The present invention relates to the field of hydropower facilities. More particularly, the present invention relates to a seashore facility for generating energy from sea waves.
“Hydro-power or water power is power derived from the energy of falling water and running water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. Since ancient times, hydro-power has been used for irrigation and the operation of various mechanical devices, such as watermills, sawmills, textile mills, dock cranes, domestic lifts, power houses and paint making.”
Since the early 20th century, the term has been used almost exclusively in conjunction with the modern development of hydro-electric power, which allowed use of distant energy sources.” (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
“Wave Dragon”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_Dragon, is considered by the Applicant as closest prior art. It is a floating slack-moored energy converter of the overtopping type, located in the northern Denmark.
It consists of two wave reflectors that direct the waves towards a ramp. The water that reaches the end of the ramp is directed to a large reservoir that temporarily stores it. The reservoir is maintained above sea level. The water leaves the reservoir through hydro turbines, which generate electricity.
In order to operate, one end of the ramp must be located at sea level, while the other end thereof must be located above the sea level. However, since the sea level changes during the day as a result of tides, such a facility must deal with the tides phenomena.
Wave Dragon solves this problem by floating the facility, and mooring it to the seabed. In this way, the ramp is positioned at a constant distance from the sea level.
However, placing the facility at the sea results in obstacles such as transportation of the generated energy to the mainland, maintenance of the facility, and so on.
As such, there is a long felt need for a seashore facility for generating energy from sea waves.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.
The terms “ascending ramp” and “descending ramps” are defined herein with reference to a water movement. More specifically, the term “ascending ramp” refers herein to a sloped ramp in which moving water from the sea to the shore ascends thereon, while the term “descending ramp” refers herein to a sloped ramp in which moving water from the sea to the shore descends therefrom.
A seashore wave energy converting facility (10), comprising:
The facility (10) may further comprise: at least one additional descending ramp (14a), located lower than of the first descending ramp (14) and being connected continuously to a corresponding opening (36a) in the ascending ramp (12), for allowing sea water (30) ascending on the ascending ramp (12) to pass through the opening (36a) to the at least one additional descending ramp (14a).
The facility (10) may further comprise: a water reservoir (22) to which each of the descending ramps (14, 14a) leads, for accumulating sea water (30), thereby allowing generating energy on demand.
The facility (10) may further comprise: a water reservoir (22) to which the ascending ramp (12) leads, for accumulating sea water (30), thereby allowing generating energy on demand.
The facility (10) may further comprise: openings (38) for allowing returning water from the shore to the sea to pass therethrough.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the ascending and descending ramps further comprise side walls (34), thereby diminishing spillage of flowing sea water from the ramps, resulting with increasing an efficiency of the facility (10).
According to one embodiment of the invention, the ascending and descending ramps have a wavy profile, thereby diminishing spillage of flowing water therethrough, resulting with increasing an efficiency of the facility (10).
According to one embodiment of the invention, the ascending and descending ramps have sectors (16) divided by side walls (34), thereby diminishing spillage of flowing water therethrough, resulting with increasing an efficiency of the facility (10).
According to one embodiment of the invention, each of the descending ramps (14, 14a) has dedicated turbine(s) (20), each located under the lower end of its descending ramp (14, 14a).
The facility (10) according to claim 1, may further comprise:
The facility (10) may further comprise covers for covering the openings (36a, 36b, . . . ), thereby allowing diverting waves, for enabling carrying out maintenance of the facility.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the descending ramps is comprised of at least one pipe, thereby diminishing spillage of flowing sea water from the ramp, resulting with increasing an efficiency of the facility (10).
According to one embodiment of the invention, the descending ramps is comprised of at least one pipe, thereby diminishing spillage of flowing sea water from the ramps, resulting with increasing an efficiency of the facility (10).
The facility (10) may further comprise: a spiral ditch (54) into which sea water entering to the facility are directed, thereby generating a whirlpool; wherein the turbine (20) is disposed in a center of the whirlpool; thereby applying force of all vanes of the turbine, resulting with increased power generating efficiency.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the reservoir (22) is in an upside-down conic form, thereby generating a whirlpool. The turbine (20) is disposed in a center of the whirlpool, thereby applying force of all vanes of the turbine, resulting with increased power generating efficiency.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the seashore wave energy converting facility (10) further comprises: apertures (58) in said a descending ramp (14); and corresponding covers (60); thereby allowing diverting waves, for enabling carrying out maintenance of said turbines.
The reference numbers have been used to point out elements in the embodiments described and illustrated herein, in order to facilitate the understanding of the invention. They are meant to be merely illustrative, and not limiting. Also, the foregoing embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated in conjunction with systems and methods thereof, which are meant to be merely illustrative, and not limiting.
Preferred embodiments, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention are described herein in conjunction with the following drawings:
It should be understood that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.
The present invention will be understood from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments (“best mode”), which are meant to be descriptive and not limiting. For the sake of brevity, some well-known features, methods, systems, procedures, components, circuits, and so on, are not described in detail.
The facility, which is marked herein by reference numeral 10′, comprises a reservoir 22 for temporary storing sea water. The bottom thereof is marked by numeral 24. The bottom 24 of the reservoir is located above the sea level 32.
The facility also comprises an ascending ramp 12 in which the upper end thereof is located at the top of the walls of reservoir 22, and the lower end thereof is immersed in the sea.
Reference numeral 30 denotes sea waves, and reference numeral 28 denotes the moving direction of the sea waves. As the waves' motion 28 is horizontal, the sea water ascends the sloped ramp 12 as a result of the inertia of the waves, and then falls into reservoir 22, where it is temporarily stored.
At the bottom 24 of the reservoir is located an outlet 26, through which the water of the reservoir exits the reservoir.
In the water path from the outlet 26 of the reservoir is located a turbine 20, which is rotated by the passing water, thereby generating electric power.
The facility floats on floats 48, and is moored to the seabed by anchors 44 and mooring cable 46.
As mentioned above, placing the facility in the high seas results in obstacles such as transportation of the generated energy to the mainland, maintenance of the facility, and so on.
It should be noted that
The seashore facility for generating energy from sea waves, which is marked herein by reference numeral 10, stands on pillars 18 located at a shore.
The facility comprises an ascending ramp 12. The top thereof, 12b of ramp 12, is connected to a descending ramp 14.
One end 12a of the ramp is located at the shore, while the other end 12b is located above the sea level. Thus, water flow (waves) 30 from the sea ascends on ramp 12, and after reaching to its peak 12b, it descends along ramp 14.
Under the upper end of the descending ramp 14 is located a reservoir 22, comprising an outlet 26 at the bottom thereof.
In the water path from the reservoir towards its outlet 26 is located a turbine 20. As the water falls, it rotates turbine 20, thereby generating electric power.
The facility comprises additional descending ramps 14a and 14b, connected to the ascending ramp 12. In order to allow the water from ramp 12 to reach the additional descending ramps 14a and 14b, ramp 12 comprises openings 36a and 36b.
The additional ramps allow utilizing water of different height levels. When the water level is “low”, only the lower descending ramps are utilized, and when the water level is “high”, the upper descending ramps are utilized as well.
This solution allows utilizing waves' energy seashore, thereby overcoming the obstacles of facilities such as Wave Dragon. Thus, as facility 10 is installed seashore, it does not face the obstacle of transporting the generated energy to the mainland. In addition, as facility 10 resides on the shore, its maintenance is easier in comparison to that of Wave Dragon and the like.
As per
Furthermore, the ramp is divided by walls 34, thereby generating sectors 16 for the same purpose (diminishing spillage).
In the examples of
The figure describes a plurality of ascending ramps 12, each in a trapezoid form. The trapezoid form generates openings 38 through which the returning water can pass from the shore back to the sea.
In
For the sake of brevity, the descending ramps are not illustrated in
The segment comprises a spiral ditch 50, which causes the water that enters into the ditch to spin, resulting in creating a water whirlpool. The turbine 20 is disposed in the center of the whirlpool, thereby rotating.
As the turbine is disposed at the center of the whirlpool, the spinning water applies force on all the vanes 56 of turbine 20 simultaneously, thereby increasing the efficiency of the system. For comparison, water that falls on a turbine such as in
The arrows of
Arrow “a” demonstrates the movement of the water that ascends on ramp 12 due to the inertia thereof; arrow “b” demonstrates the entrance of the water into the spiral ditch 54; arrow “c” demonstrates the spinning of the water in the spiral ditch; and arrow “d” demonstrates the exiting of the water from the facility through outlet 26.
It should be noted that in
The figure shows a seashore wave energy converting facility 10, an elevated sea water reservoir 50 and a pump 52.
The energy generated by facility 10 is used for pumping sea water from the sea, and putting the pumped water into the elevated reservoir 50. As such, the elevated sea water can be poured out of the lifted reservoir, and operating a turbine for generating energy. Thus, the stored energy can be used on demand, i.e., not necessarily upon generating of the energy from sea water.
In this embodiment numeral 58 denotes an aperture 58, and numeral 60 denotes a closure of aperture 58.
When the turbines need maintenance, the reservoirs 22 must first to be emptied. Additionally, it must be ensured that they do not refill. This can be carried out by opening covers 60 in order to enable the water to flow down through aperture 58 rather than reaching the reservoir.
In the figures and/or description herein, the following reference numerals (Reference Signs List) have been mentioned:
The foregoing description and illustrations of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the above description in any form.
Any term that has been defined above and used in the claims, should to be interpreted according to this definition.
The reference numbers in the claims are not a part of the claims, but rather used for facilitating the reading thereof. These reference numbers should not be interpreted as limiting the claims in any form.
The current application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/940,434, filed 16 Feb. 2014, incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61940434 | Feb 2014 | US |