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US 9,540,943 B2Granted
Concentrating conventional thermal or thermodynamic solar power plant
AssigneeRutten New Energy System SA
InventorJean Rutten
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A power plant comprises: (a) a liquid pressurizing unit, (b) a Pelton turbine having a rotating shaft, (c) a duct connecting the pressurizing unit to the Pelton turbine for supplying pressurized liquid to the Pelton turbine, the duct being provided with at least one injector, and (d) a generator, advantageously an alternator, capable of being driven directly by the rotating shaft of the turbine, advantageously with the interposition of a gear system.
Claims45
A power plant selected from the group consisting of thermal and solar thermodynamic power plants based on a thermodynamic cycle, for generating an energy derived from a liquid under pressure, said power plant comprising:
- at least one unit for pressurizing a liquid into a liquid under pressure, said unit (UP) being adapted for generating an energy derived from the liquid under pressure;
- at least one Pelton turbine (P) comprising each a rotating shaft;
- at least one duct system (20) connecting said at least one pressurizing unit to said at least one Pelton turbine (P), said duct system being adapted for feeding the at least one Pelton turbine with liquid under pressure through at least one injector fitted on said at least one duct system (20), so as to drive into rotation the rotating shaft of said at least one Pelton turbine;
- and
- at least one converting system selected from the group consisting of generators and alternators adapted for converting at least partly said mechanical energy into an electrical energy, said at least one converting system having a shaft connected to at least one rotating shaft of said at least one Pelton turbine;
- a connecting system selected from the group consisting of connecting system adapted for direct driving the shaft of the at least one converting system by said at least one rotating shaft of said at least one Pelton turbine and connecting system adapted for driving the shaft of the at least one converting system by said at least one rotating shaft of said at least one Pelton turbine with interposition of a gear system;
- wherein said at least one unit for pressurising the liquid (UP) into the liquid under pressure comprises:
- at least one reservoir (R1, R2) for resisting internal pressures of over 5×105 Pa and to contain the liquid to be pressurized, each reservoir of said at least one reservoir (R1, R2) being combined with at least a first outlet pipe (14, 14′) with a valve (V5, V7) for conducting the liquid under pressure in the duct (20), and a first inlet pipe (10, 10′) with a valve (V6, V8) for feeding liquid into the reservoir (R1, R2), and
- a heating means selected among the group consisting of a heating element burning combustible material (CF), a heating element of the concentrating solar type, a heating element of the thermodynamic solar type (CS) and a combination thereof, for producing superheated steam under pressure,
- wherein each reservoir of the at least one reservoir (R1, R2) is also combined with a second inlet pipe (16, 16′) for feeding a superheated steam in the reservoir (R1, R2) via a supply duct (23) connecting the heating means (CF,CS) for producing superheated steam to the second inlet pipe (16, 16′) of the reservoir (R1,R2), and
- wherein each reservoir of the at least one reservoir (R1, R2) comprises an insulated floating piston element (K) designed to float on the surface of the liquid present in the reservoir (R1, R2).
8 more elements
A method for the production of electrical energy using a power plant selected from the group consisting of thermal and solar thermodynamic power plants based on a thermodynamic cycle, for generating an energy derived from a liquid under pressure, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) pressurizing a liquid into a liquid under pressure with at least one unit, said unit (UP) being adapted for generating an energy derived from the liquid under pressure, wherein said pressurizing comprises:
- (i) subjecting said liquid to a heating means to produce a superheated steam under pressure, wherein said heating means is selected from the group consisting of a heating element burning combustible material (CF), a heating element of the concentrating solar type, a heating element of the thermodynamic solar type (CS), and a combination thereof;
- and
- (ii) compressing said superheated steam under pressure in at least one reservoir (R1,R2) to form said liquid under pressure in said at least one reservoir, wherein said at least one reservoir is suitable for resisting internal pressures of over 5×105 Pa;
- (b) feeding said liquid under pressure through at least one injector fitted on at least one duct system (20) to at least one Pelton turbine (P) comprising a rotating shaft, wherein said at least one duct system (20) is connected to the at least one unit and said feeding rotates the rotating shaft of said at least one Pelton turbine to thereby produce mechanical energy;
- and
- (c) converting at least a portion of the mechanical energy into electrical energy via at least one converting system selected from the group consisting of generators and alternators, wherein said at least one converting system has a shaft connected to said rotating shaft of said at least one Pelton turbine via a connecting system, wherein said connecting system either:
- (1) directly drives said shaft of said at least one converting system via said at least one rotating shaft of said at least one Pelton turbine and/or (2) drives said shaft of said at least one converting system via said at least one rotating shaft of said at least one Pelton turbine and a gear system;
- wherein said at least one reservoir is in fluid communication with:
- (1) at least a first outlet pipe (14, 14′) with a valve (V5, V7) for conducting the liquid under pressure into the duct system (20),
- (2) a first inlet pipe (10, 10′) with a valve (V6, V8) for feeding liquid into the at least one reservoir, and
- (3) a second inlet pipe (16, 16′) for feeding said superheated steam under pressure into said at least one reservoir via a supply duct (23) connecting said heating means to said second inlet pipe,
- wherein said at least one reservoir comprises an insulated floating piston element (K) that floats on the surface of the liquid present in the reservoir.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.