CA1054484A - Flow tubes for producing electric energy - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
An apparatus for producing electrical energy from unused, wasted, running rivers, ocean tides, and the like without creating any air pollution or harming the environment; the apparatus consisting of large tubes sunken below the water so that the water can flow through, and turbine or impeller blades inside the tubes being turned by the water movement, the im-pellers driving electric generators which are connected by electric cables to power plants on shore from where the elec-trical power is distributed for consumption.

Description

SPEC ICATION
~hi~ lnvention relates generally to power plant~.
A principal ob~ect of the present invention ls to provide an electrlc~ty generating power plant which does not cause any air pollution nor ~hich ln any manner harm~ the ecology.
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Stlll another ob~ect is to provide an electricity gener-- ating power plant ~hich is entirely submerged below a water level æo that additionally it does not deæpoil the land~cape - view and permlts it to remaln rural and natural.

Still a further ob~ect i~ to provide an electr1city gen-eratoring power plant which doe ~ not use up any resources such ; as foæsil ~uels, but which 1~ Powered by the natural ~low of waters movlng do~n a river, or an ocean tide moving in and out, 30 that it is free quite completely and continues endlessly.

Still another ob~ect i~ to provide an electricity gener-ating power plant ~hich by being set up underwater in rivers - and ~eas eliminates the many problems associated wlth the installation of a power plant on land where acqui~ition of grounds, zoning and numerous other matters are attendant to .

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~S4484 the establishment thereo~. -Stlll a further ob~ect is to provide an electricity gen- ;
erating power plant that can be made on a gigantic ~cale~ the power plant consl~ting o~ large numbers of flo~ tubes that can - extend for hundredæ o~ miles along rivers, or for thousands of miles o~ coastal shores~ so that the power derived would be adequate for powering entire municipalitles ~uch as large citles7 and posslble a ma~or Part of a nation.

Other ob~ect~ are to provide a f1ON tube for producing electric energy which iæ simple in deslgn~ lnexpensive to manu-- ~acture, rugged in conætruction, ea~y to use and e~iclent in .
operation.

` These and other ob~ect~ will be readily evident U~on a ; . .
study of the ~ollowing æpeciflcation and the accompanying drawlng-whereln:
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FIGURE 1 i~ a æide cross se¢tional view of the tube.

FI~URE 2 iæ a flared entry for a ~ube scoop.

FIGURE 3 is a side view thereof~ partly in cross ~ection. ~., FI~URE 4 is a crosæ section on line 4-4 o~ Figure 1.

FIGURE 5 iæ a diagram showing uæe of the invention in a river running ~rom a dam.

FIG~RE 6 ls a view Of a multiple flow tube arrangement æhowrl ln cross sectlon. as viewed on line 6-6 of Figure 10.

FIGURE 7 is a croæs sectlonal vie~ thereo~ taken on line - 7-7 o~ Flgure 6.

FIGURE 8 is an end view of an impeller bladeæ cage.

FIGURE 9 iæ an end view of an i~peller blade and brace ; structure.

FIGURE 9~ is a cross sectional view taken on line 9A-9A

on Figure 9.
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FIGURE 10 i~ a per~pectlve view o~ the multiple ~low tube arrangement shoNn in Figure 6.
FIGURE 11 i~ a side crosis sectional view o~ a modi~ied de~ign o~ the flow tube shown in Figure 1.
FIGURE 12 i~ a top peræpective or alrplane view o~ the present invention harneæ~ing the ocean tideis along a coaæt, and con~i~ting of a series o~ ~low tubes in~erted through a `¦
sea ~811.
FIGU~E 13 iæ an enlarged transver~e vertlcal cross sec- ¦
- 10 tional view taken through Figure 12, and showing the sea wall to be o~ accordian construction ~o that the top thereo always ~lush with the water surface and does not extend there-above, FIGURE 14 is a side cross sectional vie~ o~ one o~ the ~low tubes o~ the structure shown in figure 12, and which oper-ates when the tide moves both in or out.
FI~URE 15 i~ an enlarged detail of structure ~hown in ~ -Figure 14.

Re~erring now to the drawlngs in detail, and more partic-20 ularly to Figure~ 1, 4 and 5, thereo~ at this time, the re~-erence numeral 20 represent~ a ~low tube according to the present invention wherein there is a large cylindrical tube member 21 made o~ a durable material æo that it does not corrode when submerged for a long time under~ater. A re~n~or-ced screen 22 clo~es each oppo~ite end thereor 80 to prevent entry of log8, treP branche~ or other lairge ob~ects that may 1~
be present in a ~lowing ~a~r, , ; Within the interior 23 o~ the tube 21, there i9 an elec-trica generator 24 that is supported along the tube central .''' "`'. ' -...
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axls by means of radial extending braces 250 Both oppoæite ends of the generator case are streamlined as shown at 26 so water M ows smoothly past it. A sha~t 27 protruding from an end o~ the generator case has an lmpeller blade unit 28 secur-ely a~fixed thereupon.

In operative use, as ~hown in Figure 5, the flow tube 20 is installed under~ater within a running river 29. The river may not be coming from a hydro-electric plant 30 below a water- ~`
~all or at a dam 31. In either caæeJ the river i~ free run- `~
ning. ~he under~ater in~tallation of the ~low tube doeæ not oil the beauti~ul appearance Or the rlver as ik flo~ through a countryside or a town 32. The only suggestion o~ the in~tal-lation compr~se~ electrlc power line~ 33 extending ~rom ~he flow tube generator to an electric power station 34 on shore and ~rom which the power i~ distributed to the town. Power ~ ' lines 33, in ~act, may be underground so to be hidden.

Thus an lmproved electric po~er plant is provlded that has numerous advantages over e~isting methods o~ power pro- i duction, -' 4 - 20 In ~iguree 2J 3 and 11 a modified design o~ ~low tube 35 i~ sho~n which incorporates all the elements o~ the ~low tube `
20 except that it includes two impeller blade unlts 28 each - one Or which i~ at oppo~lte end~ of the generator 24, and both o~ which turn in a ~ame directlons aæ they are on the same shaft thereo~.

In this ~orm of the inventlon, the cylindrical tube member 36 i~ lnterrupted by a circular row o~ openings 37 90 that water movlng around the outer side o~ the tube ~trike~ a coni- , cal baffle 38 and forces the water inwardly through openingæ t .~ .

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37 ~o that this water is moved again~t only one of the impeller blade units as i~ evldent in Figure 11, while only the ~ater that originally entered the tube end is moved against both impeller blade units. In thi3 constructionJ the openings 37 are accord~ngly located between the t~o impeller~ ~or thi3 purpo~e. It 1~ understood that in this form of the lnvention several separate generators may be installed axially apart in~ide the tube, ,.
In Flgure3 6, 7 and 10 another modified design 39 of the invention incorporate~ a row of flow tubes 40 in parallel, ~paced apart relation, Instead of each flow tube having its own generator, a tran~verse ~haft 41 extends cross way~
through all the flow tube3, and an impeller blade unit 42 secured on the ~haft is positioned inside each flow tube while another impeller blade unit 43 also ~ecured on the ~haft i8 positloned between each tube, The shaft extends lnto a gener-ator 44 located on one end of this multiple flOW tube arrange-ment. ~his arrangement allowæ each tube to re~t tilted at its own independent angle where a river bed i~ variously con-toured acros~. It should be noted that a baffle 45 inside each tube serves to dlrect the water ~low toward one side o~
each impeller ~o to make it turn.

In Figure~ g and 9A the con~truction is ~ho~n for the impeller blade 28A and the braces therefor. This include~ a . . , ~, main or primary brace 46, ~econdary brace 47, and a cros~
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` brace 48 near a terminal end o~ the impeller blade, The main brace extends from the V-bottom 4g or the impeller blade to the generator ~haft. The impeller blades are bolted to the ,-- generator shaft for reason of easy removal for repairs or

3 replacement.
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Re~erring now to Figures 12 throu~h 15, a modified deæign 50 of the invention is shown that; i~ constructed particularly ~or ln~tallation along a ~ea or ocean coa~t ~o to harness ~he -~ ebb and -rlow of tldes.

This consists o~ a sea wall 51 con~tructed along a coast 52 æo to enclose a portion of the sea water ln an enclo~ed area 53 ~o that as the tide ri~e~ or falls on the open sea æ area 54 there i~ according a dif~erence ln water levels between areas 53 and 54. A series of ~low tubes 55 are lnstalled 10 through the sea wall 51 BO that the water can accordingly rlow ln and out o~ the enclosed area 53. Thus this movement o~ great volumes of water through the flo~ tube~ re~ults in an enormous amount of energy that can be harnes~ed.

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Each ~low tube 55 consists o~ cylindrlcal tube 56 having re-in~orced screen 57 at each end, and containing central gen-erator 58 having main shar~ 59 extendlng therethrough. A
clockwlse rotating impeller 60 i~ mounted on one end of the shaft, and a counterclockwi~e rotating impeller 61 is mounted on the sha~t other end. Each sha~t end includes a cross sec-20 tionally round portion 62 and a terminal crO8B ~ectionally .
round portion 63. Each lmpeller, 60 and 61~ has a square (or hex) opening 64 aæ shown in Figure 11 through ~hich the shaft end extend~, and the impeller 18 ~reely slidable~ong the sha~t axi~ 90 that selectlvely the impeller iæ ~upported on the port,ions 62 or 63 a~ lndicated by double headed arrow 65, t by slldlng ~rom one to the other.
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In operative use~ accordlngly) when, ~or example7 the tide is running in t,he direction as indicated by the solid arrows 66 of Figure 14, the impeller 60 at such time i~ slided by the :``
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- ~orce o~ the running water so that it i3 engaged upon the square portlon 62 o~ the shaft 90 that it drives the generator ~haft 59. Meantime, the same directional water ~orce slldeQ the im-peller 61 upo~ the round portion 63 of the ~ha~t 90 that it doe3 not drive the æhaft, but freely 9pin8. Later when the tide rever~es, ~o to run ln the direction indlcated by dotted arrows 67, the water ~orce pushe~ the lmpeller 61 so it engages -~ on the ~quare portion 62 of the ~haft ~o to drlve the generator, while the ~ame water ~orce slide~ the impeller 60 upon the round portion 63 of the sha~t 90 that lt no~ freely spin.Q and no longer drive~ the generator Thu~ by use o~ a clockwise and counterclockwl~e operating lmpellers and a change of tlde directlonsJ a constantly same ~haft rotation i~ obtains~ au~o-matlcally, wlth need of per~onal attentlon.
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The sea wall 51 i8 constructed to be vertically collaps- -lble by means of horlzontal corrugations 68 so that an upper end thereof secured to a ~loat 69 never proJects unsightly above the water ~ur~ace, and i~ thus not exposed to high wind~
or breaklng sea waveæ, so that it cannot get damaged. Thus ; 20 the wall helght automatically ad~ustQ to the tlde water level~
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A low~ edge o~ the wall ls ~ecured in a long concrete found-ation 70 aQ shown thus ~ealing o~f the areas 53 and 54 from . ~ . .
each other.

Power cables 71 ~rom the float tube generators extend to po~er stakionQ 72 upon the shore Thus a modified deQign o~ the invention i~ provided.
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~ While varlous changes may be made in the detail construc-tion it i~ understood that such chan~es will be within the ~ spirit and scope o~ the present invention as i9 defined by ; 30 the aPPended claims.

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Claims (2)

1. An electricity generating power plant, comprising a tube submerged in water in combination with an electric generator mounted therein having a rotatable shaft in said tube in combi-nation with an impeller mounted on said shaft whereby water flow through said tube provides an impelling force against said im-peller in further combination with circumferentially spaced ports through said tube upstream of said impeller, further in-cluding a conical baffle surrounding said ports and flaring ex-ternally from said tube in an upstream direction whereby water flow external to said tube is directed into said ports and a-gainst the impeller to provide an impelling force, additional to that provided by said water flow through said tube, including a second impeller mounted on said axle spaced upstream from said first baffle.
2. 2. An electrically generating power plant, comprising a tube submerged in water in combination with an electric generator mounted therein having a rotatable shaft in said tube in combi-nation with an impeller mounted on said shaft whereby water flow through said tube provides an impelling force against said im-peller is in further combination with circumferentially spaced ports through said tube upstream of said impeller, further in-cluding a conical baffle surrounding said ports and flaring ex-ternally from said tube in an upstream direction whereby water flow external to said tube is directed into said ports against the tube is directed into said ports against the impeller to provide an impelling force additional to that provided by said water flow through said tube, wherein the impeller axially slid-able between two portions of said shaft, wherein one of said portions permits rotation of said impeller relative to said shaft.