling the SHISH to remain at right angles to the surface being penetrated.

In its simplest form, without a top cylinder or without appendages to perform additional functions, this device will nest, i.e. pack inside another one so that several can be carried on a vehicle. This would be easier if the thread did not protrude significantly, and this will be the tradeoff. A two or more-piece split shape on panels which are joined later would allow easier transport and manhandling (Diagrams K1, K2 and N) If made of plastic, it would not be detected by metal detectors and therefore easier to conceal by say mining operators. For scientific expeditions, or refugee camps or tourist applications the accessories used would not be limited by the need to avoid detection and could include all of those below to lower temperatures further.

Accessories These various accessories have been designed to boost the availability of cool air in the ShiSH in the desert, and include: Surface Reflectors: To keep the sand around the SHISH or Chill Coil cool, a light colored, preferably white or highly reflective cover material placed over the area surrounding that which the SHISH occupies, would reflect the short-wave sunrays, thus, stop the sand which surrounds the SHISH from heating as much during the day.

At night the top portion of a Chill Coil as set out below (Diagram M) or in a functionally similar way could be deployed on top of the cover material and perhaps under the cover during the day or further underground.

The StillMOF: New water collection devices are being developed at a rapid-rate, and they capture a large amount of water for a small amount of MOF (Metal-Organic Frameworks) (Ref 6). This can assist in cooling as a dehumidifier by allowing greater levels of perspiration of the occupant of the SHISH and can provide a source of water greater than that perspired if sufficient moisture is being introduced with the cool air introduction to the SHiSH. These MOF give up their water at higher temperatures and collect at lower temperatures. A device using the MOF to suit the desert environment and the SHiSH designed to release the water collected by exposure to the higher daytime temperatures to provide water for sustenance of the occupant. It may need a drop of bleach to improve the taste. The Still-suits imagined by Frank Herbert in the wonderful stories of Dune would have been actual thermodynamic suicide, as by depriving the body of the evaporative cooling effect they would cause overheating and heat stroke in a matter of minutes. By separating the moisture collection so that evaporative cooling can occur, then capturing the moisture nearby, the persons' skin will be in a low humidity area and feel even cooler. We suggest calling it a “StillMOF” to help explain its function to the users. The word Still suggests distilling moisture from the air as well as appealing to fans of Dune. Use of this device may be needed to stop the SHiSH becoming a sweat box due to humidity and would be particularly valuable in high humidity areas, in any confined spaces.

As a Storage and Extra adjusted-temperature air supply. In all three substrates, sand, snow or pliable soil, the SHiSH would serve as a storage volume to keep supplies such a food or water or fuel out of the heat or sand or snow. For storage, units with porosity may not be desirable as it would require sealed containers inside of it for fluids. The lack of human bodies sharing the space will enable it, if partially filled, to remain cool in the desert and thus be a source of cool air for the personnel occupied SHiSH. In the desert water is the scarcest commodity and the SHISH provides a possible cooler storage place so evaporation is minimized, and the water temperature remains drinkable. Interconnection of SHiSH under the substrate sand can allow the amount of ventilation to be increased with cool air moving through the empty or storage SHISH and into the personnel SHISH.

Chill Coil (Diagram M)

This device is intended to chill its contents in the desert night as the earth radiates infrared radiation from the coil and the nearby surface substrate into space and cools the coil and its contents. This provides an opportunity to radiate heat from a device on or near the surface such a length of tubing or coil or even a bag and to further cool the fluid then passing through the deeper sand or soil to provide a heat sink for the daytime in cooling the SHiSH. It consists of two functionally separate sections. The first is the surface section or coil for radiation of heat at night and the second is the heat transfer coil in the lower portion of the SHiSH or in the substrate near it. Freezing surface temperatures can occur in the desert at night. In Reference 3 below the nighttime temperatures on the surface can be as low as 22° C. or less even though at midday it may be 68° C. A very deep SHiSH might be used for more permanent installations and could build a “Chill Bank” of very chilled sand at a depth so that warming of that Bank Space was very slow as it absorbed heat from the occupied space.

The surface section must be handled or sometimes isolated so that the water in it does not heat during the day or at night when the soil is still hot. One option would be to pull in the surface coil and relocate it to the bottom of the SHiSH. Another possibility is to remove the water from the upper section by diverting it into an additional section below ground during the day. If this concept were applied to living spaces in or out of the desert then cities would be better able to move towards net zero carbon as it can save a great deal of fossil fuel by using the cooling effects of night time radiation combined with a heat sink which we refer to as a Chill Bank.

Mega Chill Coil

A Natural extension of the Chill Coil for use with a single SHiSH would be to use the concept for a range up to and including vast volumes in the Chill Banks, even measured in many thousands of cubic kilometers of sand, under the desert surface or even above it, to provide vast Chill Banks to use as heat sinks to cool large buildings in the desert for people or goods. These could be made adequate for air conditioning the million possible occupants of the 700 km long mirror construct envisaged for Saudi Arabia (Ref. 9) As the land warms with global warming this application would expand in application to other substrates and more temperate climates so as to deal with high temperatures on a carbon free basis as no fossil fuel is burned to produce this air conditioning and even wind power and solar power units have not necessarily been used although they could boost the Chill Bank capacity. Even use of wind and solar energy to further boost the capacity of the Chill Bank would be beneficial in comparison to fossil fuel energy driven air conditioners. They would be more than carbon neutral as they would substitute for carbon production.

Broad Application of SHISH

This has a market with miners working in the high temperature areas, with farmers of carbon credits on salt flats or arid or desert areas or for scientists setting up measuring devices in the desert or carrying out research there. This last need will grow as climate change expands the deserts and wildfires burn off the arid lands.

It also has possible use in refugee camps for storm shelters or heat shelters. This has huge application as a substitute for, or supplement to tents. The ability to use the side of a sand-hill to provide shelter at a livable temperature has advantages over tents when unexpected heat waves occur.

When adequately developed it might be used by Desert Campers or tourists or desert explorers.

Ultimately, when developed and tested its original purpose can be achieved when they are used for basic scientific research or project work in the desert to get out of the very high temperatures, or snow country out of the cold and when necessary, in carrying out projects to gather basic scientific data and/or projects to offset global warming or other projects such as mining.

When the air assisted SHiSH panels are fully developed it should be possible to insert one panel into sand, which does not have rocks mixed with it, in less than one minute so a complete SHiSH or mega SHiSH could be constructed in a very short time using large volumes of pressured air or fluid and few people.

Safety Factors:

Other creatures like getting under the sand in the desert for temperature relief and as this includes spiders, scorpions and snakes and lizards, so a good cap or door is needed to seal the entrance and perhaps some kind of electrical or non-toxic (to humans) chemical repellant developed for when the SHISH is left empty or used for storage.

Advance Setup:

The SHiSH could also be used for a snow insulated space creation and in snow country. The SHiSH with or without weighted noses and perhaps a ‘spear’ or threaded spear (to initiate in screwing of the body of the SHiSH by converting falling kinetic energy to rotating kinetic energy) on the front of the cone and could be dropped from aircraft or drones, into sand or deep snow or other low shear substrate to set up storage or shelter ahead of personnel arrival. A simple door or cap could be used to seal against the elements. A cloth covered cap would allow air transfer but would need to be braced to resist substrate blown onto the cap. Tracking devices will allow the SHISH to be located in the desert whether covered by sand or not. A cloth cover which had the color of the sand can cover the entrance when inhabited but a stronger seal would be needed for non-attended units to exclude substrate entry.

Mega-SHISH (Diagram J)

A large cylindrical multi-person or multipurpose Mega SHiSH would consist of many panels transported separately and interlocked for insertion or inserted individually with the following panels interlocked one at a time and compressed air used to clear out the interlocking mechanism, so that they were eventually inserted into the substrate by the same amount. Sandbags could provide steps. Effectively the Mega-SHiSH would become an underground tent with weather resistance and potential to cool it using some or all, of the accessories. Due to their shape the panels would be stackable to transport. With the large top or cap a reflective surface becomes valuable and a center pole with cap support. The panels could be air assisted with a compressor or compressed air packages.

Other Spaces

The SHiSH can be used as a cool air collection device for cool air feed to any nearby space or even a distant space whether underground or above.

Storage

In all substrates, sand, snow or pliable soil or mud, the SHiSH would serve as a storage volume to keep supplies or fuel out of the heat or sand or snow or any substrate. For storage, porosity of the walls of the SHiSH may not be desirable as it would require further sealed containers inside of it for fluids. Interconnection of SHiSH under the substrate sand can allow the amount of ventilation to be increased with cool air moving through the empty or storage SHISH and into the personnel SHISH.

Problems and Solutions

Solutions to Several of the Problems that May be Faced:

Problem 1: Body heat will quickly warm the initial small amount of air in the SHiSH and with the inevitable partial exchanges with the surface air it may soon be as hot as the desert air. A larger cool air supply is needed.

One solution is to tap into a larger area of cooled air in the sand. It must effectively become a burrow under the surface with connections to other cooled air containers or to very extensive lengths of perforated or porous piping to draw cool air from the sand. Air could be pumped out of the Shish to pull in air from its cool surrounds through the sand and its porous walls. Porous walls on the SHiSH will allow the air to pass through the walls more readily.

Another solution would be to use a very long SHiSH and only the top portion is inhabited above a platform. The bottom portion is for accessing the cooler air well below the surface. Using another SHiSH for cool air collection only or perhaps cool air collection and storage is positioned nearby, preferably at a higher elevation as then the cool air collected there can be fed by gravity to the residential SHiSH through a tube or underground pipe.

Problem 2: Sandstorms may cover over the closed entrance to the SHiSH. In this situation, the SHiSH needs to be capable of being ‘unscrewed” to bring its lip up to the same position relative to the surface as originally intended. This gives it an element of adaptation over other underground constructs.

Problem 3: Sandstorms may blow away sand from around the top of the ShiSH. The solution is to be able to Screw the SHiSH further into the sand to bring the lip down to the same position relative to the surface as originally intended. Again, this is an element of its adaptation over other underground constructs.

Problem 4: Ideally the moisture from waste such as urine could be captured by the StillMOF so no moisture is wasted. This problem needs further research as the possibility for odor creation is very high. Solid waste might pass through a one way aperture into a tube downward facing and of considerable length and volume. Personnel leaving the SHiSH to carry the waste material away from the SHiSH may not always be possible. Venting to the air of the urine collection device may allow oxidation of the odor causing material if adequate bacteria was added or developed naturally. A simple septic system provides guidelines.

Value to Miners and Others

One criterion for exploration of desert and arid areas is mobility and camping while protected against temperature extremes. Furthermore, prior to and during usage, it could store food and fuel. As migration increases in the hotter portions of the world there will be an increasing need for bases in high temperature regions. The SHiSH allows safety from the heat and an opportunity to rest in the daytime and the work may best be resumed in the early hours of the day or in the dark. The advantage of this desert habitat is that it can be set up ahead of arrival of the mining force, with SHISH perhaps dropped from drones and perhaps being self-inserting. It can be extracted or “unscrewed” from the sand and used again in the next step forwards. This solution applies to any SHiSH users including Tourists, Refugees and scientists doing research or workers on industrial projects or global cooling projects.

Air or fluid assisted penetration of the whole SHiSH or panels: Garden hoses can be pushed into sand and will move forward significant distances if water is flowing through them (from childhood experiments). Being flexible, they do however take unplanned paths. The same forward motion will be possible for a front open or hollow tube with air flowing into it to displace the sand out the sides of the SHiSH, or for the whole SHiSH or Cylindrical air assisted SHiSH (Diagram K1 and K2) for panels of a Mega-SHiSH (Diagram J). The extent of this and its possible design needs research. The quantity of air flowing through the tube will be critical and related to tube inner and outer diameter and the sand type and orifice placement and sizes.

Air Fingers (Diagram L) Air or fluid assisted penetration by the whole SHiSH or of cool air supply tubes attached to the SHiSH. Forward motion will be possible for a hollow perhaps porous tube with air flowing into it as it will more easily displace the sand. The extent of this and its design needs research. The quantity of air flowing through the tube will be critical and related to tube inner and outer diameter and the sand type and orifice placement and sizes.

One SHiSH design, an AIR-SHISH would use air or fluid penetration only, without an exterior thread and with or without a conical shape. This could be a cylinder with air conveyed to the bottom edge of the cylinder Diagram E). Then the clearing away of the sand inside the SHiSH will be necessary as it will not be displaced and will remain in the center area. This could be done with a man operated tool shovel or Archimedes screw or the compressed air supply might be used to blow the sand up a tube or up the Archimedes screw and away from the SHiSH.

Another simple version could be a threaded SHiSH device with an open front end and something as simple as a bar placed across slots in the ‘door’ end and rotated by hand with occasional stops to scoop out or otherwise remove the sand on the inside.

Keeping the SHISH cool may be improved by the presence of moisture in the sand around the SHISH. This could be enhanced by control of waste disposition. Fiberglass or plastic SHISH would be best in terms of disguise in the desert, avoiding metal detection and more easily forming the screw and surface secure shapes. Small SHISH cooler tubes could consist of tubes through the sides of the SHISH horizontally. The tip of the SHiSH should be made of metal or very strong plastic to avoid breakage if it hits rock.

During the screwing into the substrate process, braces inside of the cone could be needed to provide stability to stop distortion of the SHiSH. Distortion would impede the efficiency of the screw. A firmly constructed and attached door or cap may be part or all of this.

Storage and “Warrens”

The unit can be used for storage of a huge variety of items. Fuel in the desert needs to be protected from the heat to minimize evaporation so storing it underground is an advantage. In this case the SHiSH should be screwed into the ground vertically or at a sufficient downward angle to enable the liquid to be retained and then capped. Food is better stored underground as would all camping and mining equipment that needed to be kept free of sand. Storage areas, if having useful cool air, could be connected to personnel SHiSH using variations up to large sizes, on the leg space pipe in the side of the SHiSH in Diagram N. The various SHiSH could be interconnected by use of these pipes to form a more useful cool space or warren to and from storage or other personnel

One Man SHISH

Just as the Tuareg (originally nomadic desert people) use their white cotton cloth known as a thawb or thobe as a cover in a desert sandstorm so a similar cap material is one proposal for the SHiSH. This enables the passage of air through it but stops the entry of sand.

Advanced Design Considerations

Air Delivery

The possibility exists for air delivery of specialized SHiSH as units with a weighted nose so that when dropped they stick into the substrate and a device is attached which will grip on the substrate outside and away from the SHiSH and screw in the SHiSH such that it is ready for later occupation and storage ahead of the troops or personnel arrival.

Sanitation: Processing urine to render it useful in some manner for cooling might be as simple as passing it through a carbon filter but significant technology exists. Without processing, any attached urination devices should direct the fluid well away from the SHiSH and distribute it near the surface if not processed as its decomposition may be anaerobic if well under the surface and the aroma may travel back into the SHiSH (based on the author's observation of so called pissaphones used in camps by the Australian Army in the desert). They had discharged into deep areas with no oxygen access in the sand. Perhaps if vented they would degrade to an odorless state.

Chill Coil

The nighttime temperatures on the surface can be as low as 22° C. even though the midday may be 68° C. By placing a water-filled coil on or near the surface at night and passing that fluid into the depths of the sand perhaps into a coil around the SHISH then the sand at depth can be chilled. The very deep SHiSH might be used for permanent installations and could build a “Bank” or ‘CHILL BANK” of very chilled sand at a depth so that it could be used to cool other warm spaces and have a high heat sink capacity.

This cooling effect will be retained throughout the heat of the day as sand makes an excellent temperature reservoir as evidenced by the heat sand battery designed by the Finnish company Polar Night Energy (BBC 2022) (Ref 2). Our difference is in the use of natural heat radiation to cool the Chill Bank at night and to use the sand as a Heat sink and not a heat reservoir. Further differences are in the specifications and applications.

Accelerated Penetration

When air or fluid under pressure is applied to sand it tends to become ‘fluid” as it is a mixture of sand and air and is therefore more easily moved aside.

Air Assisted SHISH or Air-SHISH

Just as water coming out of the front of a garden hose makes it possible to penetrate sand, and, in some circumstances, pulls the hose into the sand, in the same way, compressed air ejected from the front or perhaps sides of the SHISH will tend to assist the SHISH to penetrate the sand and make it easier to penetrate similar substrates.

Air-SHISH Cooling Tubes and Pipes

If cooling tubes were passed out of the sides of the SHISH into the cooler volumes of the sand to provide cool air during the day, then their penetration could be assisted with compressed air being passed out the front of the tube or the sides to allow penetration of the cooling tubes into extended volumes of sand. Interconnecting or space extending pipes or shapes such as shown in Diagram N could also be inserted with air assistance.

Development

The angle of the cone side related to the depth and angle of the thread will determine the ability to penetrate different substrate types and a design to meet the requirements of the most substrates is one criterion to consider.

Description of Some Possibilities and Areas for Research:

Various methods needing research and optimization, have been considered and claimed below in order to better source and increase the cooler lower air possible for the SHiSH in high temperature regions with sand or soil and these range from: (a) Porous sides (b) SHiSH ‘fingers’ consisting of tubes through the sides of the SHiSH into the surrounding substrate (c) Reflective surfaces added at or near the surface to as to decrease the temperature of the surrounding substrate. Other possibilities include:

• • 1. The angle of the cone side related to the depth and angle of the thread will determine the ability to penetrate different substrate types and a design to meet the requirements of the most substrates is one criterion to consider.
  • 2. SHISH driven into the sand will tap into cool sand which will cool the air in the SHISH. Then if enough of these are positioned to provide air for a larger space such as but not limited to a Mega-ShiSH, Diagram J), then, multi-personnel cool spaces can be created.
  • 3. At night a Chill Coil as set out below (Diagram M) could be deployed with the upper portion on top of the white cover material.
  • 4. Cool Sand Zone: A cover could be placed below the immediate surface of the sand over the ‘cool sand zone’ such as to block downward heated air flow but done so as to be invisible to air surveillance.
  • 5. A storage device: In all three substrates, sand, snow or pliable soil, the SHiSH would serve as a storage volume to keep supplies such a food or water or fuel out of the heat or sand or snow. For storage, units with porosity may not be desirable. The lack of human bodies sharing the space will enable it to remain cooler.
  • 6. Water or Fluid storage: In the desert water is the scarcest commodity and the SHISH provides a possible cooler storage place so evaporation is minimized, and the temperature remains drinkable. To maintain a standard design with perhaps a perforated ShiSH, the water storage Shish could consist of an added bladder to hold the water in the cool of the sand. Otherwise a SHISH without porosity or holes would hold water or other liquids such as fuel.
  • 7. It can be extracted or “unscrewed” from the sand and used again. To free it from the sand compressed air would assist by reducing the friction between the SHiSH and the sand. If it had a perforated design then an air tight cap on the top with compressed air injected into it would help free it. If not perforated, then a tube or tubes down the side (perhaps inside the screw threads) would reduce the friction
  • 8. The rate of screwing into the substrate could be accelerated by the injection of compressed air from the tip of the SHiSH, and/or from perforations in the thread which carried the compressed air and thus reduced friction there, and/or through perforations in the side of the shell.
  • 9. A Chill coil has an upper and lower portion and is a designed to dissipate heat from lower warmer areas under the sand into the night sky and thus build a CHILL BANK of cool sand or substrate so that it can be used as a heat sink when necessary. The upper portion could be temporarily deployed on the surface when the conditions were appropriate, for example, at night when the sand had cooled. Alternatively, it could be permanently deployed but only activated when conditions were appropriate. The lower portion must be located in the typically warmer areas and if that is part of the SHiSH design, then typically in an area near to the outside of the SHiSH but it might also be deployed inside the Shish. The fluid inside the coil could be water or any other that would serve the purpose. If permanently deployed, then the upper portion could be drained during high surface temperatures and refilled when surface temperatures were suitable.
  • 10. One configuration of the lower chill coil would be in the body of the screw shape on the outside of the SHiSH. The purpose would be to cool the inside of the SHiSH and to build a ‘bank” of cooled substrate/air in the surrounding area for effect during the heat of the day
  • 11. Rapid Insertion would be achieved by using large amounts of compressed air to minimize friction and in addition at the same time applying adequate torque to rapidly screw the SHiSH into the substrate. Light weight compressors with high output exist although the noise output of some light-weight high performance compressors is well above 100 DB and would not be suitable for any stealth required area.
  • 12. Space applications: Although moon caves or lava tubes, in some areas, offer respite from the widely fluctuating temperatures on the moon (Reb 5), the SHISH could provide a device for escape from temperature fluctuations in areas that did not offer the caves or lava tubes and yet had sufficient moon dust or similar low shear substrate. Application might also be found on Mars and other planets. They would have to be manufactured (printed) on site from local materials to make them economical but should be cheaper than boring into rock.
  • 13. A means of establishing a bank of Chilled sand: The very deep SHiSH might be used for permanent installations and could do a better job of building a “Bank” of very chilled sand at a depth so that warming of that Bank was very slow. Sometimes surface temperatures in the desert are at freezing. In the example mentioned in Reference 3 the nighttime temperatures on the surface can be as low as 22° C. even though the midday temperatures may be 68° C. By placing a water filled coil on or near the surface at night and passing that fluid into the depths of the sand then the sand at depth can be chilled and will remain as such. Such a device could be used on a small or massive scale to provide low-cost air conditioning by storing the chill of the night for cooling the air in a contained space during the heat of the day. It could even be used to cool the Saudi “Mirror line”, the proposed 75 mile long two-sided skyscraper.
  • 14. In an open-nose SHiSH, the compressed air source may also be used to drive the sand up an Archimedes screw or drive the screw's rotation so that the sand it carried up and out of the SHiSH. To facilitate sand movements and reduce friction some of the air or fluid introduced could be from inside the thread of the Archimedes screw as well as or instead of into the body of the sand in the screw.

REFERENCES

• 1 Lightburn, Kenneth D. 2023.(also the inventor) “Can a Symbolic Mega-Unit of Radiative Forcing (RF) Improve Understanding and Assessment of Global Warming and of Mitigation Methods Using Albedo Enhancement from Algae. Cloud, and Land (AEfACL)?” Climate 11, no. 3: 62. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli11030062
• 2 BBC 2022. The First Commercial Sand-based Thermal Energy Storage in the World Is in Operation—BBC News Visited Polar Night Energy Jul. 5, 2022
• 3 Laity, J. “Deserts and Desert Environments” (2008) Environmental Systems and Global Change Series Wiley Blackwell. A John Wiley & Sons Inc Publication
• 4 Wang J and Mitsuma, Y (1992) Evaporation from the Desert: some preliminary results of HEIFE. Boundary Layer Meteorology: 59. 413-418.
• 5 Michael Irving Jul. 27, 2022 “Moon Caves may Offer year round jeans-and-jacket temperatures. NEW ATLAS https://newatlas.com/space/moon-caves-temperature-measured-comfortable/?
• 6 Matthew W. Logan, Spencer Langevin & Zhiyong Xia Reversible Atmospheric Water Harvesting Using Metal-Organic Frameworks Scientific Reports. NatureResearch
• 7. James Ssengendo Jul. 26, 2022 “Saudi Arabia Unveils a $1 Trillion 75-Mile Long Desert Skyscraper” GreekReporter.com http//greekreporter.com/2023/07/17/saudi-arabia-75-mile-long-desert-skyscraper/
• Diagrams are attached as are reference copies where a website is not the reference.

Claims

1. A Snow or Sand Hill in Screwing Habitat or storage space (SHiSH) designed to facilitate insertion into a substrate such as sand and to take advantage of the lower temperatures below the surface in desert environments to thus enable better human and storage conditions. Examples are illustrated in Diagrams A, B and C.

2. A Snow or Sand Hill in Screwing Habitat or storage space (SHiSH) designed to facilitate insertion into a substrate such as snow or mud to take advantage the cleaner environment then available and of the exclusion of contact with the dampness of the mud or cold of the snow.

3. An AIR-SHISH with or without thread (Diagrams C, D E and F) which uses compressed air or any fluid to reduce the resistance to insertion of the habitat or storage device into any substrate.

4. An AIR-SHISH to use air or fluid penetration only, without an exterior thread and with or without a conical shape. This could be a cylinder with air conveyed to the bottom edge of the cylinder (Diagram E). Then the clearing away of the sand inside the SHiSH will be necessary as it will not be displaced and will remain in the center area. This could be done with a man operated tool or shovel or Archimedes screw, manually operated or machine operated or the compressed air supply might be used to blow the sand up a tube or up the Archimedes screw and away from the SHiSH.

5. A variation of the SHISH and anything associated with it designed with porous sides to allow the cooler air in lower portions of the sand to move into the SHiSH or associated objects.

6. A construct using tubes through the walls of the SHiSH to allow better extraction of cool air from the outside of the SHiSH (Diagram H). The tubes may but not necessarily have multiple perforations in their sides to allow air intake or be porous on a fine scale or merely have an open end.

7. Use of multiple SHiSH so that adequate cool air is gathered and fed to the occupied space. Ideally, they would be at a higher elevation and then the cool air would gravity feed to the lower SHiSH.

8. Provision for air flow from an air pressure source through cavities in the structure of the SHiSH so that substrate is displaced and or friction reduced to thus allow easier penetration into the substrate by any suitable structure.

9. SHISH driven into the sand will tap into cool sand which will cool the air in the SHISH. Then if enough SHiSH are positioned to provide air for a larger space such as but not limited to a Mega-SHiSH (See Diagram M), then multi-personnel cool spaces can be created.

10. The Chill Coil or device as indicated in two configurations in Diagram M is a device designed to provide a cooling or refrigerating process by cooling its fluid contents in the desert night as the device radiates heat into space, which device may be a coil, and cools its contents thus enabling cooling of a Chill Bank area most likely but not necessarily under the substrate and probably part of the substrate which can thus directly or indirectly act as a heat sink to cool other spaces either above the ground or below the ground such as the SHiSH, and the Chill Bank could be a body of sand or substrate preferably but not necessarily isolated from moisture so as to maintain the potential to flow air through it. One configuration but not restricted to such could be a coil containing water or other substance, made of a material with reasonable heat radiation properties that radiated heat on the surface which is given off by the Chill Bank thus making the Chill Bank suitable as a heat sink, for use in cooling human animal or storage spaces at any time.

11. Use of this Chill Coil concept in any substrates and more temperate climates so as to deal with high temperatures or heat waves on a carbon free basis as no fossil fuel is burned to produce this air conditioning and even wind power and solar power units have not necessarily been used although their employ could further boost the Chill Bank capacity. So even the use of wind and solar energy to further boost the capacity of the Chill Bank is claimed as it would be further beneficial in comparison to fossil fuel energy driven air conditioners.

12. The Chill Bank portion of the Chill Coil could simply be the space in the substrate occupied by the lower portion of Chill Coil (Diagram M) as the rate of heat leakage into this area may be slow due to the insulating properties of the sand or substrate or it may be separated from the main body of substrate by a thin plastic to slow any air movement through into the Chill Bank but significant insulation of all boundaries of the Chill Bank volume would improve the efficiency of the Chill Bank.

13. The Chill Bank portion with insulating walls around it constructed in any way and including construction walls similar to the Air-SHiSH walls proposed in claim 3, 4 or 17 and perhaps but not necessarily flat.

14. A simple configuration of the Chill coil to involve incorporation of the lower portion of the coil into the structure of the SHiSH in any form including but not limited to wrapping around it in the substrate, passing through the hollow thread on the exterior of the SHiSH, directly into the inside of the SHiSH.

15. The MEGA CHILL COIL is an expansion of the Chill Coil in claim 10 and would use larger quantities including vast volumes measured in cubic kilometers of sand under the desert to provide vast Chill Banks to use as heat sinks to cool large buildings in the desert for people or goods or processes. The volume of the Chill Banks may or may not be enclosed and or insulated to better improve its temperature or moisture separation from other portions of the substrate. In sufficient numbers and scope these could even be made adequate for air conditioning the million possible occupants of the mirror walled linear construct of a 75 mile long skyscraper envisaged for Saudi Arabia. (Ref 7).

16. A diverse MEGA CHILL COIL like that in claim 13 would use other substrates and even water bodies or wet substrate to provide a heat sink for use in buildings in deserts or other areas.

17. The walls of the Chill Banks that provide insulation could be manufactured with air or fluid injection tubes so that they penetrate the sand in the same way as earlier indicated for simple Air-SHiSH units.

18. Use of any form of the ShiSH to form the boundaries of the CHILL BANK or any other insulating structure above or below ground.

19. As the land warms with global warming the application of the Chill Bank to air conditioning would expand in using other substrates especially in more temperate climates to deal with high temperatures on a carbon free basis as no fossil fuel is burned to produce this air conditioning. Use of wind and solar energy could further boost the capacity of the Chill Bank and would be a beneficial boosting method in comparison to fossil fuel energy driven air conditioners.

20. The Chill Coil used for a low operating cost air conditioner wherever the surface temperature at night can be used to radiate heat from the Chill Bank underground in whatever substrate and the Chill Bank can use the built-up capacity of the heat sink to cool any target space.

21. The Chill Coil to provide air conditioning where in addition to nighttime radiation a sufficient water source exists and by using evaporation of water over the surface coil or a separate special coil, cools the coil fluid which can go from there to the Chill Bank to increase its heat sink capacity.

22. The surface section of the Chill Coil (Diagram M) could be handled or sometimes isolated so that the water in it does not heat during the day or at night when the soil is still hot and any or all of the following methods might be used (a) to pull in the surface coil and relocate it to the bottom of the SHiSH or cooled space (b) to temporarily remove the water from the surface portion of the coil into a storage tank (c) to cover the surface portion when temperatures are higher than desired.

23. A device to keep the sand around the SHISH cooler consisting of a highly reflective, but not limited to mirror like material reflective or light colored, perhaps white cover material placed over the area surrounding that area under which or adjacent to where the SHISH and/or Chill Bank resided would reflect the short-wave sunrays, would thus stop the sand which surrounds the SHISH from heating as would otherwise occur during the day. This cover could have a reflective surface on the underneath (where is effect would be limited but still useful) for use by the army or on the upper surface if used for purposes not requiring disguise.

24. The SHiSH as a storage device: In all three substrates, sand, snow or pliable soil, the SHiSH would serve as a storage volume to keep supplies such a food or water or fuel out of the heat or sand or snow or mud. For storage, units with porosity may not be desirable. The lack of human bodies sharing the space will enable it to remain cool.

25. An Archimedes screw suitable for lifting the sand up and out of the open nose SHiSH, air driven, or air assisted with injection of the air into the screw in such a way as to move the sand up the curves of the Screw.

26. A Mega-SHISH (Diagram J): A design allowing a large cylindrical or other shape, multifaceted multi person or multipurpose “Mega-SHiSH” would consist of many panels transported separately and interlocked for insertion or inserted individually with the subsequent panels interlocked sequentially and compressed air used to clear out the interlocking mechanism, so that they were eventually inserted into the substrate by the same amount. Sandbags could provide steps. Effectively the Mega-SHiSH would become an underground tent with weather resistance and potential to cool it using some, or all, of the accessories. Due to their shape the panels would be stackable to transport. When the result desired consisted of a fully closed unit (this is not always necessary) then an adaptable sized panel is needed for the final possibly highly variable closing. Two panels sliding over one another but interlocked at the base to thus exclude separation during insertion. The side interlocking mechanisms could be linked to the other panels on both sides. Small versions of this design as in Diagrams K1, K2 and N, would be suitable for single occupants. This Mega-SHiSH could be of any configuration to form a useful space. An important aspect of one configuration of this claim is the air assisted insertion of panels into the substrate which panels are interlocked to provide a restraining force on the sand or substrate.

27. A device designed for habitat or storage creation below the normal surface of the suitable substrate to escape temperature extremes and storms and/or provide a measure of safety.

28. Instrumentation on or near the SHiSH to measure temperature humidity in and on the substrate or in the SHiSH will assist in determining the need to utilize accessories if they are available. For example, the Chill Coil could be deployed if necessary and if surface temperatures warranted it.

29. A dehumidifying device which is also a Water collection device (StillMOF) for use in hot humid situations as may occur in a SHISH in the desert or any confined space with high humidity and heat. Such MOF, Metal-Organic Frameworks (Reb 6) are being developed at a rapid rate and they capture a large amount of water for a small amount of MOF These give up their water at higher temperatures and collect at lower temperatures. A device designed to suit the desert environment could collect water in the SHiSH from bodily evaporation and input from the surrounding substrate and release it when exposed to the higher daytime temperatures to provide water for sustenance by the occupant. By separating the moisture collection so that sweating with its evaporative cooling can occur and then capturing the moisture nearby, the person's skin will be in a lower humidity area and feel even cooler.

30. The supplying of any type of above ground constructions of any magnitude or type from underground SHISH cooler areas or devices that thereby improve the environment of that construct.

31. The set up a series of COOL REST STOPS with already established SHiSH devices underground which can be accessed and the cool air or any water there-in used.

32. Outer Space applications: Although moon caves or lava tubes, in some areas, offer respite from the widely fluctuating temperatures on the moon (Ref 5), the SHISH could provide a device for escape underground from temperature fluctuations in areas on the moon or on other planets that did not offer the caves or lava tubes and yet had sufficient dust or similar low shear substrate. Application might also be found on Mars and other planets. They would probably have to be manufactured (printed) on site from local materials to make them economical but if suitable substrate existed, would be quicker to use and cheaper than boring into rock.

33. Use of nighttime radiation of heat at the surface to cool a material, possibly water but not necessarily so, which, when transferred in any manner to an underground volume of substrate whether isolated and insulated or partly or merely naturally insulated by other substrate or an above ground insulated volume creates a Heat Sink which can be used to cool other inhabitable or storage spaces.

34. Further, use of a Heat Pump to transfer heat from the target space to a Chill Bank.

35. Furthermore, a Heat Pump could be used to boost the capacity of the Chill Bank with the aid of its compressor.

36. A House or Building, with a Chill Coil and Chill Bank, which has preferably, but not necessarily, installed prior to the construction of the house or building under the surface or above, used to pass cooled fluid into an area of the house or building to act as an air conditioner through various means, the Chill Bank having had its heat sink capacity boosted by radiation of heat into space at night or any other means.

37. A Chill Bank for working or living quarters such as a house or building, which has preferably but not necessarily installed prior to the construction of the house under the surface or above, which can act as a heat sink with its capacity enhanced by any means, not necessarily the surface Chill Coil, so that the availability of energy for cooling can be selected to optimize benefits and costs such as but not limited to using wind power when available.

38. Extension of the SHiSH underground from inside the SHiSH by use of a suitable material to support the sand above whether through lining a cavity with the appropriate compounds or by inserting another SHiSH or structure or even a pipe through the wall. An example would be a pipe large enough to allow a SHiSH and a pipe to provide space to lie horizontally on the bottom of the SHiSH or for many people to do the same or for other activities out to the sides of the SHiSH or to use that space for storage. (Diagram N)

39. Special SHiSH designs for delivery by air such as drones or helicopters suitable for self-insertion following the drop into the soft or low shear substrate.

40. SHiSH of various sizes, shape and function interconnected underground with pipes or other shapes of various profiles and sizes as in Diagram N to provide access to storage areas or other personnel SHiSH to provide a better supply of cool air and functioning of the group.

41. For air delivery by plane, helicopter or drone a specialized SHiSH perhaps with but not necessarily with a weighted nose so that when dropped they stick into the substrate and a device may but not necessarily attached which will grip on the substrate outside and away from the Shish and screw in the Shish such that it is ready for later occupation and storage ahead of the troops or personnel arrival.

42. As in claim 40 but also with a ‘spear’ or threaded spear on the front of the cone to ensure it remains upright after landing and to change some of the kinetic energy of the fall into torque to begin to screw in the SHiSH.

43. Construction of any SHiSH or underground structure in low shear substrates using fluidization of that substrate through the injection of air or any fluid via or near the structure.

44. Use of a compressed air or gas source to drive the substrate material up the curves of an Archimedes screw or similar device to aid or supplement the need to rotate the screw or uplifting device by, but not necessarily so, use of passageways built into the structure of the substrate moving device.

45. A specialized SHiSH set up to act as a septic system with, if possible, but not necessarily, capture of moisture such that it is not contaminated or can be decontaminated for use in some form, perhaps in the chiller coil or for other functions.

46. To maintain a standard design with perhaps a perforated ShiSH, the water storage SHiSH could consist of an added bladder to hold the water in the cool of the sand. Otherwise a SHISH without porosity or holes would hold water or other liquids such as fuel but a bladder adds protection against accidental damage and leakage of the ShiSH without a bladder.

47. On or near Salt Flats, Salt dome houses are possible above the ground with the insulation of salt walls and application of the Chill Coil and or Chill Bank described above could be used to cool the Salt dome interior or any other local above ground structure.

48. Interconnections of various appropriate ShiSH underground so as to increase the supply of cool air in the desert or warmed air in very cold areas.

49. Use of any of the above claims appropriately modified to facilitate the availability of warmer air where needed in very cold regions.