Patent Application
20060033341
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to water powered air compressors, aerators, and other air conveying devices, and more particularly to air delivery devices powered by a waterwheel run by flowing water.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wastewater treatment facilities use a variety of methods for removing environmental pollutants from wastewater. Frequently it is desirable to aerate the wastewater during treatment to aid in separating contaminants from the water (particularly noxious gases entrained in the wastewater), and to replace any oxygen depleted from the water upon discharge for the benefit of fish and wildlife. A further goal would be to aerate the water in an environmentally friendly manner by using an energy source that does not rely upon electricity derived from generators powered by fossil fuels. It is also sometimes necessary to treat wastewater in locations or localities where there is no readily available source of electricity, but where there is an abundant supply of water power, even though the water may be delivered at low pressure. The present invention is directed towards an air compressor, aerator, or other air conveyor or delivery device which is powered by a waterwheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,354,826, issued Dec. 21, 1982 to M. Kato, describes a plurality of honeycombed tubes mounted on a rotary shaft to form a “waterwheel” device for aerating water. The device does not describe the prime over for rotating the shaft.
Various patents disclose fans driven by water turbines for driving smoke from a burning building, including U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,654, issued Mar. 13, 1990, U.S. Pat. No. 4,976,319, issued Dec. 11, 1990, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,499, issued Jun. 1, 1993 to Eberhardt; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,013,214, issued May 7, 1991, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,797, issued Jun. 30, 1992 to D. Kapich.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,534,881, issued Mar. 18, 2003 to S. Slavchev, teaches a waterwheel that operates while entirely submerged. The waterwheel has a plurality of flexible air chambers disposed about the perimeter of the wheel that are inflated and deflated in sequence to impart rotation to the wheel through buoyancy effects.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,688, issued Feb. 29, 2000 to the present inventor, describes various embodiments of waterwheels, including overshot, undershot, and sideshot, to operate various types of pumps for chemical treatment of water, particularly in wastewater applications.
Agricola discusses fans for ventilating mines at pages 203-207 in Book VI of De Re Metallica, written in 1556 (1950 Dover Publications, Inc. ed., translated by Hoover et al.). The embodiment shown in the drawing at page 206 shows a fan powered by a waterwheel that forces air down a mineshaft through a conduit.
A web page published at homepage.ntlworld.com/b.fox5/alternative_energy_schemes.htm as of at least May 2, 2004 describes refurbishing of the Dolbantau Mill, including coupling a waterwheel directly to an air compressor used to sore compressed air in storage tanks for supplying power to a workshop without generating electricity. No details are provided regarding the type of waterwheel, the type of air compressor, or the coupling method.
A web page published on the World Wide Web at www.pointandsquirt.co.uk/justin/colorado—10.html at least as of May 2, 2004 shows a photograph of the Marble Mill in the White River National Forest of Colorado, and particularly a compressor house and a waterwheel that was used to pump air into nearby mines along a pneumatic tube.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a waterwheel powered air compressor solving the aforementioned problems is desired.
The waterwheel powered air delivery device is a system for powering an air compressor, aerator, or other device that moves air from power produced by a waterwheel without the necessity of providing electricity from an outside power source or the intermediate production of electricity from the waterwheel. The waterwheel may be an overshot, undershot or sideshot waterwheel. The device being powered may be an air compressor, aerator, or other air delivery device having an air pump that may be of the diaphragm, piston, rotary vane, rotary screw or other type. Preferably the air produced by the waterwheel and air delivery device is used for aeration of wastewater, although the delivery device may be used for other purposes, e.g., ventilation, power, etc.
The coupling between the waterwheel's central shaft and the air pump will depend upon the type of pump. Piston pumps, diaphragm pumps, and bellows pumps require a reciprocating drive, which may be provided by a disk concentrically mounted on a rotating shaft with a cam arm rotatably mounted between the disk and the pump's piston. Other pumps require a rotating drive that may be provided either by direct connection to the waterwheel's central shaft, by a gear train between the waterwheel's central shaft and the air pump, or by a chain and sprocket system connecting the waterwheel's central shaft with the pump.
For use in aerating wastewater, the air delivery device will include a system of pipe's or conduits which deliver the air into the wastewater by a nozzle including one or more discharge orifices.
This and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.
Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.
The present invention is a waterwheel powered air delivery device. As shown in
As previously mentioned, although
The output from the air pump may be attached directly to a nozzle, diffuser, or other aerating device, or may be stored in a compressed air tank. Referring to
The drive screw 98 is driven by rotation of waterwheel 10 and central shaft 12, while the driven screw counterrotates by gear attachment to drive screw 98. Air is compressed and moved through housing 100 by the counterrotating screws 98 and 99, and leaves the housing through discharge port 104.
The air delivery device may further include a delivery conduit 116 or air hose terminating in one or more nozzles 118, diffusers, or other devices having orifices 120 defined therein for releasing the compressed air as small air bubbles into a body of water, e.g., in a wastewater treatment facility, in order to aerate the body of water. Such aeration promotes the separation of noxious gases from the wastewater, as well as replenishing oxygen that may have been depleted by other wastewater treatment modalities in the wastewater treatment facility.
Alternatively, the compressed air stored in tank 114 may be used to power tools or machinery in a workshop or to provide power for other applications. It will also be understood that the power provided by waterwheel 10 may be used to power an aerator directly, without intermediate storage of compressed air, or to power a blower, fan, or other device for moving or delivering air.
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.
