Floatable bellows container assembly

Abstract

A floatable bellows container assembly is provided. The floatable bellows container assembly comprises a small access opening and is composed of a large diameter bellows container and a small diameter bellows container. The floatable bellows container assembly is characterized in that: (1) the floatable bellows container assembly is expanded by weight of water flowing into the floatable bellows container assembly or its floatability no matter that the access opening is located in an upper position or a lower position; (2) if the access opening is located at the lower position, the floatable bellows container assembly is collapsed along with draining of the water. This invention is directed to an application of Pascal's law and can be used in a power generation system driven by universal gravitation.

Claims

1. A floatable bellows container assembly, comprising a large diameter bellows container and a small diameter bellows container, wherein the large diameter bellows container has an access opening, the access opening is sized to be smaller than a cross sectional area of the small diameter bellows container; the large diameter bellows container and the small diameter bellows container are floatable in water; and the floatable bellows container assembly composed of a plurality of frames made of a floatable material and a water-proof cloth, wherein the frames being enclosed by and attached to the water-proof cloth; in response to the floatable bellows container assembly being oriented in such a manner that the access opening is at a bottom of the large diameter bellows container, the floatable bellows container assembly is squeezed by a heavy object on the floatable bellows container assembly, and the floatable bellows container assembly is collapsed along with draining of the water; and a push-down pressure is generated by putting the heavy object on a top of the floatable bellows container assembly, and the push-down pressure is not varied due to properties of material of the floatable bellows container assembly; wherein a buoyancy of the small diameter bellows container is greater than a buoyancy of the large diameter bellows container.

2. The floatable bellows container assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the large diameter bellows container and the small diameter bellows container is of a circular or polygonal cross section.

3. The floatable bellows container assembly as claimed in claim 2, wherein the floatable bellows container assembly, except junctions, is made of a hard structure.

4. The floatable bellows container assembly as claimed in claim 3, wherein the small diameter bellows container is provided with a spring member in a first compressible layer of the small diameter bellows container.

5. A floatable bellows container assembly, comprising: a large diameter bellows container and a small diameter bellows container, wherein the large diameter bellows container has an access opening, the access opening is sized to be smaller than a cross sectional area of the small diameter bellows container; the large diameter bellows container and the small diameter bellows container are floatable in water; in response to the floatable bellows container assembly being oriented in such a manner that the access opening is at a bottom of the large diameter bellows container, the floatable bellows container assembly is squeezed by a heavy object on the floatable bellows container assembly, and the floatable bellows container assembly is collapsed along with draining of the water; a push-down pressure is generated by putting the heavy object on a top of the floatable bellows container assembly, and the push-down pressure is not varied due to properties of material of the floatable bellows container assembly; wherein each of the large diameter bellows container and the small diameter bellows container is of a circular or polygonal cross section, and wherein the floatable bellows container assembly, except junctions, is made of a hard structure; wherein a buoyancy of the small diameter bellows container is greater than a buoyancy of the large diameter bellows container.

6. A floatable bellows container assembly, comprising: a large diameter bellows container and a small diameter bellows container, wherein the large diameter bellows container has an access opening, the access opening is sized to be smaller than a cross sectional area of the small diameter bellows container; the large diameter bellows container and the small diameter bellows container are floatable in water; in response to the floatable bellows container assembly being oriented in such a manner that the access opening is at a bottom of the large diameter bellows container, the floatable bellows container assembly is squeezed by a heavy object on the floatable bellows container assembly, and the floatable bellows container assembly is collapsed along with draining of the water; a push-down pressure is generated by putting the heavy object on a top of the floatable bellows container assembly, and the push-down pressure is not varied due to properties of material of the floatable bellows container assembly; wherein each of the large diameter bellows container and the small diameter bellows container is of a circular or polygonal cross section, wherein the floatable bellows container assembly, except junctions, is made of a hard structure, and wherein the small diameter bellows container is provided with a spring member in a first compressible layer of the small diameter bellows container.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent with regard to the following descriptions, appended claims and accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 shows an application of Pascal's law;

(3) FIG. 2 shows another application of Pascal's law;

(4) FIG. 3 shows an expanded traditional Chinese lantern;

(5) FIG. 4 shows a compressed traditional Chinese lantern;

(6) FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a floatable bellows container assembly of the present application;

(7) FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing the floatable bellows container assembly which is arranged in a cylinder; and

(8) FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a potential energy regenerating system using the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(9) A known application of Pascal's law is used to magnify the exerted force. It is affirmative that Pascal's law can also be used to increase the potential energy of fluid such as water. The solution is different from magnifying the exerted force as well known but lies on an assembly of two differently sized bellows containers which have floatability rather than a fixed-shaped container. The bellows containers are floatable and have foldable structure, and hence are compressible. The small diameter bellows container is provided to reduce the ratio of the area of the large diameter bellows container to the area of the small diameter bellows container. By means of such a design, only a smaller force exerted on the large piston is required. The feature of floatability of the bellows container assembly would make the exerted pressure be well-maintained. In the following, the design and the function of the floatable bellows container assembly will be explained in details.

(10) In order to apply Pascal's law to increasing potential energy of water, the design as shown in FIG. 1 has to be changed. FIG. 2 shows a revised design of FIG. 1. The difference between FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 lies on that the large piston and the container 12 beneath the large piston as shown in FIG. 1 is modified as one having a necked section and a piston (referred to as a first piston 13) smaller than the large piston 10. The previous small piston at the right is referred to as a second piston 14. The first piston 13 is configured to have an area larger than that of the second piston 14.

(11) The design of FIG. 2 forms a confined system which is suitable for application of Pascal's law. It seems that the design of FIG. 2 has nothing special. However, it is a very important modification and hence provides a new way for the solution. It is expected that a less push-down force is used to transport the water stored in the container to a water tank located at higher lever or above the container.

(12) The design of FIG. 2 is still incapable of achieving the object of the present invention because the pressure exerted on the first piston is unable to be maintained. To solve this problem, the container is so designed that when exerting a force on the first piston, the pressure at the first piston can be maintained during the entire water transporting process. Therefore, the design of FIG. 2 is further modified by introducing a floatable bellows container assembly which can be collapsed along with draining of the water from the floatable bellows container assembly. The floatable bellows container assembly which is composed of two differently sized bellows containers is placed in a hollow cylinder container. By means of the inventive floatable bellows container assembly provided by the present application, this kind of design, the universal gravitation can be used more effectively.

(13) Reference is made to FIG. 5 which is a schematic view showing a floatable bellows container assembly of the present application. The floatable bellows container assembly according to the present application is composed of two differently sized bellows containers, i.e. a small diameter bellows container 20 and a large diameter bellows container 30. The design of the present invention aims to produce a larger pressure by exerting a smaller push-down force on a smaller contact face 21. The large diameter bellows container 30 is provided to store the water. Due to the face that the small diameter and large diameter bellows containers 20, 30 having bellows structures 22, 32 are collapsed along with draining of the water from the floatable bellows container assembly, the top contact face is kept in the small diameter bellows container as possible. Therefore, when the floatable bellows container assembly is used in a potential energy regenerating system as shown in FIG. 7, the pressure can be maintained for a longer time period so that more water can be transported to a water tank 60 located at a higher level.

(14) Moreover, the large diameter bellows container 30 comprises a smaller access opening 24. The smaller diameter and large diameter bellows containers 20, 30 are expanded by the weight of water flowing into the floatable bellows container assembly or their floatability no matter that the floatable bellows container assembly is oriented in such a manner that the access opening 24 is located in an upper position or a lower position. If the floatable bellows container assembly is oriented in such a manner that the access opening is located at the lower position, the smaller diameter and large diameter bellows containers 20, 30 are collapsed along with draining of the water.

(15) To build a bellows container mentioned above, the floatable bellows container assembly, except the junctions, is made of hard material or non-elastic material.

(16) The floatable bellows container assembly can be made by material which has the properties such as low tensility and high tensile strength and which is flexible and floatable. Then, a plurality of annular floatable frames 25 are attached or adhered to the inner wall face 32 of the bellows container assembly in place wall. The floatable frames 25 shall have a density lower than 1 g/cm.sup.3 and may be made of, for example, wood or plastic.

(17) The requirement that the floatable bellows container assembly, except the junctions, is made of hard material may be not so severe and may be unnecessary. How to maintain the pressure of the small diameter bellows container when transporting the water to a higher level has to be taken into consideration. Therefore, a possible choice is using a water proof cloth which has the properties of low tensility and high tensile strength as the walls of the floatable bellows container assembly. The purpose of requiring the bag's wall has properties of low tensility and high tensile strength is that when a force is exerted on the floatable bellows container assembly, the increased volume of the floatable bellows container assembly due to expansion is under controllable state. In this way, it is guaranteed that during draining of the water, the contact face 21 can be maintained in the region of the small diameter bellows container 20 but not in the region of the large diameter bellows container 30. Thus, it is guaranteed that the pressure sufficient to transport the water to the water tank 60 at a higher level can be obtained.

(18) The floatable frames 25 of the small diameter and large diameter bellows containers 20, 30 mentioned above are made of floatable material and are tightly attached or adhered to the water-proof cloth which is of low tensility and high tensile strength.

(19) In order to maintain the pressure of the small diameter bellows container 20 more easily, the small diameter and large diameter bellows containers may be made of different materials so that the buoyancy of the small diameter bellows container is greater than the buoyancy of the large diameter bellows container.

(20) In the small diameter bellows container, a small spring mat 26 is arranged at the first foldable layer and functions to delay the complete compression of the small diameter bellows container. In other words, its pressure will be maintained for a longer time period.

(21) The small diameter and large diameter bellows containers are configured to have a circular or polygonal cross section.

(22) FIG. 6 shows a modification of the design of FIG. 2 and is different from the design of FIG. 2 in that the first piston 13 has been removed, the floatable bellows container assembly composed of the small diameter and large diameter bellows containers 20, 30 are placed in the hollow cylinder container 40 in which the small diameter and large diameter bellows containers 20, 30 in form of the traditional Chinese lantern are communicated with each other, and the access opening at the lowest position is communicated with a small diameter tube 50 extending upward. A rigid heavy object loading face 21 is formed on the top of the small diameter bellows container 20 corresponding to the position of the first piston 13.

(23) In the embodiment of FIG. 6, an enclosed container is formed, and hence it is suitable for application of Pascal's law. If a push-down force is exerted on the heavy object loading face 21, the same pressure would be generated at the second piston 14.

(24) FIG. 7 shows an embodiment in which the second piston is removed and the tube 50 is upward extended to a predetermined height and then horizontally extended so that an outlet end of the tube 50 is positioned above a water tank 60. The ratio of the area of the heavy object loading face 21 to the area of the second piston is so selected that the force exerted on the heavy object loading face 21 is sufficient to urge the water from the floatable bellows container assembly to the water tank 60.

(25) The pressure generated due to the fact that the heavy object is placed on the heavy object loading face 21 allows the water to be transported to the water tank 60 located at a higher level. The floatable bellows container assembly is collapsed along with draining of the water. Since the pressure on the heavy object loading face 21 is maintained, the water can be transported to the water tank 60 successively.

(26) While the preferred embodiments have been described as above, it is noted that the preferred embodiments are not intended to restrict the scope of implementation of the present invention. Modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims of the present invention.