This invention is a continuation-in-part of my patent application US2017-0366106.
In my patent application US2017-0366106 there is described a water-filled chamber with multiple inlet and outlet pipes, each containing a solenoid operated valve. The inlet pipes are operatively connected to a water source at a high elevation. The outlet pipes are operatively connected to a water reservoir at a lower elevation than the chamber. Opening and then closing each outlet and inlet pipe in succession produces waves of water pressure within the chamber. The solenoids are operated by a rotary electric switch operated in turn by a motor.
I have found the waves of pressure produced using solenoid operated valves are only about one or two Hertz. If waterproofed piezoelectric material within the chamber is to be made to produce electric power in a reasonable quantity electrical resistance within the material must be minimized. Therefor the area of the faces of the piezoelectric material must be greatly increased and the thickness made very small. These requirements increase the cost of manufacturing the invention.
There is presented a closed container filled with water and containing piezoelectric material connected to the electric grid. Filling a hole in a wall of the container is a piston capable of pressurizing and depressurizing the water in the container as well as the enclosed piezoelectric material, producing electric power.
The piston is activated either hydrodynamically by the rotating of a ball valve which regularly is made to interrupt the flow of a fluid, or mechanically as when the piston is operated by a cam attached and operated by a turbine located in a fluid stream.
The aim of the present invention is to increase the frequency of the pressure waves to decrease the amount of piezoelectric material needed to produce the same amount of electric power.
Turning to
In operation, fluid made to flow through pipe 1 causes turbine 2 and cam 4 to revolve and cause piston 7 to move back and forth, which causes the liquid within container 8 as well as the surfaces of piezoelectric material 9 to be alternately pressurized and depressurized. The resulting power output is taken off by leads 10, 11.
In
In operation, pressurized fluid is made to flow intermittently through ball valve 2a as it is made to open and close by operating motor 12. As tube 14 operatively connects pipe 1a and container 8a the pressure on piezoelectric material 9a is made to vary at a rate dependent on the rate at which ball valve 2a is made to revolve. The resultant power output is taken off by leads 10a, 11a.
From the above descriptions it is apparent that the preferred embodiments achieve the object of the invention. Alternative embodiments and various depictions of the present embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art.