Hydraulic turbine system with siphon action

Abstract

The hydraulic turbine system includes: an electric generator; rotary turbine blades; a hydraulic pump for operation by rotation of the turbine blades; a hydraulic motor for driving the generator; a hydraulic reservoir; and connections between the pump, the motor and the reservoir for causing the motor to operate in response to rotation of the turbine blades by water flow. In the present improvement, the turbine blades and the hydraulic pump are unified in an axial flow unit which has an annular outer casing through which water flows to drive the turbine blades which in turn drive the pump. The motor, the generator and the reservoir may be located remotely from the axial flow unit. The axial flow unit is preferably generally U-shaped so that it can be placed inverted over a dam with the legs extending down into the water on opposite sides of the dam. A priming unit is provided for starting flow of water through the axial flow unit, and the priming unit may preferably include a vacuum pump connected to the casing for pumping air from the casing to draw water up into the legs thereof until water starts flowing by siphon action.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.