River and tidal power harvester
OwnerChristopher S. Catlininventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An improved tidal and river energy converter having a semi-submerged device designed to harvest energy from the tidal and river sites. Each device is connected to other like devices to form an interconnected array of tidal and river energy devices that are anchored to the shore at right angles to the prevailing tidal and river current. Each device is composed of a supporting floatation hull attached to a submerged strut supporting an air compressor driven by a slow rotating propeller. The air compressor is connected through a streamlined mooring system to the other air compressors in the array and those in turn are connected to a high pressure line leading underwater to an onshore air turbine electric generator connected to the local power grid.
Claims21
An energy module comprising:
- a. an energy absorber comprising:
- i. a nacelle;
- ii. a propeller comprising a plurality of blades attached to the nacelle at a hub to drive an air compressor to compress air;
- and
- b. a mooring system comprising:
- i. a negative-lift wing-shaped polymer shell attached to the nacelle, the negative-lift wing-shaped polymer shell designed to utilize the force of a passing current to create a downward force and thereby reduce any upward motion in the energy module,
- ii. a mooring cable housed inside the negative-lift wing-shaped polymer shell and anchored onshore to maintain the energy module in a fore and aft and a side-to-side position to provide stability, and to negate a rotational force on the energy module, and
- iii. a high pressure hose housed inside the wing-shaped polymer shell to transfer the compressed air to an air turbine generator for conversion into electricity.
An array of energy modules comprising a plurality of energy modules, each comprising:
- a. an energy absorber comprising a propeller attached to a nacelle, the nacelle comprising an air compressor to compress air;
- b. a negative-lift wing-shaped polymer shell attached to the nacelle;
- c. a mooring cable housed inside the negative-lift wing-shaped polymer shell connecting the plurality of energy absorbers to each other and connecting the plurality of energy absorbers to a riverbank to maintain the array of energy modules in a fore and aft and a side-to-side position to provide stability, and to negate a rotational force on the array of energy modules;
- and
- d. a high pressure hose housed inside the negative-lift wing-shaped polymer shell to transfer compressed air from each energy absorber to an air turbine generator for conversion into electricity.
A method of harnessing energy from a river comprising:
- a. providing a plurality of energy modules comprising a negative-lift wing-shaped polymer shell;
- b. interconnecting each energy module at the negative-lift wing-shaped polymer shell with a mooring cable and a high pressure hose housed inside the negative-lift wing-shaped polymer shell to maintain the plurality of energy modules in a fore and aft and a side-to-side position to provide stability, and to negate a rotational force on the plurality of energy modules;
- c. converting a mechanical energy created by a river flow into compressed air by the plurality of energy modules;
- and
- d. transferring the compressed air from the plurality of energy modules to an air turbine electric generator through the high pressure hose to convert the compressed air into electricity, thereby harnessing energy from the river.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.