WO2021163749A1

WO2021163749A1 - Energy generation device

Info

Publication number: WO2021163749A1
Application number: PCT/AU2021/000016
Authority: WO
Inventors: Rowan Keith Dobson
Original assignee: Rowan Keith Dobson
Priority date: 2020-02-18
Filing date: 2021-02-18
Publication date: 2021-08-26

Abstract

There is disclosed an energy generation device comprising a working fluid source; a disk member in fluid communication with the working fluid source and rotatable to cause the working fluid to travel within the disk member towards an outlet provided on a periphery of the disk member; and a drum member within which the disk member is contained, the drum member having inlets formed on an inner surface thereof for receiving the working fluid flowing from the outlets formed in the periphery of the disk member, the drum member having outlets formed in an outer surface of the thereof, each outlet being in fluid communication with one of the inlets formed on the inner surface of the drum member for receiving and ejecting the working fluid therefrom, such that as the working fluid is ejected from the outlets of the drum member, ejection forces associated therewith impart rotational motion to the drum member; wherein, the disk member and the drum member are configured such that the outlets formed on the periphery of the disk member and the inlets formed on the inner surface of the drum member align intermittently thereby generating a hammer effect in the working fluid that increases the ejection forces of the working fluid ejected from the outlets of the drum member which is harnessed as energy for conversion

Description

ENERGY GENERATION DEVICE

RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present application claims priority from Australian provisional patent application No. 2020900452 filed on 18 February 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to device for the generation of energy, and in particular, to a device for extracting energy from the molecular structure of an oil molecule for conversion into useful energy. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The provision and supply of energy for use as electricity and the like, is a major requirement for modern society. Conventional energy supplies have largely centred on the burning of fossil fuels to power turbines and the like to supply the electrical power required to run factories and businesses and to power homes and other power requirements. However, with an increased understanding of the potential environmental issues associated with burning fossil fuels there is a need to find alternative means for generating power.

Renewable energy sources have been proposed in the form of wind turbines and solar panels, which are becoming more accepted as a means for providing a greater proportion of the available power supply as fossil fuels are becoming phased out. The efficiency of such renewable energy resources is improving as they become more widely used; however, their capacity is still largely reliant on the amount of wind or sunlight available, which can vary from day to day and location to location. Many existing renewable energy sources are also expensive to manufacture and install and cannot be readily adapted for use on smaller scale operations at a reasonable cost.

Thus, there is a need to provide an energy generation device that is relatively simple to set up and install and which can be scaled to meet a wider variety of energy requirements. The above references to and descriptions of prior proposals or products are not intended to be, and are not to be construed as, statements or admissions of common general knowledge in the art. In particular, the above prior art discussion does not relate to what is commonly or well known by the person skilled in the art, but assists in the understanding of the inventive step of the present invention of which the identification of pertinent prior art proposals is but one part.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION The invention according to one or more aspects is as defined in the independent claims. Some optional and/or preferred features of the invention are defined in the dependent claims.

Accordingly, in one aspect of the invention there is provided an energy generation device comprising: a working fluid source; a disk member in fluid communication with the working fluid source and rotatable to cause the working fluid to travel within the disk member towards an outlet provided on a periphery of the disk member; and a drum member within which the disk member is contained, the drum member having inlets formed on an inner surface thereof for receiving the working fluid flowing from the outlets formed in the periphery of the disk member, the drum member having outlets formed in an outer surface of the thereof, each outlet being in fluid communication with one of the inlets formed on the inner surface of the drum member for receiving and ejecting the working fluid therefrom, such that as the working fluid is ejected from the outlets of the drum member, ejection forces associated therewith impart rotational motion to the drum member; wherein, the disk member and the drum member are configured such that the outlets formed on the periphery of the disk member and the inlets formed on the inner surface of the drum member align intermittently thereby generating a hammer effect in the working fluid that increases the ejection forces of the working fluid ejected from the outlets of the drum member which is harnessed as energy for conversion.

In one embodiment, the energy generating device further comprises a housing that houses the disk member and the drum member. A lower region of the housing may be configured to store a volume of the working fluid to form the working fluid source.

A central drive shaft may extend through the housing and may be free to rotate about its central axis. The central drive shaft may be hollow and may be capable of receiving a supply of working fluid from the working fluid source. A fluid pick- up device may extend between the central drive shaft and the working fluid source to deliver working fluid from the working fluid source to the central drive shaft.

A drum member may be mounted about the central drive shaft and may be free to rotate with respect to the central drive shaft. The disk member may be fixedly mounted to the central drive shaft such that rotational movement of the disk member may be transferred to produce rotational movement of the central drive shaft.

The drum member may be indirectly engaged with the central drive shaft such that rotation of the central drive shaft in a first direction may cause the drum member to rotate in an opposite direction.

The disk member may have a plurality of primary pathways formed therein that receive the working fluid from the central drive shaft. The primary pathways may be equispaced about a central axis of the disk member such that as the central drive shaft rotates, the disk member may also rotate thereby causing the working fluid to feely flow into the primary pathways towards a main node where the working fluid may accumulate.

Each primary pathway may have a main node for accumulating the working fluid so as to increase the fluid pressure of the fluid present therein. As the disk member spins, the working fluid may be forced, under centrifugal pressure, into at least one of a plurality of secondary pathways that branch off from each main node. The secondary pathways may direct the working fluid to one or more of the outlets provided on the disk member.

The working fluid may travel through the secondary pathways at high speed and in an event where the outlets formed on the periphery of the disk member and the inlets formed on the inner surface of the drum member do not align, the secondary pathways may be suddenly closed off, thereby creating a hammer effect in the working fluid present in the secondary pathway. The hammer effect may creates a supersonic shockwave in the working fluid which will flow back along the secondary pathways at high speed towards the main nodes. A ball valve may be provided in the secondary pathways adjacent the main nodes to prevent the working fluid from re-entering the main nodes. The ball valves may return the supersonic shockwave back along the secondary pathways thereby causing the working fluid present therein to be further charged such that it will be ejected from the outlets of the drum member at an increase force which will cause the drum member to rotate at a higher speed, which will cause the central drive shaft to rotate at higher speeds.

The rotational energy present in the central drive shaft may be converted into electrical energy via a generator. Accordingly, in another aspect of the invention there is provided a method of generating energy associated with the molecular structure of a working fluid comprising: rotating a working fluid about a central axis to generate a centrifugal force in the working fluid; directing the working fluid towards a drum member such that the force of the working fluid passing through the drum member causes the drum member to rotate; and generating a hammer effect in the working fluid as it passes to the drum member to increase the energy present within the working fluid such that upon ejection of the working fluid, the increased energy present therein will be harnessed as energy for conversion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OE THE DRAWINGS The invention may be better understood from the following non-limiting description of preferred embodiments, in which:

Fig. 1 is a cross sectional end view of the energy generation device in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view of the spinning disk and outer drum elements of the energy generation device of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of the spinning disk of the energy generation device of Fig. 1 in isolation;

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view of the outer drum of the energy generation device of Fig. 1 in isolation; Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view of an energy generation device in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred features of the present invention will now be described with particular reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it is to be understood that the features illustrated in and described with reference to the drawings are not to be construed as limiting on the scope of the invention.

The present invention will be described below in relation to its application for extracting energy from the molecular structure of an oil molecule using an oil hammer effect in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. It will be appreciated that the method and system of the present invention could be equally applied to extract energy from a variety of different fluid materials, as would be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

Referring to Fig. 1 an energy generation device 10, in the form of a motor, is depicted for extracting energy from the molecular structure of an oil molecule in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The energy generation device 10 generally comprises a housing 12 that houses the features of the device 10 and the working fluid used therein, namely oil. A lower region of the housing 12 is configured to store a volume of the working fluid 13, which is capable of being utilised by the device 10 during energy generation.

A central drive shaft 14 extends through the housing 12 and is free to rotate about its central axis. The shaft 14 is hollow and is capable of receiving a supply of working fluid 13 via a fluid pick-up device 15 that is in fluid communication with the working fluid 13 in the manner as depicted in Fig. 1. A pair of stops 14a, 14b are provided in the shaft 14 to seal the hollow shaft 14 so as to contain the working fluid therein between the stops 14a, 14b. An outer drum 16 is also mounted about the shaft 14 and is free to rotate with respect to the shaft 14. The manner in which the outer drum 16 is configured will be discussed in further detail below. A spinning disk 17 is mounted within the outer drum 16 and is configured to spin within the outer drum 16 in a manner to be described in more detail below. The spinning disk 17 is fixedly mounted to the shaft 14 such that rotational movement of the spinning disk 17 will be transferred to produce rotational movement of the shaft 14.

On one side of the outer drum 16, the shaft 14 carries a gear piece 20 that engages with a pair of planetary gear members 19 that, in turn, engage within a ring gear 18 mounted to a wall of the outer drum 16. In this arrangement, rotation of the shaft 14 in one direction will cause the outer drum 16 to rotate in the opposite direction, as will be discussed in more detail below.

To generate energy, the motor 10 is firstly primed with the working fluid 13 such that the hollow shaft 14 is filled with the working fluid 13 by way of the pick-up device 15. In this regard, the pick-up device 15 functions to draw fluid into the hollow shaft 14 upon the generation of a negative pressure as may occur when the shaft 14 initially rotates to draw the working fluid into the oil ways formed in the disk, as will be described in more detail below. In this regard, energy is initially supplied to the system to place the system in motion, in the form of a motor (not shown) that drives the hollow shaft 14. The motor (not shown) may be configured to supply a constant rotational motion to the hollow shaft 14 throughout the operation of the device, should the rotational motion fall below a predetermined level.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the spinning disk 17 depicting the manner in which the spinning disk is internally formed. As is shown, the hollow central shaft 14 that passes through the spinning disk 17 is in fluid communication with three primary pathways 30 that are equispaced about the axis of the spinning disk 17. It will be appreciated that, as the central shaft 14 is caused to rotate, the spinning disk will also rotate in the direction of arrow A, causing the working fluid to feely flow into the primary pathways 30 towards the main node 32. The working fluid will accumulate in the main nodes 32 to increase the fluid pressure of the fluid at which stage the working fluid will be forced, under centrifugal pressure, into each of the three secondary pathways 34, which branch off each node 32. The secondary pathways 34 direct the working fluid to the dedicated outlets 35 provided at the peripheral edge of the spinning disk to exit the spinning disk 17.

Fig. 4 depicts a cross sectional view of the outer drum 16, within which the spinning disk 17 rotates. The outer drum is configured to have an inner face 45 and an outer face 46, the inner face 45 has a plurality of inlets 40 formed about the periphery thereof. Each inlet 40 communicates with a corresponding outlet 42 formed on the outer surface 46 of the drum 16 by way of a passage 41 extending between the inner face 45 and the outer face 46. The passage 41 has a curved configuration that creates a curved path for the working fluid to travel from the outlets 35 provided at the peripheral edge of the spinning disk 17 to exit the drum 16. As is shown in Fig. 2, the spinning disk 17 and the outer drum 16 are configured such that the outer peripheral surface of the spinning disc passes directly over the inner surface 45 of the drum 16, with minimal clearance. Therefore, as the working fluid travelling in the secondary pathways 34 travels towards the outlets 35, the rotational motion of the spinning disk 17 in one direction and the outer drum 16 in the opposite direction will result in the outlet 35 formed in the spinning disk 17 not always aligning with an inlet 40 formed in the inner surface of the drum 16.

As the working fluid is travelling through the secondary pathways 34 at high speed, if the outlet 35 of the secondary pathway does not align with an inlet 40 formed in the outer drum 16, the secondary pathway 34 will be suddenly closed off, thereby creating a hammer effect in the working fluid present in the secondary pathway. Due to the large speeds at which the working fluid is travelling, this will create a supersonic shockwave in the working fluid which will flow back along the secondary pathways 34 at high speed, typically greater than 1 km/s. Each of the secondary pathways 34 have ball valves 39 located at the commencement of the secondary pathways 34, adjacent the nodes 32. When the shockwave travelling along the working fluid meets the ball valves 39, the shockwave is sent back along the secondary pathways 34 causing the working fluid present therein to be further charged such that it will be fired out of the outlet 42 formed in the outer face 46 of the outer drum, thereby causing the outer drum to rotate in the opposite direction to that of the disk. Such a system will continually result in cutting off and opening of the secondary pathways thereby generating multiple hammer events in the working fluid, such events can then be harnessed to increase the rotation of the outer drum.

To capture this energy, the gearing arrangement as previously described enables the centrifugal energy of the system to be captured by the drive shaft 14. This rotational energy present in the drive shaft 14 can then be converted into electrical energy via a generator for domestic, commercial or other uses. it will be appreciated that the amount of energy generated within the working fluid will largely depend upon the density of the fluid. In this regard, for a fluid such as water, the hammer effect generated in the device may result in the fluid travelling at speeds around 1 km/s. However, for denser fluids, such as oil, the speed may be closer to lOkm/s. The present invention is intended for use across a variety of different working fluids having a variety of densities and viscosities.

The motor 10 of the present invention can be up-sized by increasing the diameter of the spinning disk 17, or by running multiple disks within the system. Typically the disks will have a size greater than 700 mm.

Fig. 5 depicts another embodiment of an energy generation device 10 in accordance with the present invention. The embodiment of the device depicted in Fig. 5 is substantially the same as that depicted in Fig. 1, with the exception being that the device 10 is orientated in the horizontal direction.

When orientated in the horizontal direction the spinning disk 17 spins about a vertical axis and there is no requirement for a fluid pick-up device as the end of the drive shaft 14 is left open and immersed in the working fluid and is capable of drawing the working fluid 13 directly into the hollow shaft 14 and into the spinning disk 17 upon rotation.

By forming the motor in the horizontal orientation as depicted in Fig. 5, the motor can be readily installed into an electrical vehicle to produce electrical power to maintain the car’s battery at a predetermined capacity at all times to provide endless driving without the need to stop to recharge. Truck and heavy machinery equipment could also receive the motor, as could aircraft and other similar vehicles. It will be appreciated that the present invention provides a simple and effective means for capturing energy associated with the molecular structure of a working fluid that is simple and easy to replicate. The system and device of the present invention can be simply adapted for on-site power generation and could be simply housed within a shipping container or similar housing to create high power generators in the vicinity of 2 -5 megawatts of power per unit. Such a power generation system has little to no emissions and offers a green alternative to existing generator devices.

Throughout the specification and claims the word “comprise” and its derivatives are intended to have an inclusive rather than exclusive meaning unless the contrary is expressly stated or the context requires otherwise. That is, the word “comprise” and its derivatives will be taken to indicate the inclusion of not only the listed components, steps or features that it directly references, but also other components, steps or features not specifically listed, unless the contrary is expressly stated or the context requires otherwise. Orientational terms used in the specification and claims such as vertical, horizontal, top, bottom, upper and lower are to be interpreted as relational and are based on the premise that the component, item, article, apparatus, device or instrument will usually be considered in a particular orientation, typically with the apparatus uppermost. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that many modifications and variations may be made to the methods of the invention described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

The claims defining the invention are as follows:

1. An energy generation device comprising: a working fluid source; a disk member in fluid communication with the working fluid source and rotatable to cause the working fluid to travel within the disk member towards an outlet provided on a periphery of the disk member; and a drum member within which the disk member is contained, the drum member having inlets formed on an inner surface thereof for receiving the working fluid flowing from the outlets formed in the periphery of the disk member, the drum member having outlets formed in an outer surface of the thereof, each outlet being in fluid communication with one of the inlets formed on the inner surface of the drum member for receiving and ejecting the working fluid therefrom, such that as the working fluid is ejected from the outlets of the drum member, ejection forces associated therewith impart rotational motion to the drum member; wherein, the disk member and the drum member are configured such that the outlets formed on the periphery of the disk member and the inlets formed on the inner surface of the drum member align intermittently thereby generating a hammer effect in the working fluid that increases the ejection forces of the working fluid ejected from the outlets of the drum member which is harnessed as energy for conversion.

2. An energy generating device according to claim 1, further comprising a housing that houses the disk member and the drum member.

3. An energy generating device according to claim 2, wherein a lower region of the housing is configured to store a volume of the working fluid to form the working fluid source.

4. An energy generating device according to claim 2 or claim 3, wherein a central drive shaft extends through the housing and is free to rotate about its central axis.

5. An energy generating device according to claim 4, wherein the central drive shaft is hollow and is capable of receiving a supply of working fluid from the working fluid source.

6. An energy generating device according to claim 5, further comprising a fluid pick-up device extending between the central drive shaft and the working fluid source to deliver working fluid from the working fluid source to the central drive shaft.

7. An energy generating device according to claim 4, wherein the drum member is mounted about the central drive shaft and is free to rotate with respect to the central drive shaft.

8. An energy generating device according to claim 7, wherein the disk member is fixedly mounted to the central drive shaft such that rotational movement of the disk member will be transferred to produce rotational movement of the central drive shaft.

9. An energy generating device according to claim 8, wherein the drum member is indirectly engaged with the central drive shaft such that rotation of the central drive shaft in a first direction causes the drum member to rotate in an opposite direction.

10. An energy generating device according to claim 9, wherein the disk member has a plurality of primary pathways formed therein that receive the working fluid from the central drive shaft.

11. An energy generating device according to claim 10, wherein the primary pathways that are equispaced about a central axis of the disk member such that as the central drive shaft rotates, the disk member will also rotate thereby causing the working fluid to feely flow into the primary pathways towards a main node where the working fluid will accumulate.

12. An energy generating device according to claim 11, wherein each primary pathway has a main node for accumulating the working fluid so as to increase the fluid pressure of the fluid present therein.

13. An energy generating device according to claim 12, wherein as the disk member spins, the working fluid is forced, under centrifugal pressure, into at least one of a plurality of secondary pathways that branch off from each main node.

14. An energy generating device according to claim 13, wherein the secondary pathways direct the working fluid to one or more of the outlets provided on the disk member.

15. An energy generating device according to claim 14, wherein the working fluid travels through the secondary pathways at high speed and in an event where the outlets formed on the periphery of the disk member and the inlets formed on the inner surface of the drum member do not align, the secondary pathways will be suddenly closed off, thereby creating a hammer effect in the working fluid present in the secondary pathway.

16. An energy generating device according to claim 15, wherein the hammer effect creates a supersonic shockwave in the working fluid which will flow back along the secondary pathways at high speed towards the main nodes.

17. An energy generating device according to claim 16, wherein a ball valve is provided in the secondary pathways adjacent the main nodes to prevent the working fluid from re-entering the main nodes.

18. An energy generating device according to claim 17, wherein the ball valves return the supersonic shockwave back along the secondary pathways thereby causing the working fluid present therein to be further charged such that it will be ejected from the outlets of the drum member at an increase force which will cause the drum member to rotate at a higher speed, which will cause the central drive shaft to rotate at higher speeds.

19. An energy generating device according to claim 18, wherein the rotational energy present in the central drive shaft is converted into electrical energy via a generator.