The increased demand for energy has driven up the cost of crude oil and has aggravated existing environmental pressures.
Renewable energy sources, be they wind powered or solar powered, are unable, for various reasons, to meet such a steep increase in demand. Nuclear power has the capability of doing so, but involves significant financial investment and runs into the problems of safety and lack of popularity which will not go away.
The present invention sets out to offer a machine which produces electrical current at a relatively modest price and without harming the environment.
The machine according to the invention aims to produce electrical current making simultaneous use of the properties of a jet of water leaving the orifice of a pipe at a certain velocity after having been collected at a certain height, ranging, for example, from fifty to one thousand five hundred meters. The water thus leaving the orifice of a pipe has two forces: a reaction force, as it leaves the pipe, and an impulse force as the same water strikes the blades of a turbine. It is this second property that is put to use in electricity production plants that use Pelton turbines, for example.
The machine according to the invention comprises a first rotary assembly made up of at least two horizontal pipes, extending in two diametrically opposed directions, and elbowed at their ends such that the water jets leaving their orifices leave in two, opposite and parallel, directions. Horizontal pipes are secured to a ballast intended to slow the speed of the rotation caused by the water leaving the orifices of these pipes at a certain velocity. Likewise, these horizontal pipes are secured to a bar which passes under them and which at its center carries a shaft which extends downward at right angles and meets a step-up gearbox the output shaft of which drives the rotor of a first generator.
Furthermore, the machine according to the invention comprises a second rotary assembly made up of blades, directed toward the inside of the circle that they form. These blades are carried by supports, themselves carried by spokes extending toward the center of the circle formed by the blades. A small distance away from this center, the spokes carry a hollow cylinder which extends downward at right angles. This hollow cylinder, which is fairly wide so as to allow the shaft carried by the horizontal bar to pass through it, has at its lower end a first gearwheel which drives a second gearwheel the shaft of which enters a second step-up gearbox the output shaft of which drives the rotor of a second generator.
Finally, the machine according to the invention comprises means for stabilizing the various shafts it contains and means for supplying electrical current.
The figures of the appended drawing will make it easy to understand how the invention may be achieved. It should be emphasized that, because of the very high number of possible embodiments of the machine according to the invention, these figures do not depict the design to a given scale. What this then means is that the figures of the attached drawing depict the machine according to the invention in a schematic and complete manner without bowing to the constraints of a particular installation.
The machine according to the invention comprises a water inlet pipe 1 (
Extending downward over a short distance from the beams 4 (
On leaving the rotary seal 2 (
Under their horizontal part, the pipes 10, 11 (
In addition, the pipes 10, 11 carry, to the rear of the two horizontal elbows that terminate at the orifices 12, 13 (
Pacing the two orifices (12, 13) (
The blades 16 are carried by supports 17 (
The small circle 20 (
The circular ring 19 is carried by concentric rolling bearings 22 (
At its lower end, the shaft 15 (
As for the hollow cylinder 21, it at its lower end carries a first gearwheel 28 (
The various shafts used in the machine according to the invention and which work together to produce electrical current are stabilized as follows. It should be noted that the various shoulders and rolling bearings used for this purpose, although contained inside steel frameworks, are depicted in continuous line, to make the figures easier to understand.
The shaft 15 (
In addition, once it leaves the hollow cylinder 21, the shaft 15 is held in position by a cylindrical steel framework 38 (
As for the hollow cylinder 21, it is stabilised as follows. In the roof of the second structure 24, the hollow cylinder 21 enters a cylindrical steel frame 40 (
As for the shaft 30 (
Then the shaft 30, before entering the second gearwheel 29 to which it is attached, passes through a cylindrical steel framework 47 which contains an interior shoulder and a rolling bearing 48. Likewise, having left the second gearwheel 29, and before entering the second step-up gearbox 31, the shaft 30 passes through another cylindrical steel framework 49 which contains an interior shoulder and a rolling bearing 50.
The cylindrical steel frameworks 42, 47 are supported by a horizontal steel bar 51 attached to the walls of the second structure 24. The cylindrical steel frameworks 38, 49 are supported by another horizontal steel bar 52, parallel to the bar 51, positioned below the latter, and likewise attached to the walls of the second structure 24.
The two horizontal steel bars 51, 52 in their turn are reinforced by two vertical steel bars 53, 54 (
Finally, the machine according to the invention also comprises:
The machine according to the invention works as follows. The water, picked up at sufficient height to operate a Pelton turbine, reaches the machine according to the invention via the fixed pipe 1. It then passes through the rotary seal 2 and then enters the pipes 10, 11. On leaving the orifices 12, 13 of these pipes 10, 11 in two parallel and opposite directions, the water causes the pipes 10, 11 and the ballast 8, the horizontal bar 14 and the vertical shaft 15 that this bar 14 carries at its center, to rotate. The pipes 10, 11, the ballast 8, the horizontal bar 14 and the shaft 15 form the first rotary system.
At the same time, the water leaving the orifices 12, 13 of the pipes 10, 11 at a certain velocity strikes the blades 16 and causes the elements dependent on these blades 16, namely the supports 17, the spokes 18 with the circular ring 19 and the hollow cylinder 21 perpendicular thereto to rotate. The blades 16, the supports 17, the spokes 18 with the circular ring 19 and the hollow cylinder 21 form the second, rotary system.
However, because the two rotary system rotate in opposite directions, it is necessary for the first of these systems to be slowed, while maintaining its power, so that the second system can benefit effectively from the water jets emanating from the orifices 12, 13 of the pipes 10, 11. That is the function of the ballast 8 carried by the platform 7 of the column 6 via the rolling bearings 9. This ballast 8 has to be heavy enough that the first rotary system acquires a uniform and slow circular motion. An analogy might be the rotational speed of the rotors of large wind turbines which produce electrical current in an operating range from 9 to 19 revolutions per minute.
With the rotational speed of the first rotary assembly slowed, the water jets leaving the orifices 12, 13 of the pipes 10, 11 strike the blades 16 with greater force, increasing the electricity production of the second rotary assembly.
When the first rotary system is rotating under the effect of the water leaving the pipes 10, 11, the shaft 15 which forms part of the first system also rotates and the first step-up gearbox 25, in which the shaft 15 terminates, steps up the rotational speed of its output shaft 26 to the desired level. Because the shaft 26 is secured to the rotor of the first generator 27, its rotation leads to a first production of electrical current.
Further, when the second rotary system is rotating, the hollow cylinder 21 that forms a part thereof also rotates and causes the first gearwheel 28 to which it is secured to turn. By turning, this first gearwheel turns the second gearwheel 29, and the shaft 30 which is secured to it and which terminates in the second step-up gearbox 31. This second step-up gearbox 31 steps up the rotational speed of its output shaft 32 to the desired level. Because the shaft 32 is secured to the rotor of the second generator 33, its rotation causes a second production of electrical current.
Thus, under the effect of the same jet of water, the two rotary systems, which are independent of one another, each produce electricity.
The total production of electrical current of the machine according to the invention is equal to the sum of the electricity production of the two generators 27, 33.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2, 604, 610 | Nov 2007 | CA | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/CA2008/001897 | 10/31/2008 | WO | 00 | 5/3/2010 |