GB2390401A

GB2390401A - Electricity generator utilising water energy

Info

Publication number: GB2390401A
Application number: GB0215135A
Authority: GB
Inventors: William George Lyne
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-07-01
Filing date: 2002-07-01
Publication date: 2004-01-07
Anticipated expiration: 2022-07-01
Also published as: GB2390401B; GB0215135D0

Abstract

An electricity generator comprises a hydrodynamically shaped casing 1 connected by tethering means 2 to an anchorage point 14, mounted within the casing is electrical generating means 16 driven by a shaft 4 which is caused to rotate by a propeller 5 mounted externally of the casing, the propeller is rotated by water flowing around the casing 1; and a conductor 11 providing electrical connection between the electricity generating means and electricity distribution equipment.

Description

ELECTRICITY GENERATING EQUIPMENT

This invention concerns means for generating electric power from the swell on the surface of a large body of water or from a rapidly flowing current of water.

An object of the invention is to generate electricity from naturallyavailable resources with the minimum of visual impact in areas of natural beauty.

Accordingly, the invention provides electricity generating equipment comprising a hydrodynamically-shaped casing connected by tethering means to an anchorage point there being mounted within the casing electricity generating means driven by a shaft which is caused to rotate by a propeller mounted externally of the casing, which propeller is rotated by water flowing around the casing; and a conductor providing electrical connection between the electricity generating means and electricity distribution equipment.

The tethering means is preferably a flexible cord of high tensile strength, for example a steel rope, cable or hawser.

Advantageously the tethering means is a hollow flexible tube of high tensile strength through the bore of which the conductor is passed.

Stabilising vanes are preferably provided on the exterior of the casing to inhibit rotation of the casing.

In a first embodiment of the invention, the anchorage point is a buoyant vessel floating in the surface of a body of water which is subject to a rising and falling swell in a substantially vertical direction and the casing is suspended from the anchorage point at such a vertical distance below the

-2 same that it is in substantially still water, and is stabilized in such a position by its own weight.

In a second embodiment of the invention, the anchorage point is securely fixed to an immovable object and the casing is located in a rapidly flowing current of water. The anchorage point may be fixed, for example, to a solid supporting structure on the bank of a watercourse, or on the bed of the watercourse, and the casing allowed to take its position in the flowing current.

The following is a description of one embodiment of the

invention, by way of example only, and is illustrated by means of the accompanying drawing in which: Figure 1 is an enlarged diagrammatic side elevation of the casing of electricity generating equipment in accordance with the invention and of equipment which is mounted within the casing. Figure 2 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the equipment in accordance with the invention illustrating the principle of its operation.

In Figure 1, a substantially ellipsoidal casing 1 is attached to a suspending flexible, tubular steel hawser 2 by means of an attachment ring 3. A shaft 4 passes through the casing at its end remote from the attachment ring 3 and suitable sealing means 17 are provided to prevent ingress of water into the interior of the casing at this point. Within the casing there are securely fixed to the upper end of the shaft 4 gear wheels 6 and 6/which drive further gear wheels 7 and 7/ which are securely fixed to the shaft 9 of an electricity generating device 8. The gear wheels 6 and 6/ are each integrally

connected with a free-wheel mechanism such that rotary motion is transmitted to gear wheel 7 when shaft 4 is rotating only in a first sense and to gear wheel 7/ when shaft 4 is rotating only in the opposite sense. Rotary motion is transmitted from gear wheel 6/ to gear wheel 7/ through a third gear wheel 18 which reverses the sense of the rotation. In this way the shaft 9 is driven in the same sense regardless of the sense in which the shaft 4 is rotating. Heavy flywheels 10 and 10/ are provided at each end of the shaft 9 to smooth the rotary motion of the shaft 9 and also to add to the weight of the submerged equipment so as to increase its stability in the water. The electricity generated by the device 8 is led away to suitable distribution means by a flexible cable 11 which passes out through the casing near the attachment ring 3 and through the bore of the tubular steel hawser 2. Four stabilising fins 12 (only two shown)are mounted on the exterior of the casing in the region of the central section thereof and a further four fins 13 (only two shown) are mounted on the exterior of the casing near the end at which the propeller 5 is mounted.

Figure 2 shows the equipment in use in a large body of water, the surface 15 of which is subject to a rising and falling swell in a substantially vertical direction. A large buoyant chamber 14 floats in the surface of the body of water and serves as the anchorage point for the suspending hawser 2.

The hawser 2 is sufficiently long, for example at least 3 metres, for the casing 1 to be in substantially still water well below the surface of the body of water. The buoyant chamber 14 rises and falls in the surface swell in the body of water and the resulting tension on the hawser 2 causes the casing 1 and the equipment contained therein to rise through the still water and then sink again under its own weight. As a result a current of water passes over and around the outer

-4- surface of the casing 1 and causes the propeller 5 to rotate, thus transmitting rotary motion in a constant sense to the shaft 9 of the electricity generating device 8. Generated electricity is transmitted to the buoyant chamber 14 through the flexible cable 11.

Claims

1. Electricity generating equipment comprising a hydrodynamically-shaped casing connected by tethering means to an anchorage point there being mounted within the casing electricity generating means driven by a shaft which is caused to rotate by a propeller mounted externally of the casing, which propeller is rotated by water flowing around the casing; and a conductor providing electrical connection between the electricity generating means and electricity distribution equipment.

2. Electricity generating equipment according to claim 1, wherein the tethering means is a flexible cord of high tensile strength.

3. Electricity generating equipment according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the tethering means is a hollow flexible tube through the bore of which the conductor is passed.

4. Electricity generating equipment according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein stabilising vanes are provided on the exterior of the casing to inhibit rotation of the casing.

5. Electricity generating equipment according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the anchorage point is a buoyant vessel floating in the surface of a body of water which is subject to a rising and falling swell in a substantially vertical direction and the casing is suspended from the anchorage point at such a vertical distance below the same that it is in substantially still water, and is stabilized in such a position by its own weight.

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6 o. Electricity generating equipment according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the anchorage point is securely fixed to an immovable object and the casing is located in a rapidly flowing current of water.

7. Electricity generating equipment as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.