REVERSIBLE FLEXIBLE WALL DAMS (RFWD)

BARRAGES A PAROIS FLEXIBLES ET REVERSIBLES

English Abstract

The present invention called reversible flexible wall dams deals with cable
supported, cross
reinforced, flexible membranes dams designed to replace the massive
conventional concrete
dams in the same way as the suspended bridges where designed to replace the
massive concrete
bridges, using cable supported, high tensile strings, cross reinforced,
flexible membranes as water
barriers with their lower ends tightly and firmly connected to the water bed
and with their upper
edges supported vertically with horizontal cables supported at intervals by
means of vertical ties
connected to pillars erected at distances all along the dam, the flexible
membrane barriers are
supported at their back, at different elevations, with horizontal cable grids
supported vertically by
means of ties connected to the said pillars, the cables of said cable grids
are anchored upstream
to the water bed, with anchoring ties connecting said cables, through water
tight connections
across the flexible membrane, to the water bed, the flexible membranes are
connected to the
water bed by means of curvaceous channels built through the concrete base all
along the dam
with the lower edges of the flexible membranes being inserted through said
curvaceous channel
and squeezed inside by means of wedging wooden blocks or the like interlocking
to squeeze said
flexible membranes inside the concrete base ensuring a tight and firm
connection between the
flexible membrane and the concrete base, parallel spare curvaceous channels
arc provided to
allow the replacement of the flexible membrane every 30 or 40 years if
required, while keeping the
old membrane in operation until the installation of the new membrane is
completed, a thin vertical
concrete wall is built below the concrete base to be used as a underground
water barrier, the
supporting pillars are built either of massive concrete pillars or by means of
vertical and slanted
piles driven at distances in the water bed and joined at different elevations
with platforms tying
each set of piles together, steel towers or the like are erected on top of
said pillars, the towers
capping the different pillars are joined together with steel cables to be used
as railings for a
traveling crane servicing the dam in its different operations, resulting in
economic, light weight,
flexible membrane dams for any height of water head, limited only by: a) The
strength of the cross
reinforcement of the flexible membranes and b) the strings of the wire cables
supporting the
flexible membranes.

Claims

8. Claims.
What I claim is:
1.- A variety of cable supported, cross reinforced, flexible membrane dams,
aimed at replacing
the conventional, colossal concrete dams, comprising: a) A plurality of cable
grid supported,
cross reinforced, flexible membranes, extended to different heights, with
their lower edges
tightly and firmly anchored to the water bed and with their upper edges
supported vertically
with horizontal cables connected at intervals with ties connected to pillars
erected at distances
all along the dam.
2.- A flexible membrane dam as in Claim 1, having the flexible membranes
supported at their
back, at different elevations, with horizontal cable grids supported
vertically by means of ties
connected to pillars erected of distances all along the dam, the cables of
said cable grids are
anchored upstream to the water bed by means of anchoring ties connected at
their upper ends
through water tight connections, to the cables of said cable grids, and with
the lower ends of
said anchoring ties being firmly connected upstream to the water bed.
3.- A flexible membrane dam as in Claim 1, having the lower edges of the
flexible membranes
tightly and firmly connected to the water bed through a large oval channel
made at the surface
of the concrete base where: a) The lower edges of the flexible membranes are
inserted all
along inside said oval channel; b) Longitudinal wedging wooden blocks or the
like are inserted
though the channel, over said flexible membranes and hammered to interlock
with each other
inside said oval channel, so squeezing said flexible membranes all along said
oval channel,
producing a firm and thigh connection in between the concrete channel and the
flexible
membranes, the lower edges of the said flexible membranes are made circular or
the like with
larger cross section than the flexible membrane itself, so preventing the
slippage of said flexible
membranes in between the wooden blocks and the said oval channel, c) spare
concrete oval
channels are provided side by side with the main channel housing the flexible
membrane
assembly to allow future replacement of the flexible membranes while the
original flexible
membranes would still be in operation, d) the anchoring ties anchoring the
flexible membrane to
the water bed are provided toward their upper edges with additional means
allowing said ties to
be connected to the replacing inner or outer flexible membranes so allowing
the installation of a
new parallel flexible membrane while the dam is still in operation, e) the
concrete base housing
the said oval channels is extended vertically downward with a thin concrete
wall to a certain
depth below the water bed to be used as a water barrier preventing the seepage
of water from
the high water level area to the low water level area of the dam.
4.- A flexible membrane dam as in Claim 1, having the flexible membranes and
the cables
supporting them, supported vertically at intervals by means of pillars built
at distances all along
the dam to provide vertical and lateral support to the assembly of the
flexible membrane dam,
comprising: I) conventional concrete pillars or the like, II) alternative
pillars comprising; a)
massive vertical concrete piles or the like driven in to the water bed, b)
slanted piles driven
besides the vertical piles giving lateral support to said vertical piles, the
assembly of piles is
interconnected with platforms at different elevations joining the different
piles to each other,
light weight steel towers or the like are erected over the top platform
capping said piles, the
different towers capping the said pillars are interconnected with horizontal
steel cables used as
railing for a traveling crane all along the dam, used to service the different
operations of the
dam in question.
7

- A flexible membrane dam as in Claim 1, using sections of the flexible
membranes made with
the last two feet or the like of their outer edges made with a plurality of
undulated / curvaceous
channels, prepared to engage similar flexible membranes from the opposite ends
to provide
tight and Firm connections with similar adjacent flexible membranes bolted
together by means of
special connectors ensuring firm and tight connections between the different
sections of the
flexible membranes.

Description

CA 02300311 2000-02-25
MARITIDE CO. LTD.
MARITIMES TRADE INDUSTRY 6 DEVELOPMENT ENTERPRISES
80 Somerville Ave., Westmount PCB. , H3Z 1J5, Canada
Telegrapf,ic Addr : MARITECH
Tel. : (5147 4A6-9990 Fax: (514) 488-9993 pets
i
Your~ Ref.
DRAFT FUR AN INZ.~'I10N CALLES7 REVERSIBLE FLE3s~iBLE ~YALLS TAMS (RFt~'Vl:))
RY: RALPH H. IiOYECK
24 Febnrary, 2000
'.l~tie present invention deals with reversible flexible wall dams abbreviated
as R_ b'_V_4_~1) far
harnessing the tidal power an seat~ arrd z fivers, camprisiz~g:
- a pluralif5~ of flexible impernreable membrane barriers like M1, M2, M3, M4
or the like, with
their lower a<l~zes firmly arrd tightly connected to the waterbed, a nrunber
of said flexiluie.
mernbrarre barriers like Ml, M~ extend to a ceztain height (x) above the
waterbed where tire water
!>ressnre is very high, acrd a nnrnber of flexible nrembrarre barriers like
M2, M3, extend to a higher
elevation (why) far example, above the waterbed where the water pressure is
reduced, and a
recluc~~d number of flexible membrane barriers like M3 for example, extends
upward to the water
surface or higher, the upper edge:; of said flexible membranes Ml, M2, M:i, M4
are supported
witll harizorrtal cables like C.l, (:'.2, C.3, c.'..4, said horizontal cables
are in turn, suppozted in
different means by vertical pillars like P1, P2,or tire like, erected at
distances along the darn in
question, in between the power generating st;3tions, t:vitlr slarrtecl plies
on opposite fides of the
pillars to give the pillars the needed lateral support, the flexible membranes
Ml, M2, M3, M4,
are fir~ruly cormected to each other curd are >urclrared at different
elevations to tl-re waterbed with
opposite anchoring ties tying said flexible membranes to the waterbed, like
anchoring ties ATl,
A'f2, 111'3, and like appoaite anchoring ties like U.A.TI, CU.A.'f2, C?.A.'f3,
said ~oppoeite
anclroriyg yes an .the al3pasite sides would help supporting the flexible
membranes to retain tire
tidal water in both directions;
a) to retain the incoming tides in front of the water barrier until it builds
up a high'«rater head
before. starting the generating turbines,
b) the sar~ie water barriers would serve to retain the reversing tides behind
the water barrier until
a water head it created behind tire water barriers prior to starting tire
reversing turbines,
rem.rlting in ~terreratirog electric power- simultaneously; first from the
incoming tides and then
li-om the reversing tides creating nearly a continuos flow of electricity, a
number of simiiar-
reversible flt~xible wall darns could be built at di$erent IOCatrons on the
(iul~'s and tire Bays
r~

CA 02300311 2000-02-25
and could be set to have a continuous flow of electricity at all times, the
said pillars P.1 P.2 etc
could be built v~~ith a number of spaced parallel piles driven in the water
bed and joined at
their upper edges with platforms tying the piles together, so allowing the
continuous flexible
membranes M1., M2, M3, M4, to psrss hr batween said supporting piles, the
connection of the
flexible membrane to the waterbed is made by means of a circularloval concrete
canal along the
«raterbed «~it:h the flexible membrane inserted through said circular canal
with wooden blocks
or the like squeezed irrside said circular canal over the flexible membrane to
squeeze said
membrane tightly and firnrly inside the said concrete canal, the said flexible
membranes are
joined to each other; '
a) by nornlal splicing means ofnrbber membranes to each other
b) the edges of the flexible membrane would be made with grove like
undulations that woilld
engage with each other with solid continuous chain like clamps from opposite
sides, blotter! to
each other through water proof blotting taieans ir~saring fltnr acrd tiglrt
connections of the mbb.sr
wall plates to errclr other resultinrt in a. practical lightureight low cost
flexible wail dare,
applic,lble to water heads uti to 10(att or more replacing the coal;
prohibitive conventional concrete
clams nnrl t~.minR thr~ «~ay for hrjrmessing the dcrrmlant tidal power in the
world so creating a new
source of cheap renewable hydr-o energy and saving the depleting oil reserve
in die world to be
used for chemical pnoduets, plastic, fertilizers and the like.
Inventor:
Ralph H~ eck
,,
,, ,~
s, r

Representative Drawing