Systems and Methods for a Hydrokinetic Micro Powerplant

Abstract

A power generation system anchored to a hydraulic arm, capable of pivoting up or down to optimize power generation based upon the present conditions of the flowing body of water. The turbines are augmented by diffusers to improve fluid flow and power generation. The overall design is easily built, installed, and maintained, providing easy power to homes without a need to connect to a public grid, and safety measures are affixed to prevent undesired items from entering the turbine propellers.

Claims

1. An electrical power generation system comprising: a plurality of turbines, each turbine comprising a propeller coupled to an electric generator; a first portion of a hydraulic arm configured to extend over a flowing body of water and coupled to a plurality of pontoons, the first portion of the hydraulic arm further comprising an anchor arm that couples the plurality of turbines to the first portion of the hydraulic arm; and a second portion of the hydraulic arm coupled to the first portion of the hydraulic arm, the second portion of the hydraulic arm further coupled to an on-shore anchor point, wherein the first and second portions of the hydraulic arm comprise a conductive strip electrically connected to the plurality of turbines and an on-shore transformer.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the on-shore anchor point forms a first pivot point for the second portion of the hydraulic arm.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first portion of the hydraulic arm and the second portion of the hydraulic arm are coupled via a second pivot point.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the system further comprises a plurality of protection buoys upstream from the plurality of turbines.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the protection buoys are coupled to an anchor that is configured to couple to a bottom of the flowing body of water.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the propeller is housed in a diffuser comprising a conical frustum.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the turbines from among the plurality of turbines further comprise debris protection bars upstream from the propeller of the turbine.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the on-shore transformer is configured to couple to a plurality of stone gabions.

9. A method of electrical power generation comprising: positioning a first portion of a hydraulic arm that is coupled to a plurality of pontoons over a flowing body of water; coupling the first portion of the hydraulic arm to a second portion of the hydraulic arm; coupling the second portion of the hydraulic arm to an on-shore anchor point; coupling a plurality of turbines in series to the first portion of the hydraulic arm, each turbine comprising a propeller coupled to an electric generator, the plurality of turbines coupled to the first portion of the hydraulic arm via an anchor arm; transferring an electric current generated by the electric generators in response to water turning the propellor of the turbine to a conductive strip coupled to the first and second portions of the hydraulic arm; and transferring the electric current from the conductive strip to an on-shore transformer.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the on-shore anchor point forms a first pivot point for the second portion of the hydraulic arm.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first portion of the hydraulic arm and the second portion of the hydraulic arm are coupled via a second pivot point.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising preventing external interference with one or more of the electrical generators using a plurality of protection buoys positioned upstream from the plurality of turbines.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising coupling the plurality of protection buoys to an anchor coupled to a bottom of the flowing body of water.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the propeller is housed in a diffuser comprising a conical frustum.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the turbines further comprise debris protection bars upstream from the propeller.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the on-shore transformer is configured to couple to a plurality of stone gabions.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] A more complete understanding of the present invention may be derived by referring to the detailed description when considered in connection with the following illustrative figures. In the figures, like reference numbers refer to like elements or acts throughout the figures.

[0022] FIG. 1 depicts a top view of an embodiment of a hydrokinetic micro powerplant.

[0023] FIG. 2 depicts an isometric view of a plurality of diffuser-augmented turbines coupled to hydraulic arms and pontoons.

[0024] FIG. 3 depicts a side view of a diffuser-augmented turbine.

[0025] FIG. 4 depicts a front view of a diffuser-augmented turbine.

[0026] FIG. 5 depicts an isometric view of a diffuser-augmented turbine.

[0027] FIG. 6 depicts an isometric view of an embodiment of a hydrokinetic micro powerplant comprising a plurality of protection buoys.

[0028] FIG. 7 depicts a downstream view of an embodiment of a hydrokinetic micro powerplant comprising a plurality of diffuser-augmented turbines coupled to hydraulic arms and pontoons.

[0029] FIG. 8 depicts a cross-sectional view along Section A of FIG. 1.

[0030] FIG. 9 depicts a cross-sectional view along Section B of FIG. 7.

[0031] Elements and acts in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and have not necessarily been rendered according to any particular sequence or embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] In the following description, and for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of the invention. It will be understood, however, by those skilled in the relevant arts, that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, known structures and devices are shown or discussed more generally in order to avoid obscuring the invention. In many cases, a description of the operation is sufficient to enable one to implement the various forms of the invention, particularly when the operation is to be implemented in software. It should be noted that there are many different and alternative configurations, devices and technologies to which the disclosed inventions may be applied. The full scope of the inventions is not limited to the examples that are described below.

[0033] FIG. 1 is a top view of one embodiment of a power generation system 100; FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the same. In the depicted embodiment, electric power is generated by a unidirectional water flow through a body of water or other liquid such as, by non-limiting example, a river, stream, or lake. In some embodiments, the power generation system may be adapted to be used in a stream of effluent. As shown in FIG. 1, water passes through a plurality of turbines 108 submerged in the flowing body of water. FIG. 6 displays how each turbine 108 from among the plurality of turbines 108 may be coupled to a first portion of a hydraulic arm 102 via one or more anchor arms 113. The one or more anchor arms 113 may be substantially curved to couple to the first portion of the hydraulic arm 102 and may be positioned between one or more pontoons 107 which may be coupled to the first portion of the hydraulic arm 102 or which may be freely floating or otherwise loosely anchored to the first portion of the hydraulic arm 102 such as with a chain, cable, rope, or other coupling mechanism. Alternatively, in some embodiments, one or more turbines 108 may be coupled to the first portion of the hydraulic arm 102 via a chain, cable, or rope. As shown here, the system may comprise a plurality of pontoons 107, which, in this embodiment, collectively serve to provide stability and support to the system 100. In some embodiments, the system 100 may further comprise one or more protection buoys 111 located upstream from the turbines 108 which may be configured to be anchored to the bed of the body of water by one or more buoy anchors 118 to prevent wildlife, humans, and other debris from contacting propellors 110 of the turbines 108.

[0034] FIG. 3 depicts a side view of one embodiment of a turbine 108; FIG. 4 depicts a front view of the same; FIG. 5 depicts a perspective view of the same. As shown in FIG. 5, in this embodiment, the turbine propeller 110 is housed in a diffuser 114 to improve fluid flow by increasing the water velocity within the turbine 108 through the propeller 110 thereby increasing the energy potential of the system 100. In this embodiment, debris protection bars 112 are coupled to the diffuser housing to prevent aquatic wildlife or other undesired objects from entering the turbine 108. While the diffuser 114 may comprise any suitable shape, as shown here, by non-limiting example, the diffuser 114 may at least partially comprise a conical frustum.

[0035] The illustrated turbine 108 design has greater potential for energy generation as compared to a traditional wind turbine and also provides the added benefit of having a relatively low installation cost when compared to that of conventional hydropower technologies. These advantages, combined with a relatively short implementation time as well as uninterrupted power generation in the presence of constant water current flow may make the disclosed system ideal for generating electrical power in isolated communities such as those in rural areas.

[0036] FIG. 7 shows a front view of an implementation of the off-shore components for one embodiment of the system and FIG. 9 provides a cross-sectional view of Section B. As shown in FIG. 7, in this embodiment the second portion of the hydraulic arm 102 is coupled to an on-shore anchor point 104 at a first pivot point 105. Further, in this embodiment the first portion of the hydraulic arm 102 may be coupled to the second portion of the hydraulic arm 103 at a second pivot point 106. The inclusion of these pivot points 105, 106 allows the hydraulic arm to move vertically to optimize the location of the turbines 108 within the moving body of water.

[0037] Electric power is created in the generator 115 by the rotation of the turbines 108 and this power is transmitted via a conducting strip 116 shown in FIG. 9, which runs through the first portion of the hydraulic arm 102 and second portion of the hydraulic arm 103 as depicted in FIG. 7. This electric current proceeds from the hydraulic arm through an electric cord 117, as depicted in FIG. 6.

[0038] FIG. 8 shows a cross-sectional view of an implementation of on-shore components according to one embodiment. As shown in FIG. 8, a transformer 109 receives electrical current via the electrical cord 117. In this embodiment, the transformer 109 is placed upon stone gabions 101, however, any other suitably stable structure may also be used to anchor the transformer 109. Among other benefits, the stone gabions may also improve the system's flood-resistance which may be particularly valuable in areas prone to flooding.

Example 1

[0039] The U.S. Department of Energy defines a river current turbine as a “low pressure run-of the-river ultra-low head turbine that will operate at the equivalent of less than 0.2 m of head.” In such turbines, the flowing water kinetic energy is transferred to a rotating energy converter which eventually is transformed into electricity using a generator.

[0040] The resulting generated power (P) and converted energy are expressed as:

[00001]$\begin{array}{cc}P=\left(\frac{1}{8}\right)*\rho *\pi *D^2*v^3*Cos\left(\theta \right)*Cp*\eta g*\eta tr& \mathrm{Equation}1\end{array}$

[0041] Where:

[0042] P: Power (W)

[0043] T: Turbine diameter (ft, m)

[0044] v: velocity (ft/s, m/s)

[0045] Cp: Power coefficient

[0046] ng: Generator efficiency

[0047] ntr: Transmission efficiency; and

[0048] p: Density of the water (lbs/ft.sup.3, kg/m.sup.3)

[0049] While any appropriate number of turbines 108 may be used, as illustrated in the exemplary embodiments of this disclosure, it may be preferable to employ three SMART DUO-type turbines with high efficiencies for power generation in rivers. Exemplary technical specifications and design variables are presented below in Table 1:

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Technical specifications and design variables Parameter Units Turbine 1 Turbine 2 Turbine 3 P kW 1.80 1.80 1.80 ρ kg/m.sup.3 1000 1000 1000 PI π 3.14 3.14 3.14 ν m/s 2.8 2.8 2.8 θ ° 0 0 0 Cp — 0.65 0.65 0.65 ηg % 0.95 0.95 0.95 ηtr % 0.95 0.95 0.95 D m 0.60 0.60 0.60

[0050] An average energy demand calculation was performed to estimate the number of rural houses that a plant having such an exemplary configuration may be able to supply. The final number of users will vary based on the specific conditions of flow and velocity of the site where the model will be implemented.

[0051] For Example 1, the energy used for supply calculations is based on average daily consumption in a rural house in Colombia, South America. These energy demand calculations require re-estimation for different locales.

Number of Houses Supplied

[0052] The number of houses supplied under this example of the disclosed power plant is calculated using an average energy demand in rural areas equal to 0.253 kW-day. The calculation of the number of houses supplied is performed by using the following equation:

[00002]$\begin{array}{cc}\#\mathrm{Houses}=\frac{P}{E_h}& \mathrm{Equation}2\end{array}$

[0053] Where:

[0054] P: Total power Generated with the turbines (W, kW); and

[0055] Eh: Energy demand for one rural house (kW day).

[0056] Replacing the values in Equation 2 with the variables presented in Table 1, we obtain the number of houses that the plant could supply as follows:

[00003]$\#\mathrm{Houses}=\frac{1.8\mathrm{kW}*3\mathrm{Turbines}}{0.253\mathrm{kW}-\mathrm{day}}\#\mathrm{Houses}=21\mathrm{Houses}$

[0057] Table 2, below, provides approximated ranges of power generated at different velocities assuming SMART DUO-type of turbine efficiencies. The final power calculations before implementing the disclosed power plant will be re-estimated for the specific site. This table is intended only for generic use.

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Power generated and number of houses supplied at different velocities 3 Velocity (m/s) 1.0 1.2 1.5 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.5 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.5 Turbines Power (kW) 0.25 0.43 0.83 1.43 1.97 2.62 3.40 3.84 5.40 6.64 8.06 10.55 Installed # of Houses 1 2 3 6 8 10 13 15 21 26 32 42 2 Velocity (m/s) 1.0 1.2 1.5 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.5 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.5 Turbines Power (kW) 0.16 0.28 0.55 0.96 1.31 1.75 2.27 2.56 3.60 4.43 5.37 7.03 Installed # of Houses 1 1 2 4 5 7 9 10 14 18 21 28 1 Velocity (m/s) 1.0 1.2 1.5 1.8 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.5 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.5 Turbine Power (kW) 0.08 0.14 0.28 0.48 0.66 0.87 1.13 1.28 1.80 2.21 2.69 3.52 Installed # of Houses 0 1 1 2 3 3 4 5 7 9 11 14

[0058] In places where the description above refers to particular implementations of systems and methods for a hydrokinetic micro powerplant, it should be readily apparent that a number of modifications may be made without departing from the spirit thereof and that these implementations may be applied to other to systems and methods for a hydrokinetic micro powerplant.