Support member with dual use rebar for geothermal underground loop and methods

Abstract

A support member for a man-made structure includes support member being at least partially underground and including a poured filler and at least two hollow rebars embedded within said poured filler thereby displacing a volume of said poured filler equal to the volume of said embedded at least two hollow rebars, a first hollow rebar of said at least two hollow rebars being a downward flow geothermal underground loop segment and having an inlet at its top, and a second hollow rebar of said at least two hollow rebars being an upward flow geothermal underground loop segment and having an outlet at its top.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A support member for a man-made structure, the support member with a dual use rebars to function as both structural rebars and as geothermal underground loop segments, which comprises:
 said support member being at least partially underground and including a poured filler and at least two hollow rebars embedded within said poured filler thereby displacing a volume of said poured filler equal to the volume of said embedded at least two hollow rebars, a first hollow rebar of said at least two hollow rebars being a downward flow geothermal underground loop segment and having an inlet at its top, and a second hollow rebar of said at least two hollow rebars being an upward flow geothermal underground loop segment and having an outlet at its top, said at least two hollow rebars being connected to each other at their bottoms by a hollow connector to establish a geothermal underground loop, and said at least two hollow rebars having structural design support sufficient to support load in excess of poured filler which they displace;   wherein said support member is a caisson.   
     
     
         2 . The support member with dual use rebars of  claim 1  wherein said support member has top view alignment means for positioning said at least two hollow rebars within said poured filler. 
     
     
         3 . The support member with dual use rebars of  claim 2  wherein said top view alignment means for positioning said at least two hollow rebars within said poured filler is at least one positioning cage. 
     
     
         4 . The structure and support members with dual use rebars of  claim 3  wherein there are more than two hollow rebars and they are functionally connected to one another in series to allow continuous flow of a geothermal fluid. 
     
     
         5 . A structure and support members with a dual use rebars to function as both structural rebars and as a geothermal underground loop segments, which comprises:
 a) a man-made structure with a plurality of support members;   b) said plurality of support members being at least partially underground and including a casing, a poured filler in said casing and at least two hollow rebars embedded within said poured filler thereby displacing a volume of said poured filler equal to the volume of said embedded at least two hollow rebars, a first hollow rebar of said two hollow rebars being a downward flow geothermal underground loop segment and having an inlet at its top, and a second hollow rebar of said at least two hollow rebars being an upward flow geothermal underground loop segment and having an outlet at its top, said at least two hollow rebars being connected to each other at their bottoms by a hollow connector to establish a geothermal underground loop, and said at least two hollow rebars having structural design support sufficient to support load in excess of poured filler which they displace; and,   c) a geothermal above ground conditioning system for creating at least one condition selected from heating and cooling, and connected to said inlet and said outlet of said first hollow rebar and said second hollow rebar, respectively;   wherein there are more than two hollow rebars and they are functionally connected to one another in series to allow continuous flow of a geothermal fluid.   
     
     
         6 . The structure and support members with dual use rebars of  claim 5  wherein said poured filler is selected from the group consisting of cement, concrete, synthetic cement, polymer aggregate and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         7 . The structure and support members with dual use rebars of  claim 5  wherein said casings are metal casings. 
     
     
         8 . The structure and support members with dual use rebars of  claim 5  wherein said at least two hollow rebars are heat treated metal hollow rebars. 
     
     
         9 . The structure and support members with dual use rebars of  claim 5  wherein said at least two hollow rebars have support strength greater than the support strength of the cross sectional area of said poured filler which they have displaced. 
     
     
         10 . The support member with dual use rebars of  claim 5  wherein said top view alignment means for positioning said at least two hollow rebars within said poured filler is at least one positioning cage. 
     
     
         11 . A method for creating a support member for a man-made structure, which comprises:
 a) inserting a vertical casing into the ground;   
       inserting at least two hollow rebars thereby displacing a volume of said poured filler equal to the volume of said embedded at least two hollow rebars, including a first hollow rebar of said at least two hollow rebars, being a downward flow geothermal underground loop segment and having an inlet at its top, and a second hollow rebar of said at least two hollow rebars, being an upward flow geothermal underground loop segment and having an outlet at its top, said at least two hollow rebars being connected to each other at their bottoms by a hollow connector to establish a geothermal underground loop, and said at least two hollow rebars having structural design support sufficient to support load in excess of poured filler which they displace;
 b) pouring a filler into said casing and around said at least two hollow rebars so as to embed said hollow rebars within said filler with tops of said first hollow rebar and said second hollow rebar extending beyond said filler. 
 
     
     
         12 . The method of creating a support member for a man-made structure of  claim 11  wherein said filler is selected from the group consisting of cement, concrete, synthetic cement, polymer aggregate and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         13 . The method of creating a support member for a man-made structure of  claim 11  wherein said at least two hollow rebars are heat treated metal hollow rebars. 
     
     
         14 . The method of creating a support member for a man-made structure of  claim 11  wherein there are more than two hollow rebars inserted and they are functionally connected to one another in series to allow continuous flow of a geothermal fluid.