Patent Application
20170211541
The inventive matter disclosed herein is directed to a means for generating power from tides by vessels tied up to docks and floats. While at the dock they area raised and lowered by the ocean tides. There is a lot of energy that could be harnessed from the raising and lowering of these vessels.
Fishing boats, work boats, pleasure boats and cruise ships of all sizes spend much of their time in port tied up at docks. While tied up at the dock, these boats can utilize the power created from the tides to energize the vessels and the local grid
Most harbors are next to population centers which use electricity and typically there is shore power accessible to the vessels docked at the harbor. Therefore if power could be generated by the interface of the vessel with the tides it could easily be transferred to the local grid.
The inventive subject matter offers a solution to harvesting power from these moored vessels with the following qualities alone or in combination.
The invented device is comprised of a structurally reinforced non permeable bag tank, with one or more fittings toward its base where plumbing could be attached. Said bag tank is rectangular in shape with its base resting on the sea floor. The base of said bag tank is prevented from moving by stakes on the outside of the bag tank, driven or screwed into the seafloor. The bag tank is tall enough to rise to a height where it would have contact with the keel of the boat and the seafloor or base platform at all tides. Hatches are on the top of the bag tank allowing it to be extended upward easily when they are open and when they are closed the water that must fill or leave the bag as the bag tank is compressed or extended, must be forced through the fitting(s). Attached to the top of said bag tank by means of pliant material is a rigid framework. The rigid frame work is made secure to the keel of the vessel by lines at least fore, middle and aft on the cleats of the vessel on both the port and starboard sides, or all the way over the deck.
Now as the vessel reacts to the tide raising it or lowering it, the bag tank is either compressed or extended. As the bag tank is extended up from the tide raising the vessel, water is sucked through the fitting(s) into the bag tank. As the bag tank is compressed from the vessel's weight pushing down as the tide goes out water is pushed out of the fitting or fittings. The said fitting(s) would be sealed to flexible pipe or pipes connected to a hydro generating system properly sized and controlled for the flow being generated. The sealed pipe(s) would then continue out of the generating system back into the waterbody, with a screened end being deep enough to avoid floating debris and air intake. When the vessel then begins to rise on the incoming tide, it pulls water back through the hydro generating system and into the now extending bag tank, preparing it for when it will be compressed on the next outgoing tide.
The foregoing is not intended to be an exhaustive list of the embodiments of features of the inventive subject matter. Persons skilled in the art are capable of appreciating other embodiments and features from the following detailed description in connection with the drawings.
The figures, on the following pages, show embodiments according to inventive subject matter, unless noted as showing prior art.
Representative embodiments according to inventive subject matter are shown in the foregoing
The inventive subject matter is directed to a novel device which creates energy from the interface of boat tied up at a dock and the rise and fall of the ocean tides.
The device contains one non permeable bag tank, reinforced to hold its rectangular shape, which can be compressed shorter or extended taller. The bottom of this bag tank will be rested on and attached to the ocean floor, while the top will be made fast to the bottom of a vessel. The bag will be full of water and there will be a fitting(s) that can be connected to pipe(s) that allows the water inside the tank to proceed through the pipe(s). When the bag is depressed by the weight of the boat as the ocean tides ebbs or recedes, water is pushed from inside the bag tank through the pipe(s) and into a hydro generator(s). Once the water goes through the hydro generator(s) it will be piped as waste to a location below the ocean water line.
This same waste pipe will then act as an intake pipe when the tide rises and the boat is raised up. The boat pulls up extends the tank by means of secure attachments to the boat which is rising on the tide.
For an example of how this would work consider a SE Alaska Limited Seine boat. These boats are 58 foot in length. Have a width of around 20′. They weigh around 200,000 Lb. If a 20′×50′ bag tank were placed underneath one of these boats in a port like Juneau Ak. where the tide changes average around 15 feet, the cubic feet of water displacement from the tank being compressed and into the tank when it is extended can be calculated as follows. 20′×50′×15=15,000 cubic feet multiplied by 7.47 (gallon per cubic feet gives a total of 112,050 gallons displaced on one average 6 hour tide cycle. Dividing 112,050 by 6 hours gives 18,675 gallons per hour. Dividing 18,675 per hour by 60 gives us 311 gallons per minute. That then equals 5.18 gallons per second that would be run through the generator. As can be seen this would be significant flow.
This inventive subject matter does not calculate the strength of the material needed nor the piping dimensions or hydro generator specifics. This would need to be completed by experts in each of these fields.
At rest the bag tank will be hanging by both the dock and flotation buoys with the hatches open, with the top of the tank at a level below the keel of the boat. When the boat comes back to the harbor to tie up it will come into its usual stall over the top of the bag tank and tie up to the dock. The lines holding up the bag tank will be pulled up manually or mechanically to the proper height where the rigid frame work of the tank is level and tight up against the bottom of the keel. Once this is in place the hatches will be closed using the T handled rod with a fork on the end. Once the hatches are closed any movement up or down from the boat will push or pull water through the generator creating energy.
