Solar 3D printing sky-scrapers in the Sahara !

[Stratospheremodels]

I just found this absolutely fantastic project of building habitation towers in the Sahara desert with a solar powered 3D printing machine ! (and using the locally available sand as building material, sintering the sand with the heat of the sun !).
 
I see this would require a couple construction crane with an horizontal axis rail in between equipped  with a multi-axis robotic arm attached to the horizontal rail with the solar mirrors on the ro robotic arms to be able to build this structure. And you would have to move the crane around the tower to build the largest upper structure on all sides. Such a building would also require an internal metal reinforcement armature of steel, as i don't think sintered sand on its own would be strong enough for a tall building with such delicate structures (i am no engineer, but perhaps if they made the walls and "branches" hollow and program the 3D printer to build a complex system of internal structures to reinforce these, like some sort of honeycomb, maybe sintered sand alone might be strong enough to build such a structure ? They would have to test this on a grand scale, and see how well such a structure resists against sand storms and wind erosion, extreme temperature variations (and freezing and thawing damages) as well as earthquakes). The lace like structures at the top would further complicate things from a strength point of view, i think it is more for show than a realistic solution and that part would probably have to go and the whole structure simplified to work and keep cost and complexity down. Otherwise you would need a lot of support structures to keep the most delicate parts and the "branches" from collapsing under their own weight while they are being grown until the whole network of structures can get connected and becomes self-supporting (IF that structure was actually thought out to act as self-supporting, which may not be the case as this sounds more like a student work done to participate in a design competition (and a competition it was, the 2014 building design competition).

 

But the concept is brilliant, the towers would produce their own water, through condensation, and using a principle similar to energy producing pipes/towers. However it would not be easy to build the underground part without having to resort to building that section with concrete (the orientation of the solar 3D printer in a deep hole would be complicated if impossible, or else they would have to dig a huge excavation, and spent more carbon fossil fuel in the process.

 

However, they would have to modify their design to adapt it to the realities of that region, and most of those glass window surfaces would have to go, in a very hot and sunny environment where temperatures reach up to 50 degrees Centigrade or more in the middle of summer you would want to shield from the sun and have walls with only a few small openings on the outside. But otherwise the basic idea is fantastic. It remains to be seen how well this would old in comparison with concrete. But if it works, it would fix the very, VERY serious problem of the soon to be complete disappearance of beach sand necessary to build concrete buildings and structures (sea sand is apparently the only material that works to make concrete, desert sand does not work), so there is a whole series of sand mafias around the world (in Algeria, India and many other countries around the world) who strip beaches of their sand, who kill eyewitnesses, journalists and environmentalists, and who are not only accelerating coastal erosion (to dramatic results when we see recent record hurricanes and tropical storms), but also, it seems the whole world including finance, construction and developers seem to be in a complete slumber, and even governments seem to act as if the problem did not exist and that we would have beach sand forever to build more concrete structures, when in fact, according to reports, at the rate we build, the resource is already almost completely gone and we will very soon not be able to build any new concrete structures...

 

I do not know if the authors of this projects were also aware of the looming beach sand shortage for the construction industry, nor if they have conducted experimental trials and research to see if this material can achieve the structural strength and longevity required to build sky scrapers, but they better start doing that and find out soon, otherwise, we might be left only with steel and aluminum (or carved stones) as skyscraper building material, and steel and aluminum are not resources that are infinite either, given the enormous appetite for these materials by the Chinese manufacturing industry, and recycling these materials (or producing them new) uses enormous amounts of energy (the aluminum industry is one of the biggest clients of Hydro-Quebec here), and an enormous source of pollution, in those countries or states where there is no clean energy sources available.

 

So, clearly if this can provide structures that are strong and acceptably long lasting, solar-powered 3D printing systems would be a priority to solve extremely serious raw material looming shortages and to address and help slow down global warming (the traditional manufacturing of concrete contributes to a very large extent to global warming, and also uses enormous amounts of energy as extreme heat is used in a furnace to produce concrete).

 

In any case, whoever patents/builds these solar-powered 3D printers for desert sand and make it work might get himself very rich.

Stephane

 

Email: stratospheremodels@yahoo.fr

Website: http://picturetrail.com/stratospheremodels

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LINKS:

http://www.3ders.org/articles/20140325-sand-babel-solar-powered-3d-printed-skyscraper-made-with-desert-sands.html

 

https://www.greenprophet.com/2014/03/solar-sintered-sand-babel-tower/

 

 

Aaaand it is starting already !

SOLAR POWERED 3D PRINTED IN SITU !

 

LINK:  http://machbio.blogspot.ca/2015/02/graphn-attitude-solaire-et-imprimante-3d.html 

Edited May 16, 2017 by Stratospheremodels

[mingwin]

desert sand is constituted by too round and too fine grains, which have a too smooth surface, unfavorable to their aggregation; it is not thus usable for the construction

[Stratospheremodels]

Hi Mingling,

 

oh yes it works, I invite you to have a look at the last link I posted above (and there is more in the other link before that), desert sand have already proven to be usable as a construction material, and potentially for skyscrapers as well. When it gets sintered by the sun it fuses to  itself and you  can then build any solid mass with it.

 

It is actually for the manufacturing of structures made of concrete that desert sand is not usable and that beach sand is used instead  (thus the huge ecological disaster for beachfront environments and erosion of coastlines due to our massive use of beach sand in that industry).

 

The mixing of cement with beach sand and aggregates uses a chemical reaction, while the use of desert sand to 3D print with solar energy uses a reaction of physics, so it is independent of the shape of the grains to accomplish sintering.

 

Since sand is often silica based, if you melt it it is similar to glass (though chemical elements content will vary from place to place), so sintering with the sun accomplishes that. The only thing I don't know is what other chemical elements sand from the Sahara does contain besides it's main silica content. It probably also varies from place to place, this would be a job for engineers to determine the sand of which part of Sahara would be best for this use, and what type of reinforcement  structure would be needed, and how tall a structure could be when this material is used.

 

I made a mistake when I was saying 2 construction cranes would be needed for building this type of tower,  in fact it would be best to use a 3 construction cranes scheme on this one,  like a giant Delta in fact :) ! which is fitting since it would be a giant 3D printer !

Edited May 22, 2017 by Stratospheremodels

[Stratospheremodels]

Markus Kayser gave a TED Talk in 2012 about his solar 3D printing project and it's results. He is also a PhD and he also have a patent for the 3D printing of glass. 

Edited May 22, 2017 by Stratospheremodels