Patent Application
20120153629
There is considerable interest worldwide in finding an effective, efficient, and economical method of using the kinetic energy of the naturally-occurring movements of ocean water, including surface waves, tide water movements, and subsurface currents, to generate electrical power.
Subsurface currents are of particular interest as a potential energy source. These powerful water undercurrents ebb and flow approximately four times per minute near the ocean shoreline and constitute an abundant, clean, and renewable energy resource whose practical and applied use in generating electricity could have minimal negative environmental impact and substantial positive environmental impact.
The engineering challenge is to design an energy capture system that can generate electrical output from both the incoming current and the outgoing current and thereby operate with great energy efficiency. The energy capture system needs to withstand the corrosive seawater environment and, further, needs to accommodate fluctuations in the intensity and direction of the subsurface currents. The system should be simple in design and uncomplicated in operation, with minimal mechanical components involved in coupling the undercurrent motion to the turbine output.
In the subject invention, ocean undercurrents and atmospheric airflow are redirected and focused by a conical shell housing to form a vertical fluid power piston that causes the combined energy of the ocean undercurrent and constrained airflow to drive, in alternating cooperative phases, a rotatable fan blade that is connected by a shaft to an electricity-generating turbine.
In the first phase of the power cycle, namely Power Cycle A, a conical shell housing captures incoming undercurrent water and, by means of its internal shape, causes the direction of the undercurrent water flow to change from a horizontal direction to an upward vertical direction. As the undercurrent water ascends in the conical shell housing, the internal walls of the shell housing cause the undercurrent water to flow from a substantially wider lower shell region into a narrower upper shell region. Consequently, the pressure exerted by the water increases as the volume within the shell housing decreases. The pressurized ascending water column causes the air above it in the upper shell chamber to forcefully exit the upper shell chamber through the shell top aperture, striking a rotatable fan blade component which is connected by a shaft to a turbine, causing the turbine rotor shaft to rotate and the turbine to generate electrical energy output.
In the second phase of the power cycle, namely Power Cycle B, a combination of gravity and suction created by the outgoing ocean undercurrent causes the water formation in the shell housing region to descend and flow out of the shell housing through the shell bottom aperture, thus vacating the shell upper chamber region. As a result, atmospheric pressure forces air into the shell upper chamber region through the shell upper aperture. The incoming air impacts a rotatable fan blade component, which causes the turbine rotor shaft to rotate and thus generates electricity. The resulting fluid movement creates a phased, synchronized, and alternating vertical fluid piston column that generates electrical energy in both Power Cycle A and cooperating Power Cycle B.
For those skilled in the art, the present invention is not limited to the subject matter components, and it is intended that all material contained herein and the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not limiting.
Changes in details or structure may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims and drawings of the invention.
The invention features will be better understood by reference to the following descriptions in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
