Torque amplification device

Abstract

Provided is a torque amplification device that can obtain a large torque using a siphon phenomenon (in a broad sense).　This torque amplification device has: at least one storage body 26 into which air and a fluid enter, and that is configured to be airtight to such an extent that a siphon phenomenon acts therein; a supply port-side passage 242 that is in communication with a supply port 22 for taking the air and the fluid into the storage body; a discharge port-side passage 243 that is in communication with a discharge port 23 for discharging the air and the fluid from the storage body to the exterior; a drive pump that enables movement of the fluid; a rotor 27 that is rotated by the movement of the fluid; and a rotary shaft 2 that extracts the rotative power of the rotor 27. The torque amplification device is characterized by being configured such that the supply port-side passage 242 and the discharge port-side passage 243 are configured to be airtight to such an extent that a siphon phenomenon acts therein, and gravity and the drive pump are used to move the fluid and an amplified torque is extracted from the rotary shaft 2.

Description

Torque Amplifier

[0001] The present invention relates to a torque amplifying device capable of obtaining a particularly large torque, and to various devices that utilize the torque amplifying device.

[0002] Pumped-storage power generation systems have been well known for some time. Patent Document 1 discloses a hydroelectric power generation dam in which multiple reservoirs are constructed in a stepped configuration, with the upper and lower reservoirs connected to each other by stepped fishways, fish collecting pools, and submerged fishways, which are installed in sequence from downstream, with the maximum head of each reservoir during pumping being higher than the top of the fish collecting pool end and the submerged fishways, and the minimum head of the fish collecting pool being set to a height that will not impede fish habitat even if the water level of the lower reservoir drops, and with gates for opening and closing the submerged fishways.

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-282446

[0004] Most pumped storage power plants in general use use cheap electricity at night to pump water, and then during the day when large amounts of electricity are needed, the pumped water is dropped down to turn a turbine and generate electricity. However, in the structure of conventional pumped storage power plants, the act of using electricity to pump water itself results in a large energy loss, and from the perspective of keeping the energy required to pump water to a high position low, this structure cannot be said to be sufficient.

[0005] Furthermore, one issue that has not received much attention in the power generation efficiency of power plants is that whether it is hydroelectric power generation, thermal power generation, or wind power generation, it is essential to convert the linear kinetic energy of a fluid, such as water pressure, steam pressure, or wind pressure, into rotational energy that rotates a generator at high speed in order to convert it into electricity.However, when linear kinetic energy is converted into circular orbital rotational kinetic energy, i.e., when torque is converted, a considerable torque conversion loss occurs according to the law of conservation of energy. Specifically, in terms of the principle of the pendulum, when a pendulum is dropped from a horizontal position, even when the vector of kinetic energy changes completely to the horizontal direction at a rotation angle of 90 degrees directly below the circular orbit, the falling speed is equivalent to the instantaneous speed of the pendulum when dropped vertically, and it can be confirmed that potential energy and kinetic energy are conserved. However, the linear motion falling distance, which is the radius of the circular orbit, and the motion distance on a circular orbit with a rotation angle of 90 degrees is extended by 57% by simple calculation, and the time to reach the bottom is also extended by that amount, so in reality the relative motion speed between the linear motion and the motion on the circular orbit is slower by that amount.

[0006] Energy consumption calculations based on the integral of the constant vertical linear acceleration due to gravity and the angular acceleration on an arc, based on the time axis, reveal that there is a considerable amount of energy loss due to torque conversion caused by vector dispersion in a circular orbit. However, the difference in the amount of energy conversion consumed on the time axis varies greatly depending on numerous complex factors such as rotational speed, rotation radius, shape and structure of the rotating body, weight, mechanical friction, and air resistance, so it cannot be defined uniformly. However, the basic structure of conventional power plants tends to further pressurize or accelerate linearly moving fluids to increase their pressure in order to generate more electricity, and in order to efficiently withstand such strong pressure and convert torque stably, it is common to use multiple layers of sturdy, heavy, multi-blade turbines.

[0007] However, as the turbine itself that converts torque has become larger and heavier, a considerable amount of torque output is required just to rotate the turbine at low speed before it can turn the generator. When a power generation load torque is applied, all of this adds up to torque conversion losses, and the faster it is rotated, the greater these losses, including mechanical friction resistance, increase synergistically. Therefore, with the basic structure of conventional power plants, the more one tries to obtain more power, the more the power generation efficiency relative to natural resources deteriorates, creating a negative spiral.

[0008] In addition to the problems with the turbine device for power generation described above, methods such as increasing the gear ratio are generally used to increase motor torque, but these methods have the following problems: (1) mechanical loss increases, (2) attempting to obtain large torque with a small motor torque is prone to malfunction, (3) the arrangement of the shaft (rotating shaft) from which the torque-amplified power is taken off is likely to be limited, and (4) providing multiple take-off shafts requires a motor with large output.

[0009] The present invention has been made to solve the above problems. A broad object of the present invention is to provide a torque amplifier device capable of amplifying torque due to the action of gravity or motor torque. Another object of the present invention is to provide a turbine device capable of obtaining large torque using the action of gravity or little pump driving energy. Another object of the present invention is to provide a power generation system that can efficiently utilize potential energy by pumping fluid to a high position with a simple configuration. Another object of the present invention is to provide a power generation system that focuses on torque amplification by utilizing the siphon phenomenon (broadly defined). Problems of the invention not described above and configurations for solving those problems will be described as appropriate in the specification.

[0010] A torque amplifying device according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises: at least one reservoir that receives air and fluid and is airtight to the extent that siphoning occurs; a supply port-side passage communicating with a supply port that takes the air and the fluid into the reservoir; a discharge port-side passage communicating with a discharge port that discharges the air and the fluid from the reservoir; a drive pump that enables the movement of the fluid; a rotor that is rotated by the movement of the fluid; and a rotating shaft that extracts rotational power from the rotor, wherein the supply port-side passage and the discharge port-side passage are airtight to the extent that siphoning occurs; and wherein the fluid is moved by gravity and the drive pump to extract amplified torque from the rotating shaft. A second aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the rotor is provided inside the reservoir, and the rotating shaft rotates due to the movement of the fluid within the reservoir. A third aspect of the present invention is characterized in that a plurality of the reservoirs are disposed and fixed around the rotation axis, the plurality of reservoirs being the rotating bodies, and the rotation axis being rotated by the movement of the fluid between the reservoirs.A fourth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that a plurality of the reservoirs are provided, the supply port-side passage of one of the reservoirs is connected to the discharge port of another of the reservoirs, and the discharge port-side passage of one of the reservoirs is connected to the supply port of another of the reservoirs, thereby circulating the fluid through the plurality of reservoirs, the supply port-side passage, and the discharge port-side passage.

[0011] A fifth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that a plurality of the reservoirs are provided, the supply port side passage of one of the reservoirs is connected to the discharge port of another of the reservoirs, and the discharge port side passage of one of the reservoirs is connected to the supply port of another of the reservoirs, thereby causing the fluid to circulate through the plurality of the reservoirs, the supply port side passage, and the discharge port side passage. A sixth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the fluid pump has three reservoirs arranged at 120° intervals around the rotation axis, the discharge port of a first reservoir is connected to the supply port of a second reservoir by a first communication passage, the discharge port of the second reservoir is connected to the supply port of a third reservoir by a second communication passage, and the discharge port of the third reservoir is connected to the supply port of the first reservoir by a third communication passage, the first communication passage, the second communication passage, and the third communication passage are constituted by the supply port side passage and the discharge port side passage, the first communication passage, the second communication passage, and the third communication passage are respectively provided with the drive pump, and the drive pump also has a function of regulating the flow rates of the air and the fluid in the first communication passage, the second communication passage, and the third communication passage. A seventh aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the supply port-side passage and the discharge port-side passage form a single communication passage that communicates the supply port and the discharge port of one of the reservoirs, and the drive pump is provided in the single communication passage. An eighth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that a flow rate adjuster is provided in at least one of the supply port-side passage and the discharge port-side passage. A ninth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the drive pump also has the function of a flow rate adjuster.

[0012] A tenth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that at least one of the supply port-side passage and the discharge port-side passage has a retention chamber in which the air and the fluid temporarily accumulate. An eleventh aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the reservoir, the supply port-side passage, and the discharge port-side passage are housed in a casing container filled with the fluid, the inlet of the supply port-side passage being located at a lower portion of the casing container where water pressure is high, and the outlet of the discharge port-side passage being located near the water surface of the fluid in the casing container. A twelfth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that an air supply pump is provided in at least one of the reservoir, the supply port-side passage, and the discharge port-side passage to inject external air. A thirteenth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that a discharge pump is provided in the discharge port-side passage to promote discharge of the fluid. A fourteenth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the casing container is provided on a fluid surface where the fluid stays, the inlet of the supply port-side passage is provided at a position where the fluid can be drawn in from the outside, and the outlet of the discharge port-side passage is provided at a position where the fluid can be discharged to the outside. A fifteenth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the inlet of the supply port-side passage is provided at a lower position than the outlet of the discharge port-side passage. A sixteenth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the fluid flowing out of the outlet of the discharge port-side passage is also used as propulsion for a ship. A seventeenth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the reservoir is covered by an outer shell that houses the rotating body, and the outer shell has a supply port for taking the fluid into the reservoir and a discharge port for discharging the fluid from the reservoir; the rotating body is configured to include a front wall, a rear wall, and a side wall; the rotating body expands in the direction of extension of the rotation axis and is a concave reservoir for the fluid to extend the storage time of the fluid; the front curve of the side wall that appears when viewed from the front side is a spiral curve whose radial distance increases as it rotates circumferentially, and the fluid stored in the reservoir overflows from the side wall as the rotation axis rotates; the outer shell is provided with a discharge passage through which the fluid overflowing from the side wall flows; and the outer shell is made airtight so that a siphon effect can occur.

[0013] A torque amplifying device according to an eighteenth aspect of the present invention is characterized by comprising: at least one reservoir that is filled with air and fluid and is airtight to the extent that siphoning occurs; an upper reservoir that is provided upstream of the reservoir and is subjected to atmospheric pressure; a lower reservoir that is provided downstream of the reservoir and is subjected to atmospheric pressure; a pumping fluid path that connects the upper reservoir and the lower reservoir; a pumping pump that pumps the fluid from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir through the pumping fluid path; a rotating body that is rotated by the movement of the fluid inside the reservoir; and a rotating shaft that extracts rotational power from the rotating body. A 19th aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the storage body is covered by an outer shell that houses the rotating body, and the outer shell has a supply port for taking the fluid into the storage body and a discharge port for discharging the fluid from the storage body to the outside, the rotating body is configured to include a front wall, a rear wall, and a side wall, the rotating body expands in the direction of extension of the rotation axis and is a concave storage container for the fluid to extend the storage time of the fluid, the front curve of the side wall that appears when viewed from the front side is a spiral curve whose radial distance increases as it rotates circumferentially, and the fluid stored in the storage body is configured to overflow from the side wall as the rotation axis rotates, the outer shell is provided with a discharge passage through which the fluid overflowing from the side wall flows, and the outer shell is made airtight so that a siphon effect can occur.

[0014] The present invention can provide a torque amplifying device that can amplify torque due to the action of gravity or motor torque. It can also provide a turbine device that can obtain large torque using the action of gravity or little pump drive energy. It can also provide a power generation system that can efficiently utilize potential energy by pumping fluid to a high position with a simple configuration. It can also provide a torque amplifying power generation system that can efficiently generate electricity by utilizing the siphon effect (broadly defined). It can also be used to perform various tasks that require large torque, in addition to power generation.

[0015] 1 is a perspective view showing an example of a torque amplification device according to the present embodiment. (a) is a diagram showing a conventional turbine blade, and (b), (c), and (d) are diagrams showing four or three turbine blades that can be used in the present invention. (b) is a diagram comparing the amount and state of fluid stored in each phase reservoir when generating rotational torque for the turbine blades (b), (c), and (d) in FIG. 2, in terms of rotation sequence. (c) is a diagram showing instantaneous vector analysis using trigonometric functions to obtain rotational torque. (d) is a schematic diagram explaining the rotational torque obtained by gravity, moment of inertia, and effective gravity that should be considered in the rotation of the blade. (a) is a schematic diagram showing a state in which a straight flat plate is rotated by fluid falling from above, and (b) is a schematic diagram showing a state in which a reservoir is used in which fluid flow and stagnation occur. (a), (b), and (c) are diagrams showing the rotation angle on the horizontal axis and the torque conversion value on the vertical axis for each turbine blade in FIG. 3. (a) is a view of the front curve from the front side, (b) is a perspective view of the main parts of the torque amplifier device from an angle, (c) is a view of the rear curve from the rear side, and (d), (e), and (f) are exploded perspective views of phase reservoirs formed around the rotation axis. (a), (b), (c), and (d) are exploded perspective views of an example of a torque amplifier device. (a), (b), and (c) are exploded perspective views of an example of a torque amplifier device. A perspective view showing the assembled state of the disassembled torque amplifier device. A perspective view illustrating the configuration of openings and valves in an example of this torque amplifier device. A schematic diagram showing the forward / backward movement and stagnation of the falling fluid as it enters each phase reservoir and flows until it exits the discharge port. (a) to (e) are diagrams illustrating the configuration of other torque amplifier devices. (a) to (d) are diagrams illustrating the basic movement of a butterfly valve. (a) to (e) are diagrams illustrating an example of a change in the opening degree of a butterfly valve due to rotation. (a), (b), and (c) are diagrams showing the flow of fluid into each phase reservoir when the rotation angle is 0°. (a), (b), and (c) are diagrams showing the flow of fluid into each phase reservoir when the rotation angle is 30°. (a), (b), and (c) are diagrams showing the flow of fluid into each phase reservoir when the rotation angle is 60°.23(a), (b), and (c) are diagrams illustrating the flow of fluid into each phase reservoir when the rotation angle is 90°.

[0043] Figures are for explaining the configuration of another torque amplifier.

[0044] Figures are for explaining the configuration of another torque amplifier.

[0045] Figures are for explaining the siphoning phenomenon when multiple water reservoirs are arranged horizontally, with the valves closed.

[0046] Figures are for explaining the siphoning phenomenon when the valves in Figure 23 are open.

[0047] Figures are for explaining a configuration in which fluid reservoirs are connected vertically.

[0048] Figures are schematic perspective views illustrating a tandem torque amplifier according to this embodiment that utilizes the siphoning phenomenon.

[0049] Figures are a diagram illustrating an example of a tandem torque amplifier that utilizes the siphoning phenomenon by using the potential energy of a naturally falling fluid.

[0049] Figures are a diagram illustrating an example of a tandem torque amplifier that utilizes the siphoning phenomenon, has a fluid return passage, and is equipped with a pump for circulating the fluid.

[0049] Figures are for explaining the angle on the horizontal axis and the relative torque output on the vertical axis.

[0049] Figures are for explaining the advantages of the torque amplifier.

[0049] Figures are schematic diagrams illustrating an example of the concept of this experimental apparatus. (a) and (b) are schematic diagrams illustrating the height and width of components of the experimental apparatus. (a) and (b) are diagrams showing the water levels in the lower water retention section, and are schematic diagrams illustrating the relationship between these water levels and the pump's workload. (b) are schematic diagrams illustrating a configuration in which a water pump is installed in a position to reduce the pressure in the pumping channel. (c) are diagrams illustrating an embodiment of a torque amplifier in which reservoirs are arranged in series vertically and utilize atmospheric pressure. (d) are diagrams illustrating an embodiment of a torque amplifier in which reservoirs are arranged in an equilateral triangle and utilize atmospheric pressure. (e) are perspective views illustrating the exterior of an example of an experimental apparatus. (a) to (e) are diagrams illustrating an example of an experimental apparatus. (a) to (d) are diagrams illustrating an example of a verification method for the experimental apparatus. (a) to (c) are diagrams illustrating a configuration in which multiple reservoirs rotate around a rotation axis. (a) and (b) are diagrams illustrating the gravity vector and the generation of generated rotational torque. (e) are diagrams illustrating the advantages of providing a flow rate regulator in at least one of the supply port side passage and the discharge port side passage. 10A and 10B are diagrams showing the state in which air is moved by a pump.46 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration in which three reservoirs are connected by a communication passage. (a) to (e) are diagrams for explaining the operation of the torque amplifier shown in FIG. 46. (a) and (b) are diagrams for explaining other torque amplifier configurations. (a) is a diagram showing a configuration in which torque amplifiers are connected in a horizontal direction. (b) is a diagram showing a configuration in which torque amplifiers are housed in a casing container containing a fluid, as viewed from the front. (c) is a diagram showing a configuration in which a torque amplifier is housed in a casing container containing a fluid, as viewed from the side. (c) is a diagram showing an example of the appearance of the torque amplifier shown in FIG. 50. (d) is a diagram for explaining a torque amplifier provided on a fluid surface. (e) is a diagram for explaining a variation of the configuration in which a stopper is provided. (a) and (b) are diagrams for explaining an example in which a torque amplifier is applied to a ship. (e) is a perspective view of an example of a flexible body valve. 10A to 10C are diagrams for explaining the configuration of the flexible body valve, and 10A to 10D are diagrams for explaining the operation of the flexible body valve.

[0016] [First Embodiment] Before describing embodiments of a torque amplification device according to the present invention, important aspects of the present embodiment will be described below. Important aspects of the present embodiment include the following: (Aspect 1) Reservoir Configuration A reservoir having a rotor therein is a fluid receiver that extends in the direction of extension of the rotation axis (front-rear direction) and also in the width direction (lateral direction, radial direction), allowing the fluid to move, convect, and accumulate within the same reservoir or between other reservoirs. The reservoir can be configured in a concave container shape. Each reservoir typically has an opening that receives fluid from a supply port that is supplied from above. The opening mainly functions as an inlet for the fluid into the reservoir. Note that a configuration in which the opening is used not only as an inlet but also as an outlet for the reservoir can also be adopted. 6 or 13, when considering the rotational torque generated by a predetermined amount of falling fluid per unit time, in order to efficiently generate a large rotational torque, it is preferable to adopt a configuration in which the fluid moves in the direction extending along the rotation axis and in the direction extending radially of the rotation axis within the time allowed by the system, the fluid stays in the reservoir for as long as possible, and the force generated by gravity on the stayed fluid is converted into rotational torque. This concept also applies to the movement of fluid between multiple reservoirs.

[0017] According to this concept, the shape of the reservoir significantly affects the rotational torque output, i.e., the efficiency of conversion to rotational energy. It is important to compare the state in which a linear flat plate 52 is rotated by a fluid 4 falling from above, as shown in FIG. 6( a), with the state in which the plate 52 is rotated at a "low speed" aiming to lengthen the time it is affected by gravity, as shown in FIG. 6( b), when the force of the water volume due to gravity is converted into rotational torque. The advantages of the configuration of this embodiment can be easily understood by comparing the configuration using the container 51 (reservoir) and flat plate 52, which are configured to create a natural "flow" that "convects" and "stagnates," with the aim of increasing torque output. In other words, with the configuration of this embodiment described below, under instantaneous operating conditions (when there is already stagnant water), when the inflow and outflow water are in exactly the same operating conditions, i.e., under the same conditions of potential energy consumption, the efficiency of conversion to rotational torque can be increased not just several times, but tens or even hundreds of times.

[0018] (Aspect 2) Supply Port, Discharge Port: A supply port that supplies fluid to the reservoir from above is disposed facing the opening at a position favorable for fluid supply. The fluid supply port is configured by a fluid supply pipe 34 (see, for example, FIGS. 1 and 14 ). The front-to-rear length and lateral length of the supply port, as well as the cross-sectional shape of the supply port as viewed from above, are each designed to be optimal for generating rotational torque, depending on, for example, the configuration of the opening and, for example, the configuration of the distributor. Note that the fluid supply pipe 34 shown in FIG. 1 is an example of a supply port-side passage 242, described below, and the fluid discharge pipe 35 is an example of a discharge port-side passage 243, described below. (Aspect 3) Angular Range that Maximizes Rotational Torque: As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5 , it is preferable to configure the reservoir in a shape that maximizes the amount of fluid retained within an angular range of 30° above and below a horizontal line passing through the center of rotation of the rotation shaft, i.e., 60° above and below the horizontal line, which is the angular range in which rotational torque can be generated most efficiently.

[0019] (Aspect 4) Efficient Utilization of Gravitational Energy by Connecting Torque Amplifiers In utilizing the potential energy of a fluid, providing multiple torque amplifiers allows for more effective utilization of the gravitational energy of a fluid located at a higher position than in conventional configurations. A significant feature of these multiple torque amplifiers is that they each have a fluid path communication passage 80 through which the fluid flows at least from the upstream side to the downstream side of the fluid flow. The simplest justification for efficiently utilizing potential energy is, for example, in multiple fluid water storage tanks 70a, 70b, and 70c as shown in FIG. 25 , simply replacing each of the fluid water storage tanks 70a, 70b, and 70c with torque amplifiers 1a, 1b, and 1c, as described below, can increase the efficiency of utilization of the potential energy of the fluid compared to when only one torque amplifier 1a is provided at the lowest water storage tank 70a. This is because, if only one torque amplifier 1a is provided at the lowest water supply location, i.e., when water falls from the lower end of the connecting pipe 77 of the water storage tank 70c, the potential energy of the water at the higher location would be lost due to the impact, vibration, splashing, and noise caused by the collision of the turbine blades of the torque amplifier 1a with the falling water, thereby reducing the energy conversion efficiency. In contrast, if three torque amplifiers 1a, 1b, and 1c are connected vertically to replace the water storage tanks 70a, 70b, and 70c, respectively, the rotational torque can be increased, resulting in stable and improved power generation efficiency, despite the low speed. The configuration with a siphon-type connecting passage, described below, is one example of a configuration of a connected-type torque amplifier. One feature of the concept of this embodiment is that when converting the potential energy of a fluid falling from above into torque on the rotating shaft of a turbine shaft, compared to a configuration in which the instantaneous kinetic energy of the fluid hitting the turbine blades is converted into rotational torque, it has been discovered that by adopting various configurations and devices to allow the fluid to flow, convect, and store between individual reservoirs or multiple reservoirs, the potential energy of the fluid can be efficiently converted into rotational energy.

[0020] (Aspect 5) In a configuration utilizing the siphoning phenomenon (broad sense), the energy required to disrupt the balance within a circulation path or a sealed pipeline is small. In this specification, the term "siphoning phenomenon" (broad sense) refers not only to the commonly understood siphoning phenomenon but also to "the phenomenon in which fluids or air can be moved or circulated with little force in a sealed communication passage, outer shell, etc., based on the relationship between gravity, gas pressure, and the specific gravity of the fluid." As explained in Figures 23 to 29, etc., utilizing the siphoning phenomenon (broad sense, omitted below) can create large circulating flows of water and air with little force. By utilizing this force, pumped storage power generation can be efficiently performed at low heads. Furthermore, by using means for reducing the frictional resistance of the rotating shaft, an efficient power generation system can be constructed. (Aspect 6) Improved Power Generation Efficiency in Low-Head Power Generation. As mentioned above, an important aspect of the present invention is to provide a power generation system with improved power generation efficiency compared to conventional low-head power generation. The same applies to low-head pumped storage power generation. (Aspect 7) To provide a torque amplifying device capable of amplifying torque due to the action of gravity or motor torque with a simple configuration. Many tasks cannot be performed without large torque. An important aspect of the present invention is to be able to provide large torque effectively using gravity or a motor with a small output, even in tasks that require large torque or multiple torque output shafts (rotating shafts).

[0021] Next, the specific reservoir shape design according to this embodiment will be further described. Figures 2(a), 2(b), 2(c), and 2(d) are diagrams showing the shapes of turbine blades, respectively. Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating the rotation sequence of each turbine blade in Figures 2(b), 2(c), and 2(d). Figure 4 is a diagram for considering the gravity effect rate as a function of the rotation angle using trigonometric functions, with the solid line representing a sine curve and the dashed line representing a cosine curve. Figure 5 is a diagram schematically showing factors that generate rotational torque, with arrow G representing gravity, arrow EG representing effective gravity, and arrow M representing the moment of inertia. Furthermore, T represents rotational torque. Considering angles at 15° intervals on the solid-line curve 42 shown in Figure 4, the acceleration difference and gravity effect rate are plotted as shown in Table 1. In Figure 4, the width of the arrow 41 indicates the range of angles at 30° intervals.

[0022] In addition, in the broken curve 43 shown in FIG. 4, when angles at 15° intervals are considered, the acceleration difference and the gravitational effect rate are plotted as shown in Table 2.

[0023]

[0024] As shown in Figure 2, there are various configurations for using turbine blades to rotate an induction power generator, depending on the system configuration of the driving force that rotates the turbine blades. Converting high-pressure fluids, such as steam or water, into rotational energy requires the installation of multiple blades to increase the surface area that receives the pressure. The higher the fluid pressure, the less efficient a single blade wheel is at converting the pressure energy into rotational energy, so multiple blade wheels are used. Furthermore, using too few blade wheels reduces the efficiency of absorbing pressure and converting it into rotational power, resulting in unnecessary pressure release. Conversely, adding too many blade wheels increases fluid resistance, slowing the overall fluid speed and simultaneously reducing turbine rotation speed. Therefore, even just designing the turbine blades to improve the turbine's rotational efficiency requires extremely complex and delicate design, installation, and operation.

[0025] As mentioned above, if we consider the reservoir of this embodiment as a type of blade, its function is not to receive pressure, but to receive water falling due to gravity and retain the force of the water's weight in a position effective for torque conversion for as long as possible. Therefore, the shape of the reservoir significantly affects its torque conversion characteristics. For example, even though the three reservoir types (b, c, and d) in Figure 3 below appear similar in appearance, there are significant differences in torque conversion efficiency within a rotation range of 0° to 90°. Specifically, the rotational power load required to rotate the induction generator shaft is applied, and the blade rotates slowly, absorbing gravitational acceleration. The most efficient rotational angle band in which falling water momentarily accumulates and is converted into rotational torque by the weight of the water is the rotational band 30° ahead and behind the horizontal line extending from the center of rotation, as shown in Figure 5 and Table 1, which show the correlation diagram between the gravity vector and moment of inertia. It is important to utilize the torque generated during the time when water falls, hits the blade, momentarily accumulates, and overflows due to the tilt of the blade.

[0026] Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 7 , the torque output (Tcon) characteristics of the "Type d" three-blade phase curve blade, which has a "phase curve" with a spiral-like deployment angle expanding toward the outer shell, as shown in FIG. 7(c) , are superior to those of the "Type b" four-blade semicircular blade shown in FIG. 7(a) and the "Type c" three-blade semicircular blade shown in FIG. 7(b). In other words, when comparing the torque outputs, the torque output of the "Type d" phase curve blade exhibits significantly less deviation than the other two types, demonstrating superior "stability" across the entire rotation range. If the energy conversion rate is calculated from the torque conversion characteristics, the area enclosed by the vertical and horizontal axes and the curves shown in FIG. 7 represents the energy absorption rate. As a result, it can be seen that "Type d" achieves an energy conversion efficiency several times higher than that of the other types of blades in the 0 to 60° rotation range.

[0027] In other words, the most efficient way to convert the linear kinetic energy of water falling from above into rotational energy is to store water within an area of ​​a 60° arc extending 30° above and below a line extending horizontally from the center of rotation (the line dividing the rotation circle into upper and lower semicircles), and rotate the water while keeping it stored for a long time. If we perform an integral calculation taking into account the effective rotational time rather than the instantaneous time of kinetic energy, if we can keep the weight of the fluid within this 60° range, we can efficiently convert the kinetic energy of the falling fluid into rotational energy with high conversion efficiency. Furthermore, a blade shape like the one shown in Figure 3(d), which uses a "spiral curve" with a circular radius that increases from the center of rotation and extends to the periphery, and has three spiral curves spaced 120° apart around the rotation axis, is also found to be efficient.

[0028] Further explanation follows. The physical formula for the energy (output energy) that can be generated from rotational torque is P = 2πTN, which is the correlation between the generated output P [kW] and the torque T [Nm]. The formula for calculating the generated output P [W] from the torque T [Nm] and the rotational speed N [rps] is P = 2πTN. In other words, if the rotational torque is unstable, stable energy cannot be generated, and the amount of energy output per unit time will inevitably decrease. When focusing on the power generation efficiency of a power generation system, the stability of the rotational torque is an essential element. In a system like this embodiment that receives water falling due to gravity, accumulates it to a certain extent, and uses the force of the water's weight to rotate the turbine, it is important to convert the constantly fluctuating fluctuations in the water's weight balance into rotational torque to efficiently rotate the induction device. In this case, it is important to consider adding a configuration and functional system that rotates at as constant a rotational speed as possible and produces a constant rotational torque output for a constant rotational load. Furthermore, achieving stable and highly efficient power generation performance with as simple a system configuration as possible is also important.

[0029] Specifically, to generate stable torque, the efficiency of torque generation (torque conversion), i.e., the efficiency of energy conversion, varies significantly depending on the blade shape, as shown in Figure 3. For the semicircular blade shapes shown in Figures 3(b) and 3(c), the torque output is expressed as an effective vector for rotational torque conversion relative to the gravity direction vector shown in Figure 5, which is a sine curve, as shown in Figure 4. Therefore, when using the blades shown in Figures 3(b) and 3(c), the area 84 inside the sine curve 42 at a rotation angle of 0 to 90°, as shown in Figure 4, represents the amount of torque conversion, i.e., the amount of absorbed energy. However, although the blank area 83 outside the area inside the sine curve 42 appears to be lost (wasted), according to modern general physical laws, in terms of the normal law of conversion between potential energy and kinetic energy, this represents the amount of energy when 100% of potential energy is converted into kinetic energy, and thus represents a state in which no conversion loss occurs. Incidentally, in order to smooth out the torque output, which has significant fluctuations at a rotation angle of 90°, and make it easier to handle, the latest power generation methods have traditionally specialized for high-speed rotation. In contrast, one of the objectives of this embodiment is to utilize the blank area 83 as a region that can be complemented. The blank area 83 shown in Figure 4 is an example of a "blank area that cannot be filled."

[0030] A more specific configuration of a gravity torque conversion-type power generation system using a torque amplifier according to this embodiment will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, taking into account the above considerations. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the exterior of a torque amplifier 1 (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as a turbine for simplicity) according to this embodiment. FIGS. 9 to 11 are exploded views of the turbine, respectively. FIG. 12 is a perspective view illustrating the configuration near a valve. As shown in FIG. 1 , the turbine 1 illustrated in this embodiment generates electricity by taking in a water flow caused by the natural fall of water 4 as a fluid 4 into the torque amplifier 1, rotating a rotating shaft 2, and connecting the rotational power of the rotating shaft 2 to a generator 3 such as a dynamo or alternator. In this specification, the direction in which the water 4 falls, as shown in FIG. 1 , is referred to as the up-down direction (referred to as the X direction in FIG. 1 ), the direction in which the rotating shaft 2 extends is referred to as the front-rear direction (referred to as the Y direction in FIG. 1 ), and the direction perpendicular to both the up-down direction and the front-rear direction is referred to as the lateral direction, lateral direction (radial direction), or left-right direction (referred to as the Z direction in FIG. 1 ).

[0031] (Phase Reservoir) As shown in FIG. 1 as an example, the phase reservoir 6 is a reservoir fixed to the rotary shaft 2 of the torque amplifier 1, and is configured by three-dimensionally twisted side walls 16 (rotating blades) that divide the reservoir into multiple container sections in the direction of extension of the rotary shaft (front-rear direction). Each phase reservoir 6 has a front wall 14, a rear wall 15, and side walls 16, and is a container for storing water as a fluid. The shapes of the front wall 14 and the rear wall 15 are not particularly limited as long as they can, in cooperation with the side walls 16, move and store water within a predetermined time period determined by the system. They may be flat or may be configured with curved surfaces extending in the front-rear direction. The phase reservoir 6 is formed by connecting a front curved line 30 (described later) with a rear curved line 31, which is obtained by rotating the front curved line 30 in a predetermined direction by a twist angle θ (see FIG. 8(b)) and extending in a predetermined direction by an extension angle φ (see FIG. 8(b)), with side walls 16 extending in the front-rear direction. The side walls 16 of each phase reservoir 6 preferably have a central region with a large curvature extending radially from the center of rotation, and a peripheral region with a small curvature extending along the inner peripheral wall of the inner cylindrical shell.

[0032] (Spiral Curve) Preferably, the front curve 30 and the rear curve 31 are configured as "spiral curves in which the radial distance of the rotor blades increases as they rotate in the circumferential direction." In this specification, the term "spiral curve" is used to include an approximate curve or a broken line shape formed by connecting multiple straight lines that are similar to a spiral curve, to the extent that energy efficiency can be improved. Various types of spiral curves are possible, including, for example, Archimedes' spiral curve, logarithmic spiral curve, Fibonacci curve, and a non-public adaptive spiral curve calculated to improve power generation efficiency depending on the fluid usage pattern. The type of curve to be used is selected depending on the required capacity, properties, and surrounding conditions of each torque amplifier. In the present invention, the number of blades formed along the spiral curve is not limited to three. However, to achieve high energy efficiency, it is preferable to configure the torque amplifier with three blades, as described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 7.

[0033] (Twist Angle) In the relationship between the front curve 30 and the rear curve 31, the phase of the rear curve 31 is shifted in the rotational direction relative to the phase of the front curve 30 by, for example, a twist angle θ about the rotational axis. The twist angle θ is preferably determined from the perspective of a shape that increases the amount of fluid that can accumulate within an angular range of 30° above and below the horizontal axis, i.e., 60° above and below the horizontal axis. When three to five phase reservoirs are provided, the twist angle θ is set appropriately. (Extension Angle) The extension angle φ increases the capacity of the water container when storing water. From one perspective, it can also be said to be an angle that defines the circumferential end of the side wall 16 of the phase reservoir 6 so that the side edge 33 of the side wall 16 (see, for example, FIG. 17(a)) is configured parallel to the horizontal line or the rotational axis 2. When three reservoirs are provided at 120° intervals, the extension angle φ is preferably approximately 60°. The side wall 16 is preferably extended in accordance with the extension angle φ by simply extending the peripheral area of ​​the side wall 16 in the circumferential direction. In the specific embodiment described below, since there are three reservoirs, the twist angle θ and the extension angle φ are both set to about 60°.

[0034] (Position of Openings and Outlets) If water falling from above is supplied uniformly to the phase reservoir 6 serving as a container in the direction of the rotation shaft (front-to-rear direction), water flow in the front-to-rear direction is unlikely to occur, and retention time is shortened. Furthermore, considering the overall configuration of the torque amplifier, if the water supply and discharge ports are located at the front-to-rear end positions of the reservoir, the water supplied to each reservoir will move toward lower positions according to the difference in elevation between the reservoir and the front-to-rear direction. Furthermore, if the discharge location is limited to the front or rear end position, the retention time in each reservoir can be extended, and rotational torque can be increased, compared to a configuration in which the supply or discharge port is located at the center of the torque amplifier in the front-to-rear direction. In this case, due to the difference in elevation between the front-to-rear side walls of the reservoir, it is preferable for the direction of water flow to be opposite to the direction of the discharge port from which the water is discharged, in order to extend retention time. From this perspective, it is preferable to design the inclination of the height position of the bottom of the side wall of each reservoir and to provide the water supply and discharge ports of each reservoir near the end of the torque amplifier in the front-to-rear direction. Note that Figure 13 is a diagram that schematically shows how the rearward water flow caused by the difference in the height position of the bottom of the side wall 16 and the forward water flow that occurs during discharge occur continuously within each phase reservoir.

[0035] (Valves) Valves are preferably provided along the periphery of the phase reservoirs as distributors for supplying water from above to each phase reservoir. If each phase reservoir were configured as a roughly semicircular bowl-shaped water container with a downwardly concave shape, as shown in FIG. 6(b), with the entire upper surface completely open, the timing of the water supply from above to each reservoir would not be optimized, and the position at which the water falls onto the phase reservoir would not be optimized, making it difficult to increase the rotational torque. In other words, it is important to combine the configuration of the supply port 22, the configuration of the opening 40, and the configuration of the distribution function section 36—in other words, to optimize each of these parameters. Limited to the present embodiment shown in FIGS. 8 to 12, the preferred main functions of the valves are as follows: (A) The valves provided along the periphery of the phase reservoirs operate to form openings into each phase reservoir as each phase reservoir moves upward, and (B) the valves operate to close the openings to prevent the water stored in each phase reservoir from leaking as each phase reservoir moves from the upper position to the lower position. The valves provided in the torque amplifying device 1 are configured to distribute the amount of water stored in each phase reservoir and to lengthen the storage time. It is also preferable to provide a valve for each phase reservoir.

[0036] The valves may also be configured with a support shaft extending in the front-to-rear direction at a circumferential position on the peripheral area of ​​each phase reservoir, and the valves may rotate around the support shaft. The rotating valves preferably have a curved shape when viewed from the front, so as to follow the curvature of the peripheral area of ​​each phase reservoir. The valves are also preferably configured so that their opening and closing angles (hanging angles as viewed from the support shaft) change due to the action of gravity or other factors. While using gravity as the valve driving force can be inexpensively and simply configured, the present invention does not exclude configurations in which valve driving means other than gravity (e.g., various actuators) are provided to adjust timing or improve the degree of closure of the opening.

[0037] (Fluid Distributor for Multiple Reservoirs) Unless water falling from above is continuously supplied to multiple rotating phase reservoirs, efficient rotational torque cannot be obtained over the entire angular range. Therefore, it is preferable to provide a distributor at the drop position of the water supplied from above that divides (distributes) the amount of water efficiently between the phase reservoirs at the advanced rotational angle and the phase reservoirs at the delayed rotational angle. In the embodiment shown in Figures 8 to 12 described below, the valve 5 also serves as the distributor. While the components of this embodiment have been described above based on the above-mentioned perspectives, an example of a torque amplifier device with a more specific configuration will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. As shown in Figure 9, the torque amplifier device 1 according to this embodiment is housed in an inner cylindrical shell 11. Furthermore, the inner cylindrical shell 11 is housed in an outer cylindrical shell 18. As shown in Figure 9(b), the torque amplifier 1 is configured such that three side walls 16, whose radii increase circumferentially from the center, are attached at 120° intervals around the rotating shaft 2 in a three-dimensionally twisted state, with the side walls 16 being attached at 120° intervals around the rotating shaft 2, and the outer periphery is enclosed by an inner cylindrical shell 11. The inner cylindrical shell 11 has a cylindrical container-like shape with a cylindrical plate 13 attached to a rear circular plate 12. The front side wall 16 is fixed to a front circular plate 17, and the rear side wall 16 is fixed to the rear circular plate 12. Most of the front-to-rear direction of the side walls 16 is housed within the cylindrical plate 13 of the inner cylindrical shell 11 and is fixed to the inner circumferential wall of the cylindrical plate 13. Therefore, the inner cylindrical shell 11 rotates in conjunction with the rotation of the rotating shaft 2.

[0038] As shown in Fig. 12, the longitudinal length of the cylindrical plate 13 of the inner cylindrical shell 11 is shorter than the longitudinal length of the turbine blade (the length at which the side walls 16 are attached to the rotating shaft 2) by a longitudinal length d shown in Fig. 12, so that an opening 40 without a circumferential wall of the cylindrical plate 13 is formed on the front side of the torque amplifier 1, spanning 360° around the rotating shaft 2. As shown in Figs. 9 to 11, the outer cylindrical shell 18 is formed large and concentric with the inner cylindrical shell 11 on the rotating shaft 2, with a substantially similar shape, and the outer cylindrical shell 18 is configured into a container shape by a front circular plate 19, a rear circular plate 20, and a cylindrical plate 21 to prevent leakage of water from the reservoir of the torque amplifier 1. The space between the outer peripheral wall of the inner cylindrical shell 11 and the inner peripheral wall of the outer cylindrical shell 18 functions as a discharge passage 24 through which water leaking from the side walls 16 of each phase reservoir flows downward (see Fig. 17(a)). As shown in FIG. 11 , an inlet 22 for supplying power water to the torque amplifier 1 is provided at an upper position (preferably the uppermost position) near the front end of the outer cylindrical shell 18. A outlet 23 for power water is provided at a lower position (preferably the lowermost position) near the front end of the outer cylindrical shell 18. The outer cylindrical shell 18 can be replaced with a differently shaped outer shell, funnel, or the like, as long as it is configured to efficiently supply and discharge water to and from the interior. Depending on the intended use of the torque amplifier 1, the outer cylindrical shell 18 itself may be omitted as appropriate. The front circular plate 19, rear circular plate 20, and cylindrical plate 21 form an outer shell 252. However, the shape of the outer shell 252 can be modified in various ways as appropriate.

[0039] [Second Embodiment] Next, as shown in Figures 14 to 20, this embodiment is characterized in that the distribution function unit 36 ​​is configured with a valve 5, and that the valve 5 is configured with an upstream valve 48. The reservoir also is characterized in that it has a temporary reservoir 101 that receives fluid from the fluid supply pipe 34 (see Figure 17) and a phase reservoir 6 into which the fluid from the temporary reservoir 101 flows. The configuration of the phase reservoir 6 is the same as that described above. The temporary reservoir 101 is configured by forming the length of the outer cylindrical shell 18 in the front-rear direction (longitudinal direction) to be greater than the length of the inner cylindrical shell 11 described in the previous embodiment, and by providing a thin cylindrical space on the front side of the front wall 14. An impeller 102 is provided within the temporary reservoir 101, and the impeller 102 is attached to the rotary shaft 2. FIG. 14(b) shows an example of an impeller 102, in which 12 blades 103 are provided at 30° intervals. Note that a configuration in which the temporary reservoir 101 is not provided in the outer shell portion 252 can be adopted, if necessary. Meanwhile, the front wall 14, which is the front partition wall of the inner cylindrical shell 11, is provided with a pour opening 49 as shown in FIG. 15(a), thereby forming a phase reservoir front wall 50. The phase reservoir front wall 50 corresponds to each of the phase reservoirs 6a, 6b, and 6c. Each phase reservoir front wall 50 is provided with a valve opening 47 in which an upstream valve 48 is provided. In the fourth embodiment shown in FIGS. 14 to 20, the upstream valve 48 is formed as a butterfly valve 44 that rotates around a valve rotation axis 128 (see FIG. 15) extending radially from the rotation axis 2. The amount of fluid flowing into each of the phase reservoirs 6a, 6b, 6c can be adjusted by continuously controlling the rotation angle of the butterfly valve 44.

[0040] Specifically, as shown in Fig. 16(a), focusing on the phase reservoir 6c, at 0°, the butterfly valve 44 of the phase reservoir 6c is closed, at 30° as shown in Fig. 16(b), the butterfly valve 44 of the phase reservoir 6c is half-open on the side facing the direction of rotation, at 60° as shown in Fig. 16(c), the butterfly valve 44 of the phase reservoir 6c is fully open, at 90° as shown in Fig. 16(d), the butterfly valve 44 of the phase reservoir 6c is half-closed on the side facing the direction of rotation, and at 120° as shown in Fig. 16(d), the butterfly valve 44 of the phase reservoir 6c is fully closed. Note that the hatched (gray) state of the butterfly valve 44 indicates the closed state, and the white state indicates the open state. As shown in Figures 14 to 16, the blades 103 of the impeller 102 extend from the center to the periphery at 30° intervals. Therefore, the blades 103 limit the area in which the fluid flowing in from the fluid supply pipe 34 can be stored to the minimum angular unit of 30°. This limitation allows the amount of fluid flowing into each phase reservoir 6a, 6b, and 6c to be maintained within the angle of the rotating blades 103. If the blades 103 were not present, the fluid flowing in from the fluid supply pipe 34 in Figure 17 would simply fall and be stored in the temporary reservoir 101, and then immediately flow out of the fluid discharge pipe 35, thereby failing to function as a fluid storage unit. Therefore, the impeller 102 functions as a rotary fluid storage unit 132 that stores the fluid in each rotating phase reservoir 6a, 6b, and 6c. The rotary fluid holder 132 may be any configuration other than the impeller 102 as long as it has the function of holding the fluid in each of the phase reservoirs 6a, 6b, and 6c.

[0041] The operation of this embodiment will be briefly described with reference to Figures 17 to 20. Figure 17 shows the state at angles of 0°, 120°, 240°, and 360°. Figure 18 shows the state at angles of 30°, 150°, and 270°. Figure 19 shows the state at angles of 60°, 180°, and 300°. Figure 20 shows the state at angles of 90°, 210°, and 330°. In the state shown in Figure 17(a), the butterfly valve 44 provided in the phase reservoir 6a is fully closed, and fluid enters the phase reservoir 6a through the inlet opening 49, resulting in a stored fluid. When the phase reservoir 6a is rotated 30° from this state, as shown in Figure 18(a), the fluid stored in the phase reservoir 6a flows out from the end face of the side wall 16 and through the discharge passage 24 by the amount of rotation of the phase reservoir 6a. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 18(a), the butterfly valve 44 of the phase reservoir 6c is controlled so that the upper half located across the valve rotation shaft 128 is open and the lower half is closed, so that the fluid accumulated between the blades 103 corresponding to the phase reservoir 6c flows from the butterfly valve 44 into the phase reservoir 6c before flowing in through the inlet opening 49, thereby generating rotational torque.

[0042] Next, as shown in FIG. 19(a), at a rotational angle of 60°, the fluid in the phase reservoir 6a flows out through the discharge passage 24, generating rotational torque. Furthermore, because the butterfly valve 44 in the phase reservoir 6c is fully open, the fluid between the corresponding blades 103 quickly enters the phase reservoir 6c, contributing to the generation of rotational moment by the phase reservoir 6c. Even in this case, the fluid between the blades 103 rotates along the phase reservoirs 6a and 6c, allowing the fluid to flow in at a timing and position that facilitates the generation of rotational moment, thereby improving the retention function. At a rotational angle of 90°, as shown in FIG. 20, the butterfly valve 44 in the phase reservoir 6c closes at the lower end across the valve rotation axis 128 and opens at the upper end, thereby increasing the amount of fluid entering the phase reservoir 6c. The butterfly valves 44 in the phase reservoirs 6a and 6b remain closed. In this way, the butterfly valve 44 is continuously controlled to open or close as needed to ensure good fluid inflow from the impeller 102 in accordance with the rotation of the rotating shaft 2 and the impeller 102. This allows the flow rate of fluid flowing into each phase reservoir 6 to be increased at a suitable timing for generating rotational torque, thereby increasing the rotational moment generated by the torque amplifier 1 due to the fluid flowing in from the fluid supply pipe 34.

[0043] [Third Embodiment] Figures 21 and 22 are diagrams showing another example of the configuration of the torque amplifier 1. This torque amplifier differs from the previous embodiment in that twelve simplified reservoirs 9 are provided at 30° intervals, and that, as shown in Figures 21 and 22(b), the side walls 16 extend horizontally parallel to the direction of extension of the rotary shaft 2. In this configuration, unlike the phase reservoir 6, the front curve 30 and the rear curve (not shown) are the same. Note that the simplified reservoirs 9 are housed in an outer cylindrical shell 18, and the fluid 4 flows in through a supply port 22, passes through a discharge passage 24, and falls out of the torque amplifier 1 from a discharge port 23. Other basic configurations are the same as those of the previous embodiment. One feature of this configuration is that, during a supply operation during rotation in which the fluid 4 supplied from the supply port 22 accumulates in one simplified reservoir 9, the lower wall 250 of the simplified reservoir 9 immediately preceding that simplified reservoir 9 functions as a guide portion that guides the fluid 4 to that simplified reservoir 9. In FIG. 21 , the lower wall 250 of the simplified reservoir 9 serves as a guide portion for the fluid 4 of the simplified reservoir 9 located forward during rotation. The presence of this lower wall 250 prevents the fluid 4 from falling downward, allowing the fluid 4 to be efficiently accumulated in each simplified reservoir 9. Note that, in order for the lower wall 250 of the simplified reservoir 9 to function as a guide portion, it is preferable that there are a relatively large number of simplified reservoirs 9. Furthermore, the front curve 30 of the side wall that appears when the simplified reservoir 9 is viewed from the front side is formed as a spiral curve whose radial distance increases as the simplified reservoir 9 rotates in the circumferential direction, thereby improving the guide function for the fluid 4.

[0044] Fourth Embodiment Before describing the fourth embodiment, we will explain the siphoning phenomenon when multiple water storage tanks are provided. Siphoning is generally defined as "when water flows through a pipe connecting a starting point at a higher position to a destination point at a lower position, as long as the pipe is filled with water, the water will continue to flow without being pumped even if there is a point along the pipe that is higher than the starting point." There are many explanations for the siphoning phenomenon, such as those that emphasize atmospheric pressure or those that attribute it to the difference in gravity between the amount of water in the pipe due to the difference in elevation within the pipe. However, this embodiment focuses on the actual phenomenon. As an example of the siphoning phenomenon, consider the case shown in FIG. 23 where three water storage tanks 70a, 70b, and 70c are located at approximately the same height, and a communication passage 71 is provided that connects the lower portion of the upstream water storage tank 70 to the upper portion of the downstream water storage tank 70, and each water storage tank 70a, 70b, and 70c is filled with water 69. In such a case, the entire space within each of the water storage tanks 70a, 70b, and 70c and the connecting passage 71 may be filled with water (not shown), or, as shown in Fig. 23, the lower portion of each of the water storage tanks 70a, 70b, and 70c may be filled with a certain amount of water and the upper portion may be filled with air. When a discharge passage 74 connected to the most downstream water storage tank 70a is provided and the valve 72 attached to the discharge passage 74 is changed from a closed state as shown in Fig. 23 to an open state as shown in Fig. 24, air 73 is drawn in through the connecting passage 71 provided at the upper position of the water storage tank 70c, resulting in a phenomenon in which the water levels in the water storage tanks 70a and 70b change very little and water continues to flow out of the discharge passage 74. In this case, the connecting passage 71 forms a siphon-type connecting passage 244.

[0045] Figure 25 shows a configuration in which water storage tanks 70a, 70b, and 70c are connected vertically via a connecting pipe 77. Comparing the siphon phenomenon shown in Figures 23 and 24 with that shown in Figure 25, arranging the water storage tanks 70a, 70b, and 70c horizontally and employing a configuration in which the siphon phenomenon described above is repeated produces a fluid flow phenomenon substantially equivalent to that achieved by stacking the tanks vertically as shown in Figure 25. The siphon phenomenon configuration shown in Figures 23 and 24 can be achieved by simply arranging the tanks horizontally, without using pumping energy, and by satisfying various conditions to create a system that repeatedly generates the corresponding amount of potential energy. Furthermore, an example of the concept of the siphon phenomenon will be described for a connected turbine system using a siphon-type connecting passage. Note that this concept is merely a thought experiment, and the present invention is not limited to this concept. It is generally accepted that, under the natural action of gravity, water always flows only from top to bottom. In the siphon phenomenon shown in Figures 23 and 24, depending on the position of the water, the piping method, and the surrounding environment, even a high flow rate of water will rise to a certain height, going in the opposite direction to gravity, without the need for external pressure such as a pump.This phenomenon can be easily verified and confirmed in practice.

[0046] However, according to the "law of conservation of energy," this phenomenon occurs when the potential energy stored at the top is temporarily sucked up by gravity, and then the water flows down from its original position, consuming that potential energy. Naturally, the siphon flow will cease unless new water is added to replenish the lost potential energy. Looking at this series of phenomena in practice, the "law of conservation of energy is absolutely correct," but when considered from the perspective of the time axis, the law of conservation of energy is inconsistent, and is incomplete as an energy calculation. This is because it only examines the results of an extremely static state based on a one-dimensional positional relationship.

[0047] As a question about general verification, when the siphon phenomenon is working and water is moving, a considerable amount of water with mass is moving up and down, so the instantaneous e = mv ２ First, it ignores the fact that a considerable amount of kinetic energy is generated. Second, it is impossible to regenerate the total amount of potential energy consumed by the falling mass and suck it up to the position before the fall when the water stops falling and the siphoning effect ends. Second, even if there are no errors or friction losses and no other energy is consumed, if we consider the "pumping energy" required to return all the water that fell to its original position in the same time it took for the water to fall, that is, to increase the speed upward at the same acceleration against the acceleration of gravity, it is not balanced at all. Specifically, in actual calculations, for example, if there is a solid object with a mass of 1 kg at a height of 1 meter, the potential energy calculated in watts is 9.8 W (W = J / s). 1 J is the force required for a 1 kg object to move upward with a gravitational acceleration of 9.8 m / s ２ If a force of 1N is applied to an object, and the velocity of the object reaches 1 m / s one second after it reaches a depth of 1 m, then a phenomenon similar to this certainly occurs and can be used as a reference, but it is not considered to be valid for the fluid motion of extremely minute molecules such as water. It is not difficult to imagine that in a normal atmosphere of one atmospheric pressure on the ground, it would require an "explosive" amount of energy to pump 1 kg of water, or 1 liter of water, to a height of 1 meter in one second and then return it.

[0048] Furthermore, even if the pump is not explosive, for example, if it is capable of pumping 1 liter of water to a height of 1 m in 10 seconds, it would require more than 10 times the energy required to recover the potential energy (9.8 W x 10 seconds = 98 W), even if the pump is an unrealistically high-performance pump with 100% power efficiency. In other words, calculations that take into account the motion state of each substance based on the "time axis" are necessary, and it is preferable to design a power system based on these unique characteristics. The configuration of this embodiment, described below, is designed with an emphasis on the phenomenon of useful energy generated by the siphoning phenomenon and with the aim of effectively utilizing the siphoning phenomenon. Specifically, we propose a turbine system in which multiple torque amplifiers, such as those shown in Figures 26 to 28, are connected at approximately the same height.

[0049] (Two-Way Torque Amplification System Using Gravity Fall of Fluid) A two-way turbine system 62 using gravity fall of fluid, which is an example of a third embodiment, will now be described with reference to FIG. 26 . As shown in FIG. 26 , a first upper reservoir 54a (an example of a retention chamber 245) into which water (fluid 4) flows from above is provided above the first torque amplifier 1a, and an upper connecting passage 55a is provided below the upper reservoir 54a to supply water to the supply port 22a of the first torque amplifier 1a. Water discharged from the discharge port 23a of the first torque amplifier 1a is stored in a first lower reservoir 57a (an example of a retention chamber 245) via a lower connecting passage 56a. Note that the upper connecting passage 55a and the lower connecting passage 56a may be omitted as appropriate. An ascending passage 58, attached to the outlet 45 at a position lower than the level of water contained in the first lower storage tank 57a, communicates with a connecting passage 59 located at a position higher than the supply port 22b of the second torque amplifier 1b. The downstream side of the connecting passage 59 is connected to the supply port 22b of the second torque amplifier 1b. The connecting passage 59 is shown as being U-shaped. The ascending passage 58 and the connecting passage 59 constitute an example of the siphon-type connecting passage described above. A second lower storage tank 57b is provided below the second torque amplifier 1b, and water in the second lower storage tank 57 is discharged from its outlet 46 via a discharge pipe 61. With this configuration, when water flows out of the discharge pipe 61 provided in the second lower storage tank 57b due to the siphon effect, the turbine blades of the two torque amplifiers 1a and 1b rotate, thereby generating electricity. 26, the fluid path communication passage 80 is configured to include at least a passage through which fluid flows from the upstream side to the downstream side, and constitutes an example of a siphon-type communication passage 244. In this embodiment, the fluid path communication passage 80 is used as a concept including the first upper reservoir tank 54a, the lower reservoir tanks 57a and 57b, the siphon-type communication passage, the return passage 65, etc.

[0050] In this cascade turbine system 62, a small amount of water flows from a water source due to gravity, allowing multiple power generators to be simultaneously operated in a chain reaction, thereby easily increasing power output. The upper reservoir 54a shown in FIG. 26 for storing power water is installed to prevent excess air from leaking into the turbine module and disrupting the stability of the water level in downstream reservoirs that function as siphons. Furthermore, if the amount of water flowing from the source water source due to gravity is equal to or greater than the amount of water flowing from the final outlet 46 of the siphon chain, the cascade turbine system 62 utilizing this siphon effect will operate stably, resulting in stable power generation. Note that the second upper reservoir 54b (not shown) is omitted in the configuration shown in FIG. 26, and only the second lower reservoir 57b is provided. However, as in the first-stage configuration, a configuration may also be employed in which a second upper reservoir tank 54b (not shown) is provided at a position higher than the supply port 22b of the second torque amplifier 1b, and the siphon-type connecting passage is connected to the second upper reservoir tank 54b (not shown). Also, in the configuration shown in Figure 26, the highest position of the connecting passage 59 is shown to be at a position that reaches the first upper reservoir tank 54a, but it is sufficient that the highest position of the connecting passage 59 is at least higher than the supply port 22b of the second torque amplifier 1b and that water can be supplied to the supply port 22b.

[0051] A generator 3 is attached to the rotating shaft 2 of each of the first and second-stage torque amplifiers 1. As shown in FIG. 26 , the number of elements 67 in the second and subsequent stages is not limited to one. Multiple elements 67 can be connected in the same configuration, such as two, three, etc., as long as the siphon effect can be reproduced. FIG. 27 illustrates such a configuration, showing a configuration in which four torque amplifiers 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d are connected in series. Note that FIG. 27 depicts both the front curved line and the rear curved line twisted at a torsion angle θ, resulting in a total of six side walls 16: three front and three rear.

[0052] (Twin-Type Turbine System with Fluid Return Passage and Pump) As a modification of the third embodiment, a high-torque twin-type turbine system will be described, as shown in FIGS. 26 and 28 . The system includes a return passage 65 for returning fluid from the downstream torque amplifier device to the upstream torque amplifier device, and a pump 66 (an example of a drive pump P) for circulating fluid and air. The characteristics of this configuration will be explained using the example of FIG. 26 . The return passage 65, shown by the dashed line in FIG. 26 , is provided to return water discharged from the final discharge pipe 61 of the twin-type torque amplifier device 1 back to the first upper reservoir 54a. In other words, by connecting the water discharged from the final discharge pipe 61 of the twin-type turbine system to the first water intake of the siphon chain using a pump 66 with a small-scale pumping function that operates with low power, more siphon chain elements 67 can be connected. The configuration shown in FIG. 28 illustrates a turbine system in which four torque amplifier devices 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d are connected to each other via a fluid path communication passage 80. In this configuration, the first upper reservoir 54a is not provided above the first torque amplifier 1a, and the water returned by the pump 66 is directly connected to the supply port 22 of the first torque amplifier 1a.

[0053] The advantages of this system equipped with the return passage 65 and pump 66 are as follows. First, because water circulates within the tandem turbine system, there is no need to constantly secure new water to fall, eliminating the need to consider supplying water from a high position. Second, when utilizing the principle of gravity-flow siphoning described above, the number of torque amplifiers 1 that can be connected in series is significantly affected by various resistance factors, such as the generation of gas dissolved in the water during pressure reduction due to the siphoning phenomenon and the surface tension between the water and the passages, and these factors must be taken into consideration. In this embodiment, by adding a pump 66 with a small-scale pumping function that operates on low power as a power source to actively support the chain of siphoning, the number of connected units can be increased compared to a gravity-flow configuration. Furthermore, by using a type of fluid that can reduce the amount of gas dissolved in the fluid during pressure reduction and reduce various resistance factors, such as the surface tension between the fluid and the passages, the power generation efficiency of the system can be improved. Third, the small motor torque of the pump 66 can be increased, and up to four rotating shafts can be arranged in relatively flexible positions.

[0054] In this invention, as mentioned above, the potential energy possessed by solid materials and that possessed by fluids such as water have completely different properties and transition patterns in the correlation between the "consumption" and "generation through conversion (regeneration)" of "potential energy" depending on the time axis affected by gravity as a real-world physical phenomenon. In particular, for non-solid liquid materials such as water and air, by changing or creating special flows such as convection and stagnation, the dynamic changes of fluid materials with mass over time can be overlapped and superimposed, making it possible to fill the gaps in torque domains that cannot be filled by conventional modern physics theory. Specifically, the concept of this invention makes it possible to efficiently complement and fill these "blank areas" using, for example, the following four methodologies and systems.

[0055] The first methodology utilizes a blade shape that utilizes the phase curve shown in Figure 2(d) to increase the amount of water stored over time, thereby filling in significant gaps, as shown in Figure 7(c). The second methodology adds a "twist" to the configuration of the first methodology by adding a three-dimensional phase angle to the two-dimensional phase curve, as described in the first embodiment. Each "distorted space" is then integrated, and the precise water flow due to natural gravity is used to control the opening and closing of the inlet to each space as needed, delaying or advancing the timing of the inflow of motive water. This configuration ensures that the water's "fluid center of gravity" is always located in a position effective for rotational torque conversion, extracting and discharging instantaneous kinetic energy beyond simple potential energy, thereby filling in most gaps. For example, by switching the storage channel in a distorted space twisted by a phase angle of 60° at the above-mentioned timing, stable torque output performance can be achieved across the entire 360° rotation range. Figure 29 is an explanatory diagram, and in the region indicated by the 0° to 180° rotation range β, the rectangular region 87, which corresponds to a relative torque of 1.0 on the vertical axis, is almost filled with four mountain-shaped curves 86, which shows that by providing a distribution function unit and switching the storage water channels as described above, stable torque output can be obtained.

[0056] The third methodology, as described primarily in the second embodiment, does not use the distorted space structure used in the second methodology. In other words, by utilizing a pumping means such as an electric pump, providing an inter-reservoir communication passage 39 or the like so that the "center of gravity" of the motive water to each space is always positioned in a position effective for rotational torque conversion, and by setting the flow rate per unit time of spatial movement at an appropriate timing, it is possible to achieve torque conversion performance superior to that of the second method, depending on various settings. However, because additional energy is required to operate the pump, it is important to note that the "load on the pumping volume due to the difference in pumping height," which occurs momentarily, accounts for most of the energy required to operate the pump. Since this load is not imposed for the majority of the movement process, it is possible to create a configuration in which the gain power, calculated by subtracting the energy required to operate the pump from the total energy generated per unit time, is positive. Furthermore, since the pump performance and piping arrangement also have a significant effect, this system alone may not be able to clearly improve torque conversion efficiency, in other words, to stabilize the amount of energy generated per unit time, as in the first and second methodologies above.

[0057] The fourth methodology utilizes a tandem system utilizing the siphoning effect described above. If necessary, combining this method with the first, second, and third methods allows for further improvement of torque conversion efficiency from a different perspective. Each of the systems described in the first, second, and third methodologies also enables increased torque conversion efficiency from gravity with its unique system configuration. From an overall perspective, each methodology shares a common feature: it further amplifies torque by utilizing the potential energy of water due to gravity, the "kinetic energy of water flow," i.e., convection, and the weight balance due to the time difference caused by stagnation. This basic concept is as explained in the comparison between Figures 6(a) and 6(b). In particular, by combining the configurations of the second and third methodologies with the tandem system configuration described in the third embodiment, a more desirable configuration can be realized that utilizes the siphoning effect, eliminating the need for other motive energy sources such as gravity or atmospheric pressure. In other words, it is possible to improve torque conversion efficiency, i.e., energy conversion efficiency, on a whole new level, without being bound by the conventional, general law of conservation of energy.

[0058] FIG. 30 illustrates the excellent energy conversion efficiency of the torque amplifier 1 according to the present invention. FIG. 30(a) is a schematic diagram of the torque amplifier 1, FIG. 30(b) is a schematic diagram illustrating the advantages of the present invention, and FIG. 30(c) is a schematic diagram of a conventional torque amplifier. The torque amplifier 1 according to FIG. 30(a) is designed to ensure that the center of gravity of the fluid is always located at a critical position for rotational torque, regardless of the rotation angle, when considering the fluid stagnation distribution over time. This indicates that the weight of the stored fluid always contributes to rotational torque. As shown in FIG. 30(b), the torque amplifier 1 according to the present invention is designed to obtain this rotational torque from the stagnation torque gear 126 from the inside. In contrast, as shown in FIG. 30(c), most conventional torque amplifiers are designed to rotate using fluid pressure, and the application of pressure itself results in energy loss. Conventionally, even in hydroelectric power generation and boiler power generation, turbines are rotated using fluid pressure, resulting in significant energy waste. As explained with reference to Figure 6(a), this is because as the flat plate 52 rotates around the rotation axis 2 from a nearly horizontal position to a downward angle, the contact surface moves obliquely away, causing the rotational torque to decrease sharply. In contrast, as shown in Figure 30(b), the configurations according to the various embodiments of the present invention are configured so that as much fluid as possible is temporarily present at the optimal angular position for accumulating and moving the fluid and generating rotational torque, and are configured so that torque is generated in proportion to the amount of accumulated fluid, and this torque is constantly maintained over a 360° range, thus providing a configuration that is as if a accumulating torque gear 126 were provided within the torque amplifying device 1. The rotational torque 136 generated by this embodiment can be significantly greater than the conventional rotational torque 136 shown in Figure 30(c).

[0059] Fifth Embodiment The following describes an interesting phenomenon in the siphon phenomenon through simple experiments. The following preferred configurations can be adopted as needed: (Configuration 1) A waterway configuration (piping configuration) that utilizes the gravity (atmospheric pressure) of the gas to provide leverage in the siphon phenomenon. One feature of the present invention is that the inventors discovered that utilizing the action of atmospheric pressure to provide leverage in the siphon phenomenon can improve the efficiency of relative potential energy consumption and regenerative energy utilization. (Configuration 2) A water pump that uses the siphon phenomenon to pump water. There are various interpretations of why the siphon phenomenon occurs in the narrow sense. For example, one theory suggests that the Earth's gravity, atmospheric pressure, and the specific gravity of the fluid are at least related, and that atmospheric pressure pushing against the water surface in the tank is one of the key causes. Here, if the other end of the hose (the outer opening of the tank) is positioned higher than the water surface in the tank, the hose cannot pull the water in the tank to drain it out. However, by providing a pumping mechanism (e.g., a pumping pump) within the hose, water can be pumped out of the hose even at a height higher than the water level in the tank. Furthermore, by utilizing the effects of atmospheric pressure and gravity, which create a siphon effect, and other factors, a pumping pump can be used even when the outlet of the pumping channel is not below the water level in the lower water holding section, enabling more efficient and continuous utilization of potential energy than conventional pumped-storage power generation systems. In particular, we discovered that by incorporating specific configuration requirements into the torque amplifier, we can achieve higher efficiency than conventional pumped-storage power generation systems in terms of the relationship between the amount of work required to draw (pump) water from the tank into the hose and the amount of work generated by the potential energy at the other end of the hose (external opening of the tank) set at a higher position. The pumping pump can be located at the inlet of the pumping channel inside the tank, the outlet of the pumping channel outside the tank, or within the pumping channel. The pumping channel corresponds to the various connecting passages described below, and the pumping pump can be located in each connecting passage as needed.

[0060] The water in the lower water retention section can be supplied as needed. The lower water retention section can also be configured as a "water area where water stagnates." The "water area where water stagnates" can include lakes, oceans, water stored in dams, and water areas where the water level remains relatively stable, as needed. The apparatus used in this experiment (including the thought experiment) will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Note that in this specification, reference numerals assigned to components or parts related to higher concepts may also be assigned to components or similar parts related to lower concepts. For example, in the description of the apparatus used in this experiment, the reference numeral 203 assigned to the higher concept of the pumping fluid path 203 is also assigned to the lower concept of the pumping hose 203 and the acrylic pipe 203. Figure 31 is a schematic diagram illustrating the basic concept of this experiment. Figure 31(a) shows the state in which water is stored in the lower water retention section 202 to a high water level. Figures 31(b) and (c) show the state in which water in the lower water retention section 202 is being pumped by the pumping pump 205. Figure 31(d) shows the state in which the pumped water overflows the short lifting fluid path 203. Figure 32(a) is a schematic perspective view of this experiment, and Figure 32(b) is its schematic cross-sectional view. Figure 33(a) shows the state in which water in the lower water retention section 202 is pumped by the pumping pump 205 to a mid-height position in the lifting fluid path 203. Figure 33(b) shows the state in which water in the lower water retention section 202 is pumped by the pumping pump 205 to a height position where water overflows from the lifting fluid path 203.

[0061] As shown in Figures 31 to 33, the device illustrated in this experiment is configured to store water 4 as a fluid in a lower water holding section 202 at a relatively lower position, and to pump the water up the lifting fluid path 203 to a relatively higher position using a pumping pump 205 installed below the water surface in the lower water holding section 202. Although not shown in Figures 31 to 33, a reservoir 215 is provided as shown in Figures 35 and 36, which utilizes the potential energy of water falling from a high position in the lifting fluid path 203. The torque amplifier 1 shown in Figures 1 or 21 can be used for the reservoir 215. It can be seen that the presence of a cylindrical lifting fluid path 203 extending above the water surface is essential to enable the pumping state shown in Figures 31(b) and 31(c) to be achieved from the state shown in Figure 31(a). If the pumping fluid path 203 is short and slightly higher than the water surface as shown in Figure 31(d), water will simply spurt out from the short pumping fluid path 203, and it will not be possible to pump water to the height shown in Figure 31(c). It can also be seen that the smaller the water surface area S2 of the pumping fluid path 203, the higher the height that can be raised by the same pumping pump 205.

[0062] As shown in Figure 32, the lower water retention section 202 is composed of a bottomed cylindrical body 202c with an open top so that atmospheric pressure is applied. Meanwhile, the lifting fluid path 203 is composed of an elongated cylindrical body 203c extending vertically. The lower end 203a of the elongated cylindrical body 203c is tightly fitted to the bottom surface 202a of the lower water retention section 202, and the upper end 203b of the elongated cylindrical body 203c is open so that atmospheric pressure is applied. A water suction port 206 is provided at a lower position of the lifting fluid path 203 within the water 4, and a pumping pump 205 is connected to the water suction port 206. Water 4 is stored in the lower water retention section 202 up to the lower water retention section water level h2. The lower water retention section water level h2 can be increased up to the upper limit of the water that can be stored in the lower water retention section 202. The distance from the water surface 236 at the lower water retention section water level h2 to the pumped water surface 214 in the lifting fluid path 203 is indicated by the relative water level h3. In contrast, the distance from the bottom surface 202a of the lower water retention section 202 to the pumped water surface 214 is indicated by the absolute water level h1. Figure 32 also shows the pumping path height H1, the lower water retention section diameter D1, and the pumping path diameter D2. The lower water retention section 202 has a lower water retention section water area subjected to atmospheric pressure, and the lifting fluid path 203 has a pumping path water area S2 subjected to atmospheric pressure. The lifting pump 205 is a pump for lifting water. The pumping pump 205 draws water within the lower water retention section water level h2 through the suction port 209 and sends the water into the lifting fluid path 203 via the water suction port 206.

[0063] As shown in Figure 33(a), when the pre-pumping water level hi and the intermediate water level ht (including the post-pumping water level) are set in the lower water retention section 202, the force associated with the work W1 required to pump water from the pre-pumping water level hi to the intermediate water level ht is indicated by the dark arrow Y1. Meanwhile, atmospheric pressure Pa acts on the lower water retention section water area S1, and the force of atmospheric pressure Pa pushing water 4 up into the pumping fluid path 203 is indicated by the white arrow Y2. As shown in Figure 33(b), as the work W2 required to move from the pre-pumping water level hi to the intermediate water level ht increases, the amount of water 4 pumped up from the lower water retention section 202 increases, causing the water 4 to exceed the upper end 203b of the pumping fluid path 203 and overflow from the outlet 228 at the upper end 203b. Note that the white arrow Y2 is omitted in Figure 33(b).

[0064] Figure 34 is a diagram illustrating another configuration of this experiment. This second experiment is characterized by the placement of a water pump 205 at a position that reduces the pressure in the lifting fluid path 203. Specifically, as in the first experiment, the water intake 206 is provided in the lifting fluid path 203; however, the water intake 206 is not provided with a water pump 205; instead, the water intake 206 is simply open to the water in the lower water holding section 202. A sealed upper wall 218 is provided at the upper end 203b of the lifting fluid path 203, and a suction pipe 216 is connected to the sealed upper wall 218. The pumping pump 205 is connected to the suction pipe 216, allowing air and water to be drawn into the lifting fluid path 203. The pumping pump 205 is provided with a discharge port 217 for discharging air and water. Even with this configuration, the lifting fluid path 203 is still able to pump water. In the configuration of this second experiment, the water pump 205 is a pump capable of sucking in and discharging air and water.

[0065] Figures 35 and 36 are diagrams illustrating other configurations of this embodiment related to this experiment. Figure 35 shows a configuration in which an upper water retention section 207 is provided above the lower water retention section 202, and the lower water retention section 202 and the upper water retention section 207 are connected by a lifting fluid path 203. Figure 36 shows a configuration in which a reservoir 215 is provided in addition to the basic configuration of Figure 35. Note that the upper water retention section 207 is drawn large for illustrative purposes, but the upper water retention section 207 is configured appropriately for efficiency. In the configuration shown in Figure 35, the bottom wall 207a of the upper water retention section 207 is provided with the required number of drop holes 226, and at least one reservoir 215 is provided that generates power using the water falling through the drop holes. Specifically, the configuration shown includes five drop holes 226 provided in the bottom wall 207a, and three reservoirs 215 are vertically connected to each drop hole 226. The reservoir 215 may be the one described in paragraphs

[0016] to

[0094] , the claims, and the drawings of the specification of International Patent Application No. PCT / JP2023 / 02, which has already been proposed by the present applicant.

[0066] The torque amplifying device 215 described in this international patent application is partially illustrated in Figures 1 to 20. This torque amplifying device 215 has a plurality of reservoirs (rotating bodies) fixed to a rotating shaft for storing the fluid by gravity of the fluid, a supply port for supplying the fluid supplied from above to the reservoirs, and an opening for introducing the fluid from the supply port into the reservoirs, the reservoirs including at least a phase reservoir, the phase reservoir including a front wall, a rear wall, and side walls, and is a reservoir for the fluid that spreads in the direction of extension of the rotating shaft, and appears when viewed from the front side. The torque amplifying device using the rotor 27 shown in Fig. 22 can achieve high energy conversion efficiency even with a short water fall distance, thereby improving the energy conversion efficiency of each device.

[0067] [Demonstration Experiment] A demonstration experiment was conducted, and the details are described below with reference to Figures 37 to 39. Figure 37 is a perspective view showing the exterior of one example of the experimental apparatus. As shown in Figure 37, this experimental apparatus uses a small lower tank 202 as the lower water holding portion 202 and an upper tank 207 as the upper water holding portion 207. A 15 mm diameter pumping hose 203, corresponding to the pumping fluid path 203, is installed below the water surface in the lower tank 202. A pumping pump 205 pumps water from the lower tank 202 to the upper tank 207 via the pumping hose 203. Since the distance between the lower tank 202 and the upper tank 207 is one meter, the pumping hose 203 pumps water one meter. A commercially available aquarium pump 205 with a power consumption of approximately 30 W·h and a pumping capacity of approximately 6 liters per minute was used as the pumping pump 205. Here, a standing member 230 is provided for placing the upper water tank 207 on the lower water tank 202. Reference numeral 231 denotes a water discharge pipe 231 that prevents the water in the upper water tank 207 from overflowing. The basic potential energy of 1 liter of water, i.e., an object with a mass of 1 kg, at a height of 1 meter is converted into watts to be 9.8 W.

[0068] For example, the energy required to pump 6 liters of water per minute to a height of 1 m is the power consumption of the pump per hour of 30 W. Furthermore, the amount of water pumped 1 m by the water pumping pump 205 in 1 hour is 6 x 60 (minutes) = 360 liters, so the static potential energy of the water pumped in 1 hour is 6 [liters (kg)] x 60 (minutes) x 1 (pumping height) x 9.8 (gravitational acceleration) = 3,528 W. The watt (W), a unit of electrical energy, has been derived over more than a century from various perspectives, forms, and experiments, including potential, power, electricity, and heat. It is the basis of the so-called absolute law of conservation of energy, which states that when an object moves, some resistance always occurs, making it impossible for the output energy to exceed the input energy. In this case, the experimental results showed that the power output from a pump running on a 30W power consumption resulted in an output of more than 100 times the potential energy. This is a phenomenon that would be impossible even with nuclear energy, but it actually occurs with such a simple mechanism that anyone can easily reproduce and verify. To briefly consider why this phenomenon occurs, in this case, while the input energy appears to be only the 30W pump, it is actually a simple physical phenomenon similar to the action of a balance or lever, which can be easily achieved by identifying the point of application where the weight balance between atmospheric pressure and water pressure due to gravity can be tilted with just a small force. This experiment demonstrated that this is possible using a fluid like water. In other words, in this case, if we consider that the input energy of more than 100 times the power of a 30W pump at the same time as starting it is the result of the action of the main power energy extracted from gravity using the principles of the balance or lever of atmospheric or water pressure, this can be explained without contradicting any existing laws of physics.One of the purposes of this invention is to use this amplified potential energy to amplify torque.

[0069] Furthermore, when trying to convert the potential energy of water into electrical energy, as in hydroelectric power generation, the current basic form of hydroelectric power generation assumes the high-pressure fall of large amounts of water from great heights, using the considerable water pressure and volume to spin heavy, multi-layered turbines with huge impellers at high speeds to stabilize and turn a generator. However, the structural principle is that the potential energy of a large amount of water from a great height is first converted into linear vector kinetic energy by the water pressure directly below due to gravity, and then a pressure-driven turbine at the end is rotated at high speed and with heavy torque, which is then transmitted through gears to turn a generator. In basic physics, when converting linear energy into rotational energy, there is a shaft loss (vector dispersion) of about 30%, and the heavy turbine at the end converts every drop of water into rotational energy without pressure, and 100% of that rotational torque is transmitted to the generator, and 100% is converted into electrical energy. This is an entirely unrealistic assumption, but it is said to be the most efficient power generation method, with a transformation efficiency of 70%. However, in reality, losses of at least 10% compound with each energy conversion, including 30% in rotational torque conversion, dynamic frictional resistance when rotating heavy turbines at high speeds, and magnetic field loss during power generation, and the reality is that the actual power generation efficiency is well below 50%. Therefore, although the most direct and obvious effective measures to improve power generation efficiency would be to not convert or rely on linear high-voltage vectors, not simply aim to increase the rotation speed, and not increase the size or weight of the turbine, the top priority is to increase the amount of power generation no matter how much waste there is, so the strict power generation efficiency relative to the consumption of natural resources has not been clearly stated in any power generation industry, not just hydroelectric power.

[0070] Figure 38 shows one configuration for verifying the configuration of this second experiment, with Figure 38(a) being an external view of the experimental apparatus, Figure 38(b) being a diagram showing the power-saving air pump for ornamental fish 205, Figure 38(c) being a diagram showing the power consumption indicator 220 having a display screen 220h, Figure 38(d) being a diagram showing the state of the pointer 240 when the maximum discharge pressure of the power-saving air pump for ornamental fish 205 is 0.006 MPa (6000 Pa), and Figure 38(e) being a diagram showing the state of the pointer 240 when the maximum suction pressure of the power-saving air pump for ornamental fish 205 is -0.0062 MPa (-6000 Pa). Note that in Figure 38(c), the display screen 220h of the power consumption indicator 220 displays a power consumption of 2.2 W·h. The experimental apparatus shown in Figure 38 uses a small water tank 202 as the lower water holding portion 202, and an acrylic pipe 203 with a diameter of 12 cm (inner diameter 11.4 cm) is erected in this water tank 202 as the pumping fluid path 203. A length measuring tool 225 like a ruler is attached to the corner of the water tank 202 to measure the height of the water pumped inside the acrylic pipe 203.

[0071] As shown in FIG. 38( a), a suction pipe 216 is connected to the sealed upper wall 218 of the acrylic pipe 203, and a water pump 205 is connected to the suction pipe 216 via a connector 223 and a valve 224. When the water pump 205 is driven, negative pressure is created inside the acrylic pipe 203, causing the water in the water tank 202 to be pumped into the acrylic pipe 203. The water pump 205 is provided with an outlet 217 for discharging the sucked air, and a small-diameter connecting pipe 233 is provided to connect to the large-diameter suction pipe 216. The dashed line 238 indicates the line where the suction pipe 216 is connected to the connecting pipe 233. A pressure gauge 221 is connected to the water pump 205 and communicates with a measuring pipe 234 extending from the water pump 205. The pressure gauge 221 measures the pressure in a suction passage (not shown) inside the water pump 205, which communicates with the connecting pipe 233. This pressure value is the pressure detected within the intake pipe 216 .

[0072] Figure 39 shows the results of observations of actual operation. Figure 39(a) shows the measurement of the height of the pumped water surface 214 using the length measuring device 225. Figure 39(b) shows the pointer 240 of the pressure gauge 221. Figure 39(c) shows the power consumption indicator 220. Figure 39(d) shows the situation in which the opening 216a of the suction pipe 216 is pressed with a finger to close it, and then released to open it. Approximately two minutes after the pump started operation, the water level difference between the water tank 202 and the pumped water surface 214 was approximately 20 cm. As shown in Figure 38(b), the pressure gauge 221 at this time indicated approximately 0.0002 to 0.0005 MPa (approximately 200 to 500 Pa), and the power consumption was less than 2.2 W·h. Approximately 100 seconds after the pumping pump 205 started operation, the water level difference was approximately 20 cm. In other words, the power of the pumping pump 205, the only power source lifting a 20 cm long column of water with a volume of about 2 liters (weight 2 kg), by 10 cm, is only able to lift 60 g, yet it accomplishes a large amount of work to raise the water level difference by about 20 cm. Now, if you remove the suction pipe 216 from the connecting pipe 233 and lightly press the opening 216a with your fingers, the water level difference can be maintained. In other words, almost no force is required to maintain the state in which an object weighing 2 kg is lifted, and therefore no energy is required. Simply by opening the opening 216a, a force acts to restore balance with the atmospheric pressure, causing the water to fall (potential energy is consumed), and the water level difference becomes zero.

[0073] People have been living in an environment of normal atmospheric pressure since ancient times, so they are rarely aware of it, but in terms of dynamics, ２ We live in an extremely powerful pressure space of 10 tons per cm. And since it is possible to remove the air from the space with a very small force (energy) to "balance" it with atmospheric pressure, it is possible to obtain relative potential energy with such little energy from the pump that the weight of the water can be ignored at a head of about 1 m. A pressure of 6000 Pa is equivalent to the pressure of 1 cm. ２This is the force of 60g of weight (approximately 0.6 Newtons) per unit, and when you apply a force of 60g, no air comes out, meaning that it has the force to just barely lift an object of 60g mass or 60cc of water. Incidentally, the power consumption of the water pump 205 decreases when a load is applied to the pump and the air flow rate decreases, which slows down the function of the valves in the water pump 205, reducing the power load compared to when there is no load, and as a result, reducing power consumption, which is the exact opposite of an original mechanical power system.

[0074] Below, we summarize and examine the results of the verification experiment shown in Figure 39. It can be seen that the energy consumed per minute was 0.03 W / min and the energy consumed per second was 0.0006 W / sec. To calculate the potential energy after two minutes, a cylindrical object with a diameter of 11.4 cm and a length of 20 cm was lifted to a height of approximately 10 cm. Therefore, assuming that the center of gravity of the cylindrical 2 kg object was at a height of 20 cm, the following results were obtained: (1) Electrical energy consumed over 100 seconds: 0.06 W; (2) Potential energy gained: 2 kg x 9.8 x 0.2 m = 3.9 W. Comparing (1) and (2), we can see that the atmospheric pressure balance is actually used as a lever to amplify the potential energy, resulting in a static energy amount of more than 65 times. Furthermore, there is no contradiction in the correlation conversion between atmospheric pressure and kinetic energy and power in Pascal's theorem, and it has been demonstrated that an efficient torque amplifier can be obtained that actually amplifies relative potential energy using the "principle of leverage with atmospheric pressure (or gravity acting on various gases)."

[0075] Other embodiments of the torque amplifying device according to the present invention will now be described. [Torque amplifying device using relative weight balance of fluid] [Basic concept 1 of kinetic energy amplification using a circular orbit relative gravity balance configuration] Basic concept 1 of torque amplification will now be described. A balance 301 shown in Fig. 40 has a configuration in which a plurality of spherical containers 303, which are reservoirs 26, are arranged and fixed around a rotation axis 2 by support components 322, and the plurality of reservoirs 26 form a rotating body 27. The balance 301 has spherical containers 303 attached to both left and right ends of the support components 322, and is provided with upper communication passages 304 that communicate with the upper parts of the spherical containers 303 and lower communication passages 305 that communicate with the lower parts of the spherical containers 303. The rotation axis 2 rotates as fluid moves between the multiple reservoirs 26. Figure 40(a) shows the equilibrium state, Figure 40(b) shows the state where the equilibrium is broken and the spherical container 303 is tilted 5° toward the right-hand spherical container 303, and Figure 40(c) shows the state where the spherical container 303 is tilted 30°. For simplicity, the left-hand spherical container 303 may be referred to as spherical container A and the right-hand spherical container 303 as spherical container B. One feature of balance 301 that differs from a conventional balance is that spherical containers A and B contain approximately equal amounts (approximately equal volumes) of water and air. General physics theory dictates that a rotating body in a stationary equilibrium state, maintaining a fixed axis of rotation, will not move unless a significant external force (some kind of energy to move a heavy object with mass) is applied, and the energy in the equilibrium state is basically defined as zero. Even if energy is added, it will not have any effect beyond that energy.In other words, if it is a rotating body, the total amount of energy converted into any type of energy, such as kinetic energy or potential energy, remains constant, and the energy added will decay due to minor dispersion conversion losses caused by air resistance, etc., and will eventually return to a stationary equilibrium state.

[0076] In fact, in the above-described balance configuration, if the upper communicating passage 304 is blocked, the air pressure pressing down on the water surface does not change, and the amount of water in the relative weight spheres does not change. Therefore, applying a strong external force to move the spheres would momentarily disrupt the balance, creating some swaying motion, but ultimately returning them to their original stationary state, like a balance. Therefore, a flow control device is provided in the flow paths of the upper communicating passage 304 and the lower communicating passage 305, utilizing changes in the characteristics of fluid motion due to gravity to provide timely control. This timely control does not simply wait for the rotational or repetitive motion on a circular orbit, i.e., wave-like kinetic energy, to decay, but instead extracts only the rotational region that generates strong torque, and overlaps the gravitational effect using a resonance amplification principle, ultimately amplifying the rotational energy. This is the basic form of the mechanism of this embodiment. For ease of understanding, the reservoir is shown as a "sphere," but it may also be cylindrical, or even semi-cylindrical, e.g., a cylinder cut in half. In other words, the shape of the reservoir container is not limited to a sphere or the like, as long as it is a three-dimensional container that contributes to torque amplification and does not impede regeneration during the relative movement of the fluid.

[0077] As shown in Figure 40(c), when tilted at 30 degrees, almost all of the fluid (more than 90%) has transferred from spherical vessel A to spherical vessel B. Since mass (weight) is proportional in energy calculations based on physical theory, a simple calculation shows that doubling the mass of spherical vessel B doubles the energy. In other words, if both vessels were balanced with 1 kg (1 liter) of water, the mass change would be approximately 2 kg; if the volume were 1 ton (1,000 liters), the mass change would be approximately 2 tons. By utilizing this circular orbit relative gravity balance configuration, it is possible to generate potential energy equivalent to the increase in weight, using gravity to move from a state of zero energy in equilibrium, as long as the strength of the structure allows. However, regenerating potential energy remains a major challenge. A mechanism for solving this regeneration problem will be explained below.

[0078] [Basic Concept 2 of Kinetic Energy Amplification by Circular Orbit Relative Gravity Balance Configuration] Figure 41(a) is the original state diagram of balance 301, Figure 41(b) is a diagram showing drop 324 of spherical container B, and Figure 41(c) is a diagram showing gravity vector 306 and generated rotational torque 307 when tilted 30°. Rather than assuming the fundamental energy to be zero in relative balance, if we calculate the falling kinetic energy (potential energy consumption) of a single object of constant mass, if the distance from rotation axis 2 to the center of spherical containers A and B is 1 m, the falling distance is sin30 (50%), or 0.5 m. If the spherical container contains 1 liter of water with a constant mass of 1 kg (10 Newtons), the instantaneous kinetic energy converted from potential energy is 10NX X G(9.8) X 0.5 m = 4.9 W, and the amount of energy is 4.9 W. Even if spherical container B absorbs 100% of the potential energy of spherical container A due to the relative movement of water and doubles it, the total is 9.8 W.

[0079] In contrast, the kinetic energy of spherical vessel B, with a relative balance, a rotation angle of 30°, and almost double the mass, is calculated as follows: the gravitational acceleration G is instantaneous vector dispersion due to the circular orbit, and the efficiency of action is 8.5, which is 87% of cos30; the distance traveled by the circular orbit is 30 / 360 of the rotation circumference 2m x π = 6.28, or 0.52m; and the instantaneous kinetic energy of the moment of inertia generated by the gravitational fall action in this configuration is 20NX x G (9.8) x cos30 x 0.52m = 88.4W. A precise energy calculation using integral calculations would likely result in some discrepancies, but in calculating the kinetic energy of an object over an extremely short period of time with the extremely simple structure described above, the error is so small that air resistance can be ignored, just like in general physics calculations. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the fluid flowing down due to the same natural gravity flows along a relative circular orbit, and with a rotation angle of only 30°, the forces of "pneumatic lever," "hydraulic lever," and "centrifugal force" are applied, making it possible to generate extremely large kinetic energy (large torque) approximately nine times greater than the kinetic energy generated by the consumption of potential energy, which is the source of conversion in normal vertical falling motion. In other words, by utilizing this type of circular orbit fluid transition configuration, it is possible to amplify the kinetic energy (large torque) to several times more than the original potential energy, and this can be easily reproduced. As a simple principle, as long as the strength of the structure allows, kinetic energy can be amplified by increasing the load, i.e., further utilizing gravity. However, the challenge is how much energy is required to regenerate the amplified kinetic energy, and a solution to this problem will be discussed later.

[0080] [Method of controlling a rotor with a relative weight balance] Figure 42 is a diagram for explaining the advantage of providing a flow rate regulator 308 in the upper communication passage 304. Simply providing the upper communication passage 304 makes it possible to generate and amplify large torque energy, but if its movement cannot be controlled, it will be difficult to use it effectively and to find a means of obtaining regenerative energy. The most important factor in the relationship between torque and energy is the rotational speed (the speed of an object with mass on a circular orbit). If the air flow path is open to the atmosphere, the reference atmospheric pressure will be 1 cm２ per 1 kg, per 1 m ２ Since a pressure of 10,000 kg per unit pressure is applied evenly to both water surfaces, even if the weight balance is slightly off, the rate of tilt, i.e., the torque amplification rate, increases according to the maximum water flow rate relative to the width of the water flow path, and maximum torque and speed are reached in an instant. More specifically, even a small difference in fluid weight causes a synergistic increase in the weight difference due to the principle of relative leverage, and when the storage volume or flow rate becomes large, control becomes difficult, and the rotation speed may suddenly increase, consuming the maximum instantaneous torque.

[0081] As shown in Figure 42, by adding a counterclockwise check valve-type "flow regulator 308," the torque generation direction can be limited to clockwise. Furthermore, by simply narrowing the air flow opening, i.e., by adjusting the rate of change in the gas pressure in both spaces, the torque amplification rate, i.e., the rotation speed, can be adjusted, and the time to 30° at which maximum torque is generated by this configuration can be adjusted. In the realm of mechanical engineering, applying frictional pressure is typically used to slow down the rotation speed. This wastes energy through the conversion of frictional heat, etc. However, this configuration only adjusts the rate of air pressure change due to changes in the weight balance of the water. Therefore, without converting energy elsewhere, it is possible to adjust the rotation speed, torque output, and rotation time with high precision despite the extremely simple mechanism. In other words, this configuration allows for flexible adjustment of the timing of energy generation, which is extremely important for extracting only the high-torque rotation range. Naturally, the flow regulator 308 also includes a mechanism for completely blocking fluid or air.

[0082] [Method 1 for Torque Amplification by Controlling the Rotation of a Rotating Body with Relative Weight Balance] Figure 43(a) shows the state of air being moved by pump P, and Figure 43(b) shows the changes in the state of gravity vector 306 and generated rotational torque 307 due to fluid movement. By using a flow-regulating pump with a "pressurizing" function to move air between the spherical vessels instead of the aforementioned air flow regulator 308, torque output and the adjustable angular range can be further improved. Specifically, for example, if the structure is very large, has a large radius of rotation, and is heavy overall weight, the balanced reaction pressure is also large, and even if the gravitational balance is lost, the rotor may start rotating very slowly. However, by using the pressurizing pump, air in spherical vessel B is forced to move to spherical vessel A by pressurization. For example, if the air in spherical vessel B is set to move 5% to spherical vessel A per 1° of rotation, the relative volume ratio of air to water in spherical vessels A and B doubles, resulting in a 10% change in the relative balance of air and water in each spherical vessel.

[0083] At a rotation angle of 10°, spherical vessel B is filled with 100% water, and the moment of inertia vector at this point is 98% of the gravitational acceleration of cos 10. Therefore, the torque output is doubled, even in terms of weight alone, compared to the state before the 10° rotation. Furthermore, by stopping pump P at this point and blocking air flow, the relative weight difference between spherical vessels A and B is maximized, and rotation continues while maintaining this state. The influence of the moment of inertia due to gravitational acceleration is more than 89% of the gravitational acceleration of cos 30 up to a rotation angle of 30°. Consequently, even by simple integral calculation, the cumulative total rotational torque energy generated from a rotation angle of 0° to 30° is more than three times greater than the state before the pressure pump was used. If we try to calculate how much of the operating energy consumption of a pressure pump in a rotation angle range of 0° to 10° is accounted for by this amplification, the pressure that changes the volume by 5% for every 1° of rotation angle corresponds to the amount of energy required to continue generating a constant balanced air pressure of approximately 5,000 Pa, which is equivalent to 5% of 1 atmosphere, in a rotation angle range of 10°.

[0084] A kinematic force of 5000 Pa is uniformly 1 cm２ It is the force that balances the force of a weight of 50g against an area of ​​1cm. By using the principle of the siphon phenomenon and the principle of the lever of fluid pressure shown in Pascal's theorem, it is possible to adjust the flow rate, travel distance, and flow time of the fluid. ２ It has been proven by theory that the force that balances the weight force per unit area, i.e., the energy that generates the equivalent balance pressure, can increase or decrease over time. Furthermore, in this structural configuration in which two spherical vessels A and B with storage functions are integrated and move relative to each other in a circular orbit, it appears as if two distinct pressure spaces exist. However, when either the air or water flow path is open, there is actually only one constant pressure space. The ratio of water to air in each vessel, the difference in water level (i.e., the difference in water level as seen from another space), and of course the difference in weight of the individual vessels are not fundamentally direct factors that generate the load on the pressurization. While momentary pressure differences may occur depending on the fluid movement speed and flow rate, they are quickly balanced by a counterbalance pressure, and after a short time, the pressure is quickly balanced and returns to a static state. In other words, the torque energy amplification efficiency of pump P relative to pressurization energy can be increased by increasing the weight and / or the operating time, thereby significantly increasing the output energy amplification rate (torque amplification rate) rather than the energy amplification phenomenon of the siphon effect. Within a certain period of time, fluids of different masses with different gravitational effects are chain-generated, generating various different action vectors with time lags, which are ultimately concentrated into a torque vector on the same circular orbit, thereby generating torque output by making compound use of gravitational effects.This means that while strictly adhering to the ``law of conservation of energy,'' it is possible to output a large torque, i.e., rotational kinetic energy, from a very small motive force energy.

[0085] [Torque amplification method 2 by controlling the rotation of a rotor with a relative weight balance] Furthermore, even if a flow control pump with a "pressurizing" function that moves air between spherical vessels A and B is used as the pump to move the water below instead of the air flow regulator described above, the same torque amplification phenomenon can be achieved according to the principles of Pascal's theorem, even if the torque amplification principle that uses the relative weight balance change starting from the air flow is used as the starting point for the water flow. Generally speaking, water has a mass thousands of times that of air, and therefore a corresponding gravitational force acts, so a corresponding amount of force is required to lift it. Simply put, to lift even 1 liter, or 1 kg of water, a force in the opposite vector to the direction of gravity is required that exceeds the weight of more than 1 kg. In terms of calculating the regenerative energy required to convert it into potential energy, if we compare it in a simple form of lifting an object, if we were to lift water, which has a mass thousands of times that of air, then thousands of times more regenerative energy would be required.

[0086] At first glance, this may seem extremely inefficient, but by utilizing the principle of fluid pressure balance, like a siphon, for example, to suck up the bottom 1 liter of water from a 10-liter container and transfer it to another container whose bottom is 1 cm higher than the original container, all you need to do is apply a small force for a brief moment to disrupt the atmospheric pressure balance, and the natural balance of gravity will then act in the opposite direction, eliminating the significant power energy required to convert it into potential energy as described above. Furthermore, there are established methods for practically pumping water by simply waiting for the passage of time, and this mechanism maximizes the forces that synchronize and oppose the relative changes in fluid pressure balance and weight balance changes, demonstrating that pressurizing heavier water can contribute to more efficient torque amplification than pressurizing air, contrary to appearances. In other words, rather than moving the air in spherical vessel B, applying pressure directly to the fluid to move the water in spherical vessel A to spherical vessel B is a more efficient method of transmitting motive force and also makes it easier to fine-tune the flow rate.

[0087] Furthermore, when generating a fluid flow in an infinitely circular orbital space, such as this functional configuration, where the starting point and end point cannot be defined due to the shape of the orbit, suction pressure and extrusion pressure always occur equally, so unless you try to accelerate the fluid flow in the same space, it can be said that there are basically no factors in this configuration that increase the operating load of the pump. In other words, regardless of the volume ratio of air to water in spherical container A and spherical container B, the operating load of the pump will not increase or decrease, and it can be seen without using Pascal's theorem that there is no regenerative power load to obtain potential energy like that required to lift water in a normal environment in order to raise the apparent water level. Furthermore, compared to a configuration in which pressure (air pressure) is generated to generate suction pressure on the water surface of spherical vessel B while simultaneously generating thrust pressure in spherical vessel A, and a uniform water flow is generated as a result of the balanced reaction of this air pressure difference, the configuration in which the parallel moving water pressure of a light fluid that does not directly impose a pumping load is directly connected to the torque amplification process described above, can also generate a secondary air pressure difference according to the rotational speed of the rotor 27, and provides a whole new dimension of options for flow rate adjustment, so there are great benefits to adopting this configuration.

[0088] [Regenerative Control of a Rotating Body with Relative Weight Balance] Figure 44(a) shows a state in which spherical vessel B has rotated 30° and its rotation is prevented by stopper 310. Figure 44(b) shows a state in which pump P is moving fluid from spherical vessel B to spherical vessel A from the state in Figure 44(a). Figure 44(c) shows a state in which the movement of fluid from spherical vessel B to spherical vessel A is almost complete. Figure 44(d) shows a state in which spherical vessel A has been rotated in the opposite direction, minus 30°. Figure 44(e) shows a state in which pump P is pumping fluid from container 313 through pipe 312. In Figure 44, reference numeral 311 indicates the rotation direction of the balance. As mentioned above, the torque output of the rotating body can be amplified by several or even several tens of times by amplifying the force acting based on the principle of leverage. However, the question arises as to how much energy is required to return the torque to its pre-rotation state, i.e., to regenerate the torque. Modern mainstream combustion engines are powered by the powerful, linear thrust generated by burning fuel. For example, when calculating the effective utilization efficiency of a car, which is primarily intended to move people and cargo, including the vehicle weight, the engine alone generates a powerful torque, but the weight of the engine and the vehicle body also contribute to the waste of motive energy, and when compared simply with the thermal energy inherent in the fuel, the effectively utilized energy is less than 10%.

[0089] To give a more specific example, if a car were to go down a mountain road and convert the potential energy of its own weight due to gravity into rotational power to generate electricity and store that energy, would it be able to climb the same mountain at the same height? It would still be far less than 10%. With today's cutting-edge technology, in most cases, to obtain rotational energy, fuel is first burned to convert it into thermal energy, which is then converted into linear, powerful pressure energy, which is then converted into torque energy, which generates electricity, and linear motion is obtained. The initially generated thermal energy is then repeatedly converted into different forms of energy. Therefore, large losses such as heat dissipation and friction loss are unavoidable during this process, and even if the effective regeneration efficiency from the underlying thermal energy were only half, at 50%, it would still be considered a miraculous efficiency. In this configuration, when calculating the cosine of the trigonometric function of the moment of inertia, an average of 90% or more of the weight effectively acts as rotational torque within a 60° rotational range of plus or minus 30° from the horizontal, so if we consider a structure that generates torque within this maximum effective rotational range, it is self-evident that regeneration at the energy level can be completed simply by placing stopper 310 when the device has rotated 30° downward, keeping it stationary with torque applied, and operating pump P while it is stationary, and moving all of the water filled in spherical vessel B back to spherical vessel A. Furthermore, as mentioned above, the energy required for this process does not require energy spent on pumping to make up for the apparent difference in water level, but simply applies pressure to move the water in a parallel direction, which makes it possible to further reduce energy consumption over time depending on the flow rate.

[0090] [Torque amplification mechanism by repetitive motion including regenerative process] Figure 45(a) is a diagram showing the rotation of spherical vessel B due to the weight of the fluid in spherical vessel A after it has rotated 30°, Figure 45(b) is a diagram showing the rotation after fluid has been transferred from spherical vessel A to spherical vessel B by pump P, and Figure 45(c) is a diagram showing the state in which fluid is pumped up from container 313 through pipe 312 by driving pump P in the direction opposite to the direction shown in Figure 44(e). As described above, we have described a methodology and control method that can significantly improve torque energy conversion efficiency and minimize regenerative energy by transferring fluid into a space configured with a relative weight balance. By repeating this operation, it is possible to obtain the maximum conversion efficiency relative to the rotation angle in a 120° rotation range. Specifically, for example, if a forward gear is used to transmit clockwise torque to the next gear in a clockwise rotation, and a reverse gear is used in a counterclockwise torque amplification sequence, it becomes possible to continuously transmit torque in the same direction even if there is a pause in the regenerative process.Furthermore, if two such mechanical units are prepared, it becomes possible to fill in the pause in the regenerative process, and it becomes possible to transmit torque almost uniformly without interruption for one 360° rotation.

[0091] [Basic Form of Three-Phase Weight Balance Relative Full Rotation Range Compound Torque Amplification Mechanism] Figure 46 and Figures 47(a) to (e) each show a torque amplifier 1 having three reservoirs. Note that the numbers above each figure in Figures 47(a) to (e) indicate the rotation angle. As shown in Figure 46, three spherical reservoirs 303 are provided as reservoirs spaced at 120° intervals around the rotation axis 2. The discharge port 23 of the first reservoir 332 is connected to the supply port 22 of the second reservoir 333 by a first communication passage 329. The discharge port 23 of the second reservoir 333 is connected to the supply port 22 of the third reservoir 334 by a second communication passage 330. The discharge port 23 of the third reservoir 334 is connected to the supply port 22 of the first reservoir 332 by a third communication passage 331. The first communication passage 329, the second communication passage 330, and the third communication passage 331 are communication passages each having the supply port-side passage 242 and the discharge port-side passage 243 described above. The first communication passage 329, the second communication passage 330, and the third communication passage 331 are each provided with a drive pump P capable of three operational modes: "open," "pressurize," and "close." The drive pump P also has the function of adjusting the flow rates of fluid and air within the first communication passage 329, the second communication passage 330, and the third communication passage 331. As shown in FIGS. 46 and 47 , the pump P is in a stopped and closed state indicated by reference numeral 326, a pump operating and pressurized state indicated by reference numeral 327 (see FIG. 47( g)), and a pump stopped and open state indicated by reference numeral 328. The pumps are configured to operate continuously by simply controlling each of them.

[0092] The operation will be briefly explained with reference to Figure 47. First, in the state shown in Figure 47(a), the first reservoir 332 is filled to its entire capacity with fluid, the pump P provided in the first communication passage 329 is in the pump-stopped open state 328, and the pump P in the third communication passage 331 is in the pump-stopped closed state 326. In this state, the torque amplifying device 1 rotates all three reservoirs 26 as shown in Figures 47(b) to 47(e) by the rotational torque 307 generated by the first reservoir 332. Then, in the state shown in Figure 47(f), the pump P in the first communication passage 329 is in the pump-operated pressurized state 327 and is pumping fluid into the second reservoir 333. In the states shown in Figures 47(f) and (g), rotation continues by the rotational torque 307 generated by both the first reservoir 332 and the second reservoir 333. Thereafter, in Figure 47(h), the second reservoir 333 becomes the same as the first reservoir 332 in Figure 47(a), and continues to rotate in the same manner. In the above configuration, compared to the two reservoirs with relative balance described above, a single rotating body with relative weight balance can achieve the same torque amplification factor over the entire 360° range as the two rotating bodies with relative weight balance described above. As a result, the weight of the balancing mechanism housing and the required installation space are reduced by almost half, the operating energy required to pressurize the pump is also reduced by half, and the number of pumps is only increased by one, so this configuration has great advantages.

[0093] [When a multi-blade turbine with a phase curve is used] Figures 48(a) and 48(b) are diagrams for explaining the configuration of other torque amplification devices. We have explained the mechanism of a rotating body that uses the force of gravity as the source of energy generation, utilizes the resulting changes in air and water pressure caused by the action of gravity, and compoundly utilizes the leverage principle of the time difference in the amount of force applied and the pressure difference, thereby amplifying torque energy. The key is to generate stronger torque by simply using the weight of a fluid such as water while efficiently lengthening the time it takes to absorb gravitational acceleration. If continuity and regenerative chain reaction are not taken into consideration, torque output can be increased by simply increasing the storage characteristics (storage volume (radius)) and lengthening the path through which the fluid flows. A simple methodology for this is to use a turbine with a configuration in which a total of 12 phase-shaped blades are used to receive the fluid, spaced 15° apart, as shown in Figure 48. With this configuration, by optimizing the balance of the three major elements of "inlet and inflow flow rate," "outlet and discharge volume," and "adjusting the rotational speed by adjusting the load torque," it becomes possible to generate a moment of inertia equivalent to that of the three-phase weight-balanced rotor mentioned above, i.e., to amplify the torque.

[0094] However, in actual use, increasing the turbine diameter increases torque output, but the primary torque energy amplification, ignoring regenerative energy, is equivalent to the three-phase balanced rotation method described above. In three-dimensional calculations, the volume of fluid flowing into and out of the turbine must be increased by the cube of the turbine diameter. This results in a significant loss of potential energy each time a turbine of this type continues to rotate. Therefore, the following two methodologies demonstrate that an external piping configuration compensates for the siphoning effect caused by air and water pressure, which minimizes the supplementation of regenerative energy through pumping. As shown in Figure 48(b), the simplest configuration of the torque amplifier 1 in principle is one in which the supply port-side passage 242 and the discharge port-side passage 243 are configured as a single communication passage 335 connecting the supply port 22 and the discharge port 23 of a single reservoir 26, and a drive pump P is installed in this single communication passage 335. In this configuration, a small-output drive pump P can extract large torque from the rotating shaft 2. However, in practice, it is preferable to adopt a configuration in which a retention chamber 245 is provided above or below the reservoir 26 in order to ensure a stable amount of fluid.

[0095] [Measure 1 for Reducing Regenerative Energy Using a Siphon Chain Configuration] Figure 49 is a diagram illustrating the use of the siphon effect described above from the perspective of torque amplification. The configuration shown in Figure 49 illustrates four torque amplifiers 1 arranged horizontally, with a retention chamber 245 provided below each torque amplifier 1. Using the multi-blade turbine (six blades in this figure) with the phase curve described above, the first unit uses water entering through the supply port 22 for torque amplification and then stores it in the retention chamber 245 through the lower outlet 23. The bottom of the retention chamber 245 is connected to the supply port 22 of the second unit in the chain using the siphon effect, enabling the supply of water to drive the blade turbine of the next unit without the burden of generating potential energy for pumping water for regeneration. Furthermore, this siphoning phenomenon can, in principle, be continued infinitely, and because it is a single pressure space, a constant and equal pressure is applied to any part or location in this internal space, even if the piping and size of each unit are different, or even if the vertical positioning changes. Therefore, if a water pressure pump P is installed and operated in any part or location of this piping, an equal flow will always be created, which will easily double the torque-amplifying turbine without using regenerative energy, making it an extremely groundbreaking system configuration in terms of torque energy amplification efficiency.

[0096] However, in reality, the number or capacity of turbines cannot be infinitely increased, resulting in a fairly limited capacity. This is because the ratio of the mass of the water or other liquid in this space to the volume occupied by the air, which has almost no mass, creates an operating pressure between the heavy water, which flows slowly, and the active, fast-flowing air, which tries to move the same volume at the same speed, which can result in localized pressure buildup of the gas. This localized pressure impedes the flow, increasing the pressure load imposed on pump P in Figure 49. Therefore, the most direct and important factor in efficiently expanding or scaling a turbine to increase torque output is not the number of turbines or their diameter, nor the size, position, or diameter of the units, but rather the overall total volume ratio of air to water. Therefore, the air-to-water volume ratio of each individual unit is important, and operating within a range that maintains harmony between the overall volume ratio and the volume ratio of each individual unit results in the most efficient torque amplification. For example, in the case of a six-blade reservoir 26 shown in Figure 49, the volume ratio of air to fluid is preferably such that the fluid accounts for 50% or more of the total volume of the reservoir 26. Furthermore, the lower the head height of the piping, the less likely it is that air pressure will be generated to impede flow. The fewer the number of siphoning pipes (opposite the gravity vector) that utilize the siphon phenomenon, i.e., the fewer the number of siphon chains, the more likely it is that obstruction will be reduced. However, once the entire amount of heavy fluid begins to move at a certain speed, that is, once it starts moving, air pressure that impedes flow is less likely to be generated, due to the same principle as "static friction resistance" and "kinetic friction resistance," and the load is reduced synergistically. Therefore, ultimately, it depends on how the relative dynamic weight pressure balance is achieved, and the pressure load imposed on the pump P can be reduced in any way depending on how the overall "fluid control" is achieved.

[0097] [Measure 2 for Regenerative Energy Reduction Using Atmospheric Pressure] Figures 35 and 36 are diagrams illustrating a torque amplifier 1 that utilizes atmospheric pressure 316. As described above, Figures 35 and 36 basically illustrate pumped-storage power generation configurations, with Figure 35 showing a configuration in which storage bodies are vertically arranged in series, and Figure 36 showing a configuration in which the storage body rotation axes 2 are arranged in an equilateral triangle. The configurations shown in Figures 35 and 36 include at least one storage body 215 that contains air and fluid and is airtight enough to allow siphoning to occur. The configuration also includes an upper storage body 207 that is subject to atmospheric pressure and is located upstream of the storage body 215, a lower storage body 202 that is subject to atmospheric pressure and is located downstream of the storage body 215, a pumping fluid path 203 that serves as a path for pumping fluid from the lower storage body 202 to the upper storage body 207, and a pumping pump 205 located at a predetermined position. A rotor 27 is provided inside the reservoir 215 and is rotated by the movement of fluid, and the rotor 27 is provided with a rotary shaft 2 that extracts torque.

[0098] In the configuration shown in Figures 35 and 36, the reservoir 215 is in a state where both air and fluid are present, causing a siphoning effect, and the rotor 27, which resembles a fluid container, rotates due to the action of gravity. Furthermore, the bottom wall 207a of the upper reservoir 207 is provided with a plurality of drop holes 226. By providing the drop holes 226 in the bottom wall 207a, only water without air can be supplied to the reservoir 215, so the ratio of air to water in the reservoir 215 does not change. It is important for the rotor 27 to rotate that a constant ratio of air and water exists within the reservoir 215. By creating a sealed air / liquid space as described above, a siphoning effect can be easily achieved even in the connecting portion of the reservoir 215, thereby achieving the various benefits described above. Furthermore, the configuration according to this embodiment utilizes atmospheric pressure, resulting in an efficient and simple configuration.

[0099] Atmospheric pressure is 10132 kg / m, more than 10 times the water pressure. ２ (1m ３ The weight of the water is 1000 kg, so 1 m ２The water pressure on the water surface is a high pressure force of 10,000 kg, and this force is being exerted on the earth's surface. The atmospheric pressure space and the water surface maintain a static horizontal state due to the equilibrium reaction pressure balance, and the siphon phenomenon has also proven using the principle of a balance lever that the pressure vector can be easily changed by a small force that tilts that balance. Therefore, when it comes to pumping water using the principle of atmospheric pressure, regardless of the amount of water pumped, if the head height is 1 m, for example, the pump's pressurizing energy can be reduced to 1 / 10 of the power energy required to obtain the potential energy of lifting a solid weight.

[0100] If the head is 0.5 m, the reduction is 1 / 20, and if it is 2 m, the reduction is 1 / 5. In other words, if the head height is within 10 m, the principle of pneumatic leverage comes into play, and the regenerative power energy that would normally be converted into potential energy when lifting a heavy object can be reduced many times. This has been confirmed in actual experiments, where potential energy converted into watts that is several times the pump's power consumption (W) can be obtained. In other words, many times the fluid potential energy can be obtained from a small water pumping pump 205, and large rotational torque can be obtained from multiple rotating shafts 2. Furthermore, by connecting reservoirs 215, torque energy amplification conversion can be achieved synergistically depending on the diameter of the turbine (reservoir 215) that can be installed and the number of turbines.

[0101] Furthermore, by considering how to install as many turbines as possible with the largest possible diameters under conditions of low head height 315 (see Figure 35), the torque energy amplification efficiency can be synergistically improved. Therefore, in the configuration of Figure 36, by stacking the inclined flow paths at an angle of, for example, 30°, and arranging, for example, three turbines one behind the other, the rotation centers of each turbine form an equilateral triangle. It is obvious that the maximum number of circles can be filled in the area of ​​a square at that interval. By connecting turbines at that interval and lowering their height, the allowable range of the vertical axis of the turbine diameter can be overlapped and expanded. Consequently, a siphoning effect occurs between the connected turbines, generating a free pumping action, further amplifying the torque output of the opposing action. As a result, compared to a vertical drop turbine installation configuration, the torque amplification efficiency for the same installation area can be multiplied.

[0102] [Mode for Enhancing Torque Generation Amplification Characteristics by Utilizing Atmospheric Pressure] Figure 50 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a configuration in which a torque amplifier 1 is housed in a casing container 170 that stores air and fluid, and Figure 51 is a side view of the configuration. A first unit 192 according to this embodiment is configured such that the interior of the casing container 170 is filled with water 4, and an inlet-side passage 242, an outlet-side passage 243, and a reservoir 26 are housed within the water 4. In the configuration shown in Figure 50, the inlet-side passage 242 and the outlet-side passage 243 are provided along the outer peripheral wall of the outer shell portion 252 of the reservoir 26. The unit water intake pipe 171, which is the inlet-side passage 242, has an inlet 171a that opens to the lower side of the casing container 170 where water pressure is high, and a communication port 171b that communicates with the inlet 22 of the reservoir 26. In addition, a unit discharge pipe 173, which also serves as the discharge port-side passage 243, is provided and communicates with the discharge port 23 of the torque amplifier 1, and a discharge pump 174 (drainage pressure pump) is provided at the tip of the unit discharge pipe 173. It is preferable that the outlet 173b of the unit discharge pipe 173 is provided in the water above the water surface. The supply port-side passage 242 and the discharge port-side passage 243 are substantially connected by the water 4 in the casing container 170.

[0103] An air supply pump 175 (air pressure pump) is also provided. A unit air supply pipe 176 is connected to the air supply pump 175, and its opening 176b is configured to draw in external air beyond the sealed casing container 170. The air supply pump 175 injects external air into the reservoir 26. By increasing the air pressure within the reservoir 26 using the air supply pump 175, water can be efficiently drained without requiring the large power of the discharge pump 174, and a large air space can be maintained within the unit up to a water level that does not reach the rotation range of the core of the reservoir 26. As shown in FIG. 51, an induction generator 178 is provided on the rotating shaft 2 of the reservoir 26. While the rotating body of the reservoir 26 shown in FIG. 51 is shown as being of a multi-blade type as shown in FIG. 48, in reality, three twisted turbine blades as shown in FIG. 8 are implemented. In order to make the most effective use of atmospheric pressure and water pressure and to eliminate excess water that does not contribute to these uses, it is preferable to use a shape that is roughly like an upside-down bell, with the lower side having a smaller volume than the upper side, as shown in Figure 50. It is also preferable to make each flow path streamlined, such as circular, to reduce flow resistance.

[0104] Furthermore, by using the air supply pump 175 to maintain a pressure slightly higher than atmospheric pressure in the space within the reservoir 26, deep, high-pressure water at the bottom of the pool can be forced to flow in from the top of the unit's space through the intake port 171a within the unit without relying on any mechanical energy power. However, in this state alone, both the water in the casing vessel 170 (which is the pool) and the water at the bottom of the space within the first unit 192 are stationary, in "equilibrium" with the atmosphere or air pressure. Then, by operating the discharge pump 174, all the water starts moving. At this time, the energy required for the discharge pump 174 is small enough to break the pressure "equilibrium," and the torque amplifier 1 generates electricity at maximum efficiency, increasing the output to an appropriate flow rate for stable rotation. However, since the appropriate output only requires the power to release water taken in from high water pressure at deep depths into low water pressure at shallow depths, it is on a completely different level from the pumping output required on land (atmospheric pressure space), and is incomparably smaller.By adopting this type of system configuration, even if the first unit 192 is made larger and the power generation capacity is increased, the energy consumption of the pumps that create the water flow to turn the power generation turbine can be made extremely small.

[0105] In this configuration, the outer shell 252 containing the reservoir 26 is submerged in the pool, and the air supply pump 175 and discharge pump 174 can be left open when they are not operating. Immediately after the outer shell 252 is submerged, the air pressure inside the outer shell 252 increases due to the pressure of the atmospheric pressure and the water pressure difference 317 at the bottom, and water enters through the supply port 22 at the top of the outer shell 252 due to the contraction of the volume occupied by the gas. However, unless there is an air discharge port 23 at a position higher than the water level accumulated in the lower part of the outer shell 252 or unless there is an air leak, no more water will enter the outer shell 252, and the water pressure at the outlet 173b of the discharge pump 174 will not change, and water will not enter the outer shell 252 through the outlet 173b of the discharge pump 174 unless a pressure higher than the water pressure in the lower part is applied from there, so there is no need to provide a check valve function for the pump function. The air supply pump 175 is configured to operate only to maintain the gas space within the outer shell 252 in the event of an air leak.

[0106] In this configuration, even if the discharge pump 174 has a very low output, the water pressure toward the discharge tends to be unbalanced, so even a small operation will suck up a considerable amount of water accumulated in the lower part of the first unit 192. In other words, unlike the previous system, there is no need to consider a mechanism to reduce the potential energy capture load in order to obtain regenerative power; only a suppression power is required to stably move the optimal amount of water in parallel. Furthermore, as the air pressure in the outer shell 252 space increases above atmospheric pressure, the pressure on fluid particles, such as water, increases, and the natural fluid velocity at a normal pressure of 1 atmosphere inevitably increases with increasing pressure. Therefore, the turbine rotation speed increases while maintaining the torque generation output, further increasing the amplification factor of generated torque energy. In this configuration, increasing the water pressure difference 317 and increasing the air pressure inside the shell unit by increasing the pool depth can easily improve the torque generation amplification efficiency with a very simple change in the construction and installation method.

[0107] [Example of Appearance of Torque Amplifier] Figure 52 is a diagram showing an example of the appearance of the embodiment shown in Figure 50. In this example, a casing container 170 containing one torque amplifier 1 is fixed to a frame housing 164, and the frame housing 164 has a control panel 165 for monitoring the operating status and instructing the operating state, and a power output terminal 166 for outputting the obtained energy. The frame housing 164 also has an atmospheric pressure inlet 167 for drawing outside air into an air supply pump 175 or the like as needed, a pool water level confirmation window 168, a drain outlet 169, and an arrangement space 163 for providing a starting / auxiliary battery device, an operational stability adjustment device, an electric drive system control device, etc.

[0108] [Configuration with a Casing Container 170 Floating or Fixed to the Water Surface] Figures 53 and 54 each show another configuration with a casing container 170, and Figures 55(a) and (b) show a configuration with a casing container 170 attached to a ship. The casing container 170 is installed on the water surface, with the inlet 171a of the supply-side passage 242 positioned to allow external fluid to be drawn in, and the outlet 173b of the outlet-side passage 243 positioned to allow water to be discharged to the outside. Figure 53 shows a first unit 192 floating on the surface of seawater, lake water, or other water. Compared to Figure 50, this configuration features an inlet 171a for seawater or other water at the bottom of the casing container 170. Buoyancy, etc., is adjusted with a weight 172 attached at a predetermined location. With this configuration, the weight of the casing container 170 allows water to be taken in through the intake 180 under high water pressure. In other words, this embodiment can utilize both atmospheric pressure and water pressure (e.g., seawater or lake water). Note that, in addition to a configuration in which the first unit 192 floats on the water surface, a configuration in which the first unit 192 is fixed to the ground below the water surface using a fixed pole or anchor 191 can also be adopted, as necessary. Figure 54 shows an embodiment of a second unit 193 equipped with an on-water power generation and propulsion mechanism. In this configuration, the casing container 170 that houses the torque amplifier 1 has an intake port 171a of the unit intake pipe 171 provided outside the casing container 170, and an outlet port 173b of the unit discharge pipe 173 provided outside the casing container 170. The intake port 171a is located deeper in water than the outlet port 173b.

[0109] Figure 55(a) is a view of the ship 181 as seen from the front, and Figure 55(b) is a view of the ship 181 as seen from the rear. In this way, seawater or the like is taken in from a low position at the front of the ship 181 and ejected from a high position at the rear of the ship 181, and if the torque amplifier generates electricity, this itself can provide propulsion force for the ship 181. For example, in a ship such as a tanker carrying heavy oil, by utilizing both the water pressure due to the tanker's weight and atmospheric pressure, the energy required for transportation can be reduced, and shipping costs can be reduced. In particular, the heavier the ship, the greater the water pressure, so water can be more efficiently sucked in through the inlet 171a and the water discharged from the outlet 173b can be more easily used to propel the ship 181.

[0110] [Example of Additional Valve Configuration] Figure 56 is a diagram illustrating the general configuration of a flexible body valve 105. The flexible body valve 105 is also attached to the valve opening 47 described above when used. In this additional configuration example, the upstream valve 48 is composed of the flexible body valve 105. As shown in Figure 56, the flexible body valve 105 has a mouth portion 106, a flexible body 107 that extends from the mouth portion 106 toward the rear wall 15 and has flexibility that allows it to deform under the water pressure of the phase reservoir 6, and a shape-retaining body 108 whose front end is fixed to the mouth portion 106 and extends rearward. The mouth portion 106 is fixed to the valve opening 47 in the front wall 50 of the phase reservoir. In this flexible body valve 105, the mouth portion 106 functions as an opening for introducing fluid, and the size of the mouth portion 106 is formed to be the same as the size of the valve opening 47. In this embodiment, the flexible body valve 105 is exemplified as having a cylindrical shape as a whole.

[0111] The shape-maintaining body 108 is disposed inside the flexible body 107. The material of the flexible body 107 is not particularly limited as long as it is flexible and can be flexibly deformed by water pressure. The flexible body 107 is characterized in that the size of the rear opening 107a at the rear end of the flexible body 107 is closed by water pressure caused by being surrounded by fluid. A film made of synthetic resin or the like is preferably used as the material for the flexible body 107. Such a film allows the size of the rear opening 107a to be deformed in response to water pressure. Figure 57 is a diagram illustrating how the shape-maintaining body 108 and the flexible body 107 are fixed to the valve opening 47. The base end 106k of the opening 106 to which the shape-maintaining body 108 is fixed is fixed toward the center of the rotating shaft 2, as shown in Figures 57(b) and 57(c). In the configuration shown in Fig. 56, the radial length L1 of the front end 108S of the shape maintaining body 108 is configured to be greater than the radial length L2 of the rear end 108E of the shape maintaining body 108. Furthermore, the diametric length L1 of the shape maintaining body 108 at the mouth 106 position is formed to be smaller than the diametric length of the mouth 106, so that in Fig. 56, there is a region in the upper region of the shape maintaining body 108 at the mouth 106, opposite the base end 106k, where the shape maintaining body 108 is not present.

[0112] The shape-maintaining body 108 is a member provided to maintain the flexible body 107 in an extended state in the front-rear direction, for example. The length of the extension in the front-rear direction is adjusted appropriately depending on the configuration of the reservoir. The shape-maintaining body 108 shown in FIG. 56 has a length and shape that does not interfere with the direction in which the rear opening 107a closes, for example, in the left-right (lateral) direction. Because it is assumed that the rear opening 107a of the flexible body 107 will be closed in the lateral direction, an example is shown in which the shape-maintaining body 108 is configured as a long, flat plate 108a that is thin in the horizontal direction and long in the vertical direction. In addition to the long, flat plate 108a, the shape-maintaining body 108 can also be configured as multiple rod-shaped bodies such as thick wires, wire mesh, or the like. Furthermore, in this embodiment, shape-maintaining bodies 108 of various shapes can be provided to maintain the shape of the flexible body 107. Figure 58 is a diagram for explaining the function of the flexible body 107, and shows the change in size of the rear opening 107a as the flexible body valve 105 is immersed in fluid. As shown in Figure 58(a), when the flexible body valve 105 is positioned above the fluid in the phase reservoir 6, the fluid 4 that enters through the mouth 106 flows inside the flexible body 107 and flows out through the rear opening 107a, supplying the fluid into the phase reservoir 6. As shown in Figure 58(b), when the rear opening 107a is about half immersed in the fluid 4, the air in the flexible body 107 moves upward due to water pressure, causing the rear opening 107a to bulge upward.

[0113] 58(c) and 58(d), when the flexible body valve 105 is completely immersed in the fluid 4 in the phase reservoir 6, the rear opening 107a narrows as if it is closed. By employing such a flexible body valve 105, it is possible to allow the fluid that flows in from the valve opening 47 to flow into the phase reservoir 6, while preventing the fluid from flowing back from the rear opening 107a and out of the mouth 106. In other words, although the flexible body valve 105 allows the fluid to flow smoothly from the mouth 106 into the flexible body 107, as shown in FIG. 58(d), when the flexible body valve 105 is present in the fluid 4, it prevents the fluid from flowing out of the rear opening 107a into the mouth 106. Therefore, the flexible body valve 105 functions as a so-called check valve. By adopting such a flexible body valve 105, the valve 5, which is an example of the distribution function unit 36, can be opened and closed by natural fluid pressure, eliminating the need for fine control as with the butterfly valve 44 of the above embodiment, and providing the advantage of simple, inexpensive, and excellent opening and closing control of the upstream valve 48.

[0114] To summarize the main points, in this additional configuration example, the upstream valve is a flexible body valve, and the flexible body valve has a mouth portion provided in the front wall, a flexible body extending from the mouth portion toward the rear wall and having flexibility such that it can be deformed by the fluid pressure of the phase reservoir, and a shape-retaining body whose front end is fixed to the mouth portion and extends rearward, and the shape-retaining body is disposed inside the flexible body. Another feature is that the shape-retaining body is formed of a long flat plate, and the long flat plate is fixed to the mouth portion so as to extend radially from the rotation axis. In the present invention, it is structurally advantageous to configure the distribution function unit 36 ​​with the valve 5. Such valves include valves whose operation is determined by various electrical controls, valves that operate naturally by gravity, and valves that operate naturally by water pressure (fluid pressure), as described above.

[0115] The valves 5 serving as the distribution function unit 36 ​​control the flow direction of fluid in the multiple reservoirs so that it flows in a direction favorable for generating rotational torque. Such valves 5 are preferably valves operated by natural forces, such as gravity or water pressure. This configuration reduces manufacturing costs and failures compared to valves whose operation is controlled electrically. The configurations shown in Figures 14 to 20 and 58 are based on the technical concept of rationally controlling the "flow path" of water flowing down from above under the natural force of gravity, absorbing gravitational acceleration and maintaining a storage state without lowering the altitude as much as possible (preventing potential energy loss), and branching or distributing the water into different phase spaces, ultimately generating powerful and stable rotational torque. This configuration can generate greater rotational torque than conventional configurations. In addition, as a matter related to the additional configuration example, the configuration of the flexible body 107 does not have to be a "cylindrical body." A configuration in which a pipe or the like is extended toward the center of the space related to another phase reservoir advanced by a predetermined angle, for example, 120 degrees, and a relatively large, highly flexible check valve such as a duckbill valve is used at the final discharge port can also achieve an "automatic control valve function" similar to the additional configuration example. The present invention has been described above using exemplary embodiments, but the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the configurations described in the above embodiments. The technical scope of the present invention should be determined based on the claims, and it goes without saying that various modifications, additions, and improvements can be made within that scope.

[0116] 1: Torque amplifier 2: Rotating shaft 4: Water (an example of a fluid) 6: Phase reservoir (an example of a reservoir) 9: Simplified reservoir (an example of a reservoir) 14: Front wall 15: Rear wall 16: Side wall 19: Front circular plate (an example of an outer shell) 20: Rear circular plate (an example of an outer shell) 21: Cylindrical plate (an example of an outer shell) 252: Outer shell 22: Supply port 23: Discharge port 24: Discharge passage 26: Reservoir 27: Rotating body 30: Front curve 34: Fluid supply pipe (an example of a supply port side passage) 35: Fluid discharge pipe (an example of a discharge port side passage) 242: Supply port side passage 243: Discharge port side passage P, 66, 241: Drive pump 170: Casing container 171a: Inlet 173b: Outlet 174 174: Discharge pump 175: Air supply pump 181: Ship 207: Upper reservoir 202: Lower reservoir 203: Lifting fluid path 205: Water pump 308: Flow regulator 332: First reservoir (an example of a reservoir itself being a rotating body) 333: Second reservoir (an example of a reservoir itself being a rotating body) 334: Third reservoir (an example of a reservoir itself being a rotating body) 329: First communication passage 330: Second communication passage 331: Third communication passage 335: Single communication passage 245: Retention chamber

Claims

1. A torque amplifier having at least one reservoir into which air and fluid enter and which is airtight to the extent that siphoning occurs; a supply port-side passage communicating with a supply port through which the air and fluid are taken into the reservoir; a discharge port-side passage communicating with a discharge port through which the air and fluid are discharged from the reservoir; a drive pump that enables the movement of the fluid; a rotor that is rotated by the movement of the fluid; and a rotating shaft that extracts rotational power for the rotor, wherein the supply port-side passage and the discharge port-side passage are configured to be airtight to the extent that siphoning occurs, and the torque amplifier is configured to extract amplified torque from the rotating shaft by moving the fluid using gravity and the drive pump.

2. The torque amplifying device according to claim 1, wherein the rotor is provided inside the reservoir, and the rotation shaft is rotated by the movement of the fluid inside the reservoir.

3. A torque amplifying device as described in claim 1, wherein a plurality of said reservoirs are arranged and fixed around said rotating shaft, said plurality of reservoirs being said rotating bodies, and said rotating shaft being rotated by movement of said fluid between said reservoirs.

4. A torque amplifying device as described in claim 2, wherein a plurality of reservoirs are provided, the supply port side passage of one of the reservoirs is connected to the discharge port of another of the reservoirs, and the discharge port side passage of one of the reservoirs is connected to the supply port of another of the reservoirs, thereby causing the fluid to circulate through the plurality of reservoirs, the supply port side passage, and the discharge port side passage.

5. A torque amplifying device as described in claim 3, wherein a plurality of reservoirs are provided, the supply port side passage of one of the reservoirs is connected to the discharge port of another of the reservoirs, and the discharge port side passage of one of the reservoirs is connected to the supply port of another of the reservoirs, thereby causing the fluid to circulate through the plurality of reservoirs, the supply port side passage, and the discharge port side passage.

6. A torque amplifying device as claimed in claim 5, comprising three reservoirs spaced at 120° intervals around said rotation axis, said discharge port of a first reservoir being connected to said supply port of a second reservoir by a first communication passage, said discharge port of the second reservoir being connected to said supply port of a third reservoir by a second communication passage, and said discharge port of the third reservoir being connected to said supply port of the first reservoir by a third communication passage, said first communication passage, said second communication passage and said third communication passage being constituted by said supply port side passage and said discharge port side passage, said first communication passage, said second communication passage and said third communication passage being provided with said drive pump, respectively, and said drive pump also having a function of regulating the flow rates of said air and said fluid in said first communication passage, said second communication passage and said third communication passage.

7. A torque amplifying device as described in claim 2, wherein the supply port side passage and the discharge port side passage form a single communicating passage that communicates the supply port and the discharge port of one of the reservoirs, and the drive pump is provided in the single communicating passage.

8. A torque amplifying device according to claim 1, further comprising a flow rate regulator provided in at least one of said supply port side passage and said discharge port side passage.

9. The torque multiplier of claim 1, wherein said drive pump also functions as a flow regulator.

10. A torque amplifying device according to claim 2 or claim 7, wherein at least one of said supply port side passage and said discharge port side passage has a retention chamber in which said air and said fluid temporarily retain.

11. A torque amplifying device as described in claim 2, wherein the reservoir, the supply port side passage, and the discharge port side passage are housed in a casing vessel filled with the fluid, the intake port of the supply port side passage is located in a lower portion of the casing vessel where water pressure is high, and the outlet port of the discharge port side passage is located near the water surface of the fluid in the casing vessel.

12. The torque amplifying device according to claim 2, further comprising an air supply pump for injecting external air into at least one of said reservoir, said supply port side passage, and said discharge port side passage.

13. The torque multiplier device according to claim 11, further comprising a discharge pump provided in said discharge passage for facilitating the discharge of said fluid.

14. A torque amplifying device as described in claim 11, wherein the casing container is provided on a fluid surface where the fluid resides, the intake port of the supply port side passage is provided at a position where it can draw in the fluid from the outside, and the outlet port of the discharge port side passage is provided at a position where it can discharge the fluid to the outside.

15. The torque amplifying device according to claim 14, wherein the intake port of the supply port-side passage is located at a lower position than the outlet port of the discharge port-side passage.

16. The torque multiplier according to claim 14, wherein the fluid exiting the outlet of the discharge passage is also used to provide propulsive force for a ship.

17. A torque amplifying device as described in claim 2, wherein the storage body is covered by an outer shell that houses the rotating body, the outer shell having a supply port for taking in the fluid into the storage body and a discharge port for discharging the fluid from the storage body, the rotating body including a front wall, a rear wall and a side wall, the rotating body expands in the direction of extension of the rotating shaft and is a concave storage container for the fluid to extend the storage time of the fluid, the front curve of the side wall that appears when viewed from the front side is a spiral curve whose radial distance becomes larger as it rotates in the circumferential direction, and the fluid stored in the storage body overflows from the side wall as the rotating shaft rotates, the outer shell is provided with a discharge passage through which the fluid overflowing from the side wall flows, and the outer shell is made airtight so that a siphon effect operates.

18. A torque amplifying device comprising: at least one reservoir containing air and fluid and airtight to the extent that siphoning occurs; an upper reservoir provided upstream of the reservoir and subject to atmospheric pressure; a lower reservoir provided downstream of the reservoir and subject to atmospheric pressure; a pumping fluid path connecting the upper reservoir and the lower reservoir; a pumping pump that pumps the fluid in the lower reservoir through the pumping fluid path to the upper reservoir; a rotating body that is rotated by the movement of the fluid inside the reservoir; and a rotating shaft that extracts rotational power from the rotating body.

19. A torque amplifying device as described in claim 18, wherein the storage body is covered by an outer shell that houses the rotating body, the outer shell having a supply port for taking in the fluid into the storage body and a discharge port for discharging the fluid from the storage body, the rotating body including a front wall, a rear wall and a side wall, the rotating body expands in the direction of extension of the rotating shaft and is a concave storage container for the fluid to extend the storage time of the fluid, the front curve of the side wall that appears when viewed from the front side is a spiral curve whose radial distance becomes larger as it rotates in the circumferential direction, and the fluid stored in the storage body overflows from the side wall as the rotating shaft rotates, the outer shell is provided with a discharge passage through which the fluid overflowing from the side wall flows, and the outer shell is made airtight so that a siphon effect operates.

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