Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
SPEC ICATION
~hi~ lnvention relates generally to power plant~.
A principal ob~ect of the present invention ls to provide
an electrlc~ty generating power plant which does not cause any
air pollution nor ~hich ln any manner harm~ the ecology.
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Stlll another ob~ect is to provide an electricity gener-
- ating power plant ~hich is entirely submerged below a water
level æo that additionally it does not deæpoil the land~cape
- view and permlts it to remaln rural and natural.
Still a further ob~ect i~ to provide an electr1city gen-
eratoring power plant which doe ~ not use up any resources such
; as foæsil ~uels, but which 1~ Powered by the natural ~low of
waters movlng do~n a river, or an ocean tide moving in and out,
30 that it is free quite completely and continues endlessly.
Still another ob~ect i~ to provide an electricity gener-
ating power plant ~hich by being set up underwater in rivers
- and ~eas eliminates the many problems associated wlth the
installation of a power plant on land where acqui~ition of
grounds, zoning and numerous other matters are attendant to
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the establishment thereo~. -
Stlll a further ob~ect is to provide an electricity gen- ;
erating power plant that can be made on a gigantic ~cale~ the
power plant consl~ting o~ large numbers of flo~ tubes that can
- extend for hundredæ o~ miles along rivers, or for thousands of
miles o~ coastal shores~ so that the power derived would be
adequate for powering entire municipalitles ~uch as large
citles7 and posslble a ma~or Part of a nation.
Other ob~ect~ are to provide a f1ON tube for producing
electric energy which iæ simple in deslgn~ lnexpensive to manu-
- ~acture, rugged in conætruction, ea~y to use and e~iclent in
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operation.
` These and other ob~ect~ will be readily evident U~on a
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study of the ~ollowing æpeciflcation and the accompanying
drawlng-whereln:
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FIGURE 1 i~ a æide cross se¢tional view of the tube.
FI~URE 2 iæ a flared entry for a ~ube scoop.
FIGURE 3 is a side view thereof~ partly in cross ~ection. ~.,
FI~URE 4 is a crosæ section on line 4-4 o~ Figure 1.
FIGURE 5 iæ a diagram showing uæe of the invention in a
river running ~rom a dam.
FIG~RE 6 ls a view Of a multiple flow tube arrangement
æhowrl ln cross sectlon. as viewed on line 6-6 of Figure 10.
FIGURE 7 is a croæs sectlonal vie~ thereo~ taken on line
- 7-7 o~ Flgure 6.
FIGURE 8 is an end view of an impeller bladeæ cage.
FIGURE 9 iæ an end view of an i~peller blade and brace
; structure.
FIGURE 9~ is a cross sectional view taken on line 9A-9A
on Figure 9.
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FIGURE 10 i~ a per~pectlve view o~ the multiple ~low tube
arrangement shoNn in Figure 6.
FIGURE 11 i~ a side crosis sectional view o~ a modi~ied
de~ign o~ the flow tube shown in Figure 1.
FIGURE 12 i~ a top peræpective or alrplane view o~ the
present invention harneæ~ing the ocean tideis along a coaæt,
and con~i~ting of a series o~ ~low tubes in~erted through a `¦
sea ~811.
FIGU~E 13 iæ an enlarged transver~e vertlcal cross sec- ¦
- 10 tional view taken through Figure 12, and showing the sea wall
to be o~ accordian construction ~o that the top thereo
always ~lush with the water surface and does not extend there-
above,
FIGURE 14 is a side cross sectional vie~ o~ one o~ the
~low tubes o~ the structure shown in figure 12, and which oper-
ates when the tide moves both in or out.
FI~URE 15 i~ an enlarged detail of structure ~hown in ~ -
Figure 14.
Re~erring now to the drawlngs in detail, and more partic-
20 ularly to Figure~ 1, 4 and 5, thereo~ at this time, the re~-
erence numeral 20 represent~ a ~low tube according to the
present invention wherein there is a large cylindrical tube
member 21 made o~ a durable material æo that it does not
corrode when submerged for a long time under~ater. A re~n~or-
ced screen 22 clo~es each oppo~ite end thereor 80 to prevent
entry of log8, treP branche~ or other lairge ob~ects that may 1~
be present in a ~lowing ~a~r, ,
; Within the interior 23 o~ the tube 21, there i9 an elec-
trica generator 24 that is supported along the tube central
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axls by means of radial extending braces 250 Both oppoæite
ends of the generator case are streamlined as shown at 26 so
water M ows smoothly past it. A sha~t 27 protruding from an
end o~ the generator case has an lmpeller blade unit 28 secur-
ely a~fixed thereupon.
In operative use, as ~hown in Figure 5, the flow tube 20
is installed under~ater within a running river 29. The river
may not be coming from a hydro-electric plant 30 below a water- ~`
~all or at a dam 31. In either caæeJ the river i~ free run- `~
ning. ~he under~ater in~tallation of the ~low tube doeæ not
oil the beauti~ul appearance Or the rlver as ik flo~ through
a countryside or a town 32. The only suggestion o~ the in~tal-
lation compr~se~ electrlc power line~ 33 extending ~rom ~he
flow tube generator to an electric power station 34 on shore
and ~rom which the power i~ distributed to the town. Power ~ '
lines 33, in ~act, may be underground so to be hidden.
Thus an lmproved electric po~er plant is provlded that
has numerous advantages over e~isting methods o~ power pro- i
duction, -
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- 20 In ~iguree 2J 3 and 11 a modified design o~ ~low tube 35
i~ sho~n which incorporates all the elements o~ the ~low tube `
20 except that it includes two impeller blade unlts 28 each
- one Or which i~ at oppo~lte end~ of the generator 24, and
both o~ which turn in a ~ame directlons aæ they are on the
same shaft thereo~.
In this ~orm of the inventlon, the cylindrical tube member
36 i~ lnterrupted by a circular row o~ openings 37 90 that
water movlng around the outer side o~ the tube ~trike~ a coni- ,
cal baffle 38 and forces the water inwardly through openingæ t
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37 ~o that this water is moved again~t only one of the impeller
blade units as i~ evldent in Figure 11, while only the ~ater
that originally entered the tube end is moved against both
impeller blade units. In thi3 constructionJ the openings 37
are accord~ngly located between the t~o impeller~ ~or thi3
purpo~e. It 1~ understood that in this form of the lnvention
several separate generators may be installed axially apart
in~ide the tube,
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In Flgure3 6, 7 and 10 another modified design 39 of the
invention incorporate~ a row of flow tubes 40 in parallel,
~paced apart relation, Instead of each flow tube having its
own generator, a tran~verse ~haft 41 extends cross way~
through all the flow tube3, and an impeller blade unit 42
secured on the ~haft is positioned inside each flow tube while
another impeller blade unit 43 also ~ecured on the ~haft i8
positloned between each tube, The shaft extends lnto a gener-
ator 44 located on one end of this multiple flOW tube arrange-
ment. ~his arrangement allowæ each tube to re~t tilted at
its own independent angle where a river bed i~ variously con-
toured acros~. It should be noted that a baffle 45 inside
each tube serves to dlrect the water ~low toward one side o~
each impeller ~o to make it turn.
In Figure~ g and 9A the con~truction is ~ho~n for the
impeller blade 28A and the braces therefor. This include~ a
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~, main or primary brace 46, ~econdary brace 47, and a cros~
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` brace 48 near a terminal end o~ the impeller blade, The main
brace extends from the V-bottom 4g or the impeller blade to
the generator ~haft. The impeller blades are bolted to the
,-- generator shaft for reason of easy removal for repairs or
3 replacement.
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Re~erring now to Figures 12 throu~h 15, a modified deæign
50 of the invention is shown that; i~ constructed particularly
~or ln~tallation along a ~ea or ocean coa~t ~o to harness ~he
-~ ebb and -rlow of tldes.
This consists o~ a sea wall 51 con~tructed along a coast
52 æo to enclose a portion of the sea water ln an enclo~ed
area 53 ~o that as the tide ri~e~ or falls on the open sea
æ area 54 there i~ according a dif~erence ln water levels between
areas 53 and 54. A series of ~low tubes 55 are lnstalled
10 through the sea wall 51 BO that the water can accordingly
rlow ln and out o~ the enclosed area 53. Thus this movement
o~ great volumes of water through the flo~ tube~ re~ults in
an enormous amount of energy that can be harnes~ed.
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Each ~low tube 55 consists o~ cylindrlcal tube 56 having
re-in~orced screen 57 at each end, and containing central gen-
erator 58 having main shar~ 59 extendlng therethrough. A
clockwlse rotating impeller 60 i~ mounted on one end of the
shaft, and a counterclockwi~e rotating impeller 61 is mounted
on the sha~t other end. Each sha~t end includes a cross sec-
20 tionally round portion 62 and a terminal crO8B ~ectionally
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round portion 63. Each lmpeller, 60 and 61~ has a square (or
hex) opening 64 aæ shown in Figure 11 through ~hich the shaft
end extend~, and the impeller 18 ~reely slidable~ong the
sha~t axi~ 90 that selectlvely the impeller iæ ~upported on
the port,ions 62 or 63 a~ lndicated by double headed arrow 65, t
by slldlng ~rom one to the other.
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In operative use~ accordlngly) when, ~or example7 the tide
is running in t,he direction as indicated by the solid arrows
66 of Figure 14, the impeller 60 at such time i~ slided by the
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- ~orce o~ the running water so that it i3 engaged upon the square
portlon 62 o~ the shaft 90 that it drives the generator ~haft
59. Meantime, the same directional water ~orce slldeQ the im-
peller 61 upo~ the round portion 63 of the ~ha~t 90 that it
doe3 not drive the æhaft, but freely 9pin8. Later when the
tide rever~es, ~o to run ln the direction indlcated by dotted
arrows 67, the water ~orce pushe~ the lmpeller 61 so it engages
-~ on the ~quare portion 62 of the ~haft ~o to drlve the generator,
while the ~ame water ~orce slide~ the impeller 60 upon the
round portion 63 of the sha~t 90 that lt no~ freely spin.Q and
no longer drive~ the generator Thu~ by use o~ a clockwise
and counterclockwl~e operating lmpellers and a change of tlde
directlonsJ a constantly same ~haft rotation i~ obtains~ au~o-
matlcally, wlth need of per~onal attentlon.
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The sea wall 51 i8 constructed to be vertically collaps- -
lble by means of horlzontal corrugations 68 so that an upper
end thereof secured to a ~loat 69 never proJects unsightly
above the water ~ur~ace, and i~ thus not exposed to high wind~
or breaklng sea waveæ, so that it cannot get damaged. Thus
; 20 the wall helght automatically ad~ustQ to the tlde water level~
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A low~ edge o~ the wall ls ~ecured in a long concrete found-
ation 70 aQ shown thus ~ealing o~f the areas 53 and 54 from
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each other.
Power cables 71 ~rom the float tube generators extend to
po~er stakionQ 72 upon the shore
Thus a modified deQign o~ the invention i~ provided.
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~ While varlous changes may be made in the detail construc-
tion it i~ understood that such chan~es will be within the
~ spirit and scope o~ the present invention as i9 defined by
; 30 the aPPended claims.
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