Method of extracting heat from dry geothermal reservoirs
Led initially by E. S. Robinson and later by J. C. Rowley, the group eventually developed and tested the concept of the subterrene drill.
From US Patent US 3786858 {A Method of extracting heat from dry geothermal reservoirs}:
Hydraulic fracturing is used to interconnect two or more holes which penetrate a previously dry geothermal reservoir, and to produce within the reservoir a sufficiently large heat-transfer surface so that heat can be extracted from the reservoir at a usefully high rate by a fluid entering it through one hole and leaving it through another. Introduction of a fluid into the reservoir to remove heat from it and establishment of natural (unpumped) convective circulation through the reservoir to accomplish continuous heat removal are important and novel features of the method.
