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US 8,475,113 B2Granted
Hydroelectric power device
AssigneeSeabell International Co. Ltd.
InventorYuji Unno
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A hydroelectric power device equipped with a casing member that has a channel that passes through from an opening on the water entry side towards an opening on the water discharge side, a rotor having a plurality of blades that are integrally fixed respective to the rotating shaft and are disposed inside the channel of the casing member, and a tapered portion, that is provided on the opening on the water entry side of the casing, and that is formed such that the cross-sectional area of the tapered portion is gradually decreased towards the downstream side.
Claims11
A hydroelectric power device, comprising:
- a float being hollow or constructed of a buoyant material;
- a casing member having a water path formed by a channel that passes through the casing member from a water inlet opening on a water entry side of the casing member to a water outlet opening on a water discharge side of the casing member, and wherein the casing member is provided at a bottom side of the float and submerged in water;
- rotating shafts located substantially vertically within the casing member and passing through the channel, wherein a top end of each rotating shaft protrudes through the upper surface of the casing member and above the surface of the water through the float;
- a rotor with a plurality of rotor blades or vanes positioned within the channel and affixed to each rotating shaft;
- a power generator in mechanical communication with each rotating shaft;
- and
- a tapered portion located at the water inlet opening on the water entry side of the casing member and having a gradually decreasing width in a water width direction and depth in a water depth direction towards the downstream side, wherein the tapered portion is configured to accelerate water flow at a center of the channel to operate the blades or vanes located between the rotating shafts, thereby rotating the rotary shafts in opposite directions.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.