Systems and methods for wave energy harvesting

Abstract

Systems and methods for an electricity generation system comprising a construction, placed in a body of fluids wherein said fluids height fluctuate, comprising: a first guiding construction connected to said construction and adapted to guide the movement of a buoy created by said fluctuating fluids; said buoy is connected to a weight via cable or chain wherein said weight movement is guided by a second guiding construction; a free wheel mechanism is located so said cable or chain allow its activation; a flywheel is mechanically connected to said free wheel mechanism allowing said free wheel mechanism to activate said flywheel; an electric generator is mechanically connected to said flywheel allowing said flywheel to activate said generator.

Description

SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR WAVE ENERGYHARVESTINGBACKGROUND1. Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to systems and methods for harvesting wave and tidal energy.2. Description of Related Art

[0002] Green energy, or renewable energy, holds immense significance for several reasons. Firstly, it plays a pivotal role in tackling climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Unlike fossil fuels, green energy sources such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, and geothermal power produce minimal to no emissions, thus aiding in the fight against global warming. Moreover, green energy contributes to improved air quality by minimizing pollutants released through fossil fuel combustion, consequently enhancing public health. Additionally, its sustainability and resource renewability make it a reliable alternative, steering us away from the finite nature of fossil fuels.

[0003] Hence, improved systems and methods as described in this application are still a long felt need.BRIEF SUMMARY

[0004] According to an aspect of the present invention an electricity generation system comprising a construction, placed in a body of fluids wherein said fluids height fluctuate, comprising: a first guiding construction connected to said construction and adapted to guide the movement of a buoy created by said fluctuating fluids; said buoy is connected to a weight via cable or chain wherein said weight movement is guided by a second guiding construction; a free wheel mechanism is located so said cable or chain allow its activation; a flywheel is mechanically connected to said free wheel mechanism allowing said free wheel mechanism to activate said flywheel; an electric generator is mechanically connected to said flywheel allowing said flywheel to activate said generator.

[0005] It is further within provision of the invention to be wherein at least one of said guiding constructions have a limiter adapted to stop the movement of said weight or buoy.

[0006] It is further within provision of the invention to be wherein said weight is submerged in the fluid.

[0007] It is further within provision of the invention to be wherein said weight is not submerged in the fluid.

[0008] It is further within provision of the invention to be wherein more than one generator is connected to said flywheel.

[0009] It is further within provision of the invention to be wherein said connection between the flywheel and generator is achieved by a drive shaft.

[0010] It is further within provision of the invention to be wherein at least one more set of flywheel and generator are mechanically connected to said driveshaft.

[0011] It is further within provision of the invention to be wherein a gear system is connected to at least two free wheel mechanisms wherein said free wheel mechanisms are adapted to turn in opposite directions.

[0012] It is further within provision of the invention to be wherein said leading constructions are pipes.

[0013] It is further within provision of the invention to be wherein said pipes have maintenance holes.

[0014] It is further within provision of the invention to be wherein said electric generator is connected to said driveshaft using a gear system.

[0015] These, additional, and / or other aspects and / or advantages of the present invention are: set forth in the detailed description which follows; possibly inferable from the detailed description; and / or learnable by practice of the present invention.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] In order to understand the invention and to see how it may be implemented in practice, a plurality of embodiments will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:FIG. la and Fig lb illustrates the components of an embodiment of the present invention;FIG. 2 illustrates some of the components of an embodiment of another embodiment of the present invention;FIG. 3 illustrates some of the components of an embodiment of another embodiment of the present invention; andFIG. 4 illustrates some of the components of an embodiment of another embodiment of the present invention.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0017] The following description is provided, alongside all chapters of the present invention, so as to enable any person skilled in the art to make use of said invention and sets forth the best modes contemplated by the inventor of carrying out this invention. Various modifications, however, will remain apparent to those skilled in the art, since the generic principles of the present invention have been defined specifically to provide a means and method for harvesting wave and tidal energy.

[0018] In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present invention. However, those skilled in the art will understand that such embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. Just as each feature recalls the entirety, so may it yield the remainder. And ultimately when the features manifest, so an entirely new feature be recalled. Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention.

[0019] The phrases "at least one", "one or more", and "and / or" are open-ended expressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive in operation. For example, each of the expressions "at least one of A, B and C", "at least one of A, B, or C", "one or more of A, B, and C", "one or more of A, B, or C" and "A, B, and / or C" means A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, or A, B and C together.

[0020] The term 'plurality' refers hereinafter to any positive integer (e.g, 1,5, or 10).

[0021] The invention relates to systems and methods for allowing an efficient system and method for harvesting energy using nature’s oscillating movements as can be found in waves in water bodies, tides, etc.

[0022] Generally speaking, the system and method may allow the facilitation of a floating element, a weight and a pully between them to harvest nature’s power and later transform it to electricity. As can be appreciated, the weight is pulling downward due to gravity however the buoy may have a much larger weight, in some embodiments the weight of the buoy may reach up to 20 times the weight of the weight and hence, during fluid level rise, such as in case of a wave in sea, the buoy rises and weight goes down. When the wave pass, the opposite happen.

[0023] In an embodiment of the invention, such system for electricity generation 100 may comprise a construction 101, placed in a body of fluids, for example a sea, a wavy lake or even a river in which the water level fluctuates during periods of the day enough to be financially viable.

[0024] The construction may be fixed to the ground as in some embodiments, while in other embodiments the construction may be floating, as can be appreciated from disclosure, some embodiments may benefit from one option while others may benefit from the other. Hence, such may be fixed to the water body’s floor via fixed platform, compliant tower, anchors, tension leg platform, spar platform, semi-submersible platform, etc. Such may also be anchored to bridges, wave breakers, docks, river banks, etc.

[0025] A first guiding construction 102 may be removably attached to the mentioned construction 101. The guiding construction may be adapted to guide the movements of a floating device such as a buoy 103. The purpose of the first guiding construction may be to allow the buoy to move is a predefined course that may allow efficient operation of the system while taking into account the fluctuation of the fluids, currents, wave directions, etc.

[0026] In some embodiments of the invention, the first guiding construction may be a pipe partially enclosing the buoy while in other embodiments the first guiding construction may limit the movement of buoy in other ways, such as several L or C shaped limiters.

[0027] In further embodiments of the invention, the guiding may further make use of linear rails, linear bearings, sliding elements or any method known in the art to guide and to reduce friction while movement of the guided element.

[0028] A weight 104 may be removably connected to the buoy via a connecting element, such as a cable or a chain 105. Similarly to the buoy, the weight may also be guided using a second guiding construction 106. Such second guiding construction may be as specified regarding the first guiding construction. It should be noted that such guiding construction may each be different and may further be positioned differently and guide the guided elements in different courses, directions, angles, etc.

[0029] In some embodiments of the invention, the guiding constructions may have maintenance holes 114, 115 adapted to allow users to reach parts that may be otherwise unreachable within the guiding constructions.

[0030] A free wheel mechanism 107 is also connected to the construction, in manners that may allow the element connecting the buoy and weight to be wrapped around it, in manners that are known in the art to allow activation of a flywheel 108 in a specific direction and hence may be connected to the free wheel mechanism. In some embodiments, the flywheel may be connected directly or activated directly by the connecting element.

[0031] As can be appreciated, movement of buoy and the weight, due to fluctuations of the fluids and the power of gravity cause the connecting element to rotate the flywheel which is a mechanical battery consisting of a mass rotating around an axis. The flywheel may store the energy in the form of kinetic energy and works by accelerating a rotor to very high speeds and maintaining the energy in the system as rotational energy.

[0032] As the flywheel maintains the energy as rotational energy, it may be further mechanically connected to an electric generator 109 which may transform the rotational energy to electricity. Such electricity may be stored and / or transported in means known in the art and may be used on-shore or off-shore.

[0033] In some cases, such connection between the flywheel and the generator may be achieved using a drive shaft 112, while in other cases such connection is achieved otherwise.

[0034] In further embodiments, the driveshaft may be connected to gear system 301 which may further transfer the rotational energy to the electricity generator.

[0035] In some embodiments of the invention, one or more of the guiding constructions may have a final limiter 110, 111 which may completely stop the movement of the weight or the buoy. Such may be desirable in cases of connecting element’s failure which may cause the weight to drop to water body’s floor or cause the buoy to float away or reach below the guiding construction in case of major drop of fluid level.

[0036] In further embodiments of the invention, the weight may be submerged in the fluid while in other embodiments it may be above fluid level.

[0037] As mentioned above, a generator is connected to the flywheel, however, in some cases if may be desirable to connect more then one generator to the system.

[0038] As depicted in Fig 2, in some embodiments of the invention, at least one more set of flywheel 202 and generator 201 are mechanically connected 203 to the driveshaft. Such me be achieved in various methods, for example as depicted in Fig 2, a connection element such as a chain 203 is bridging between the first drive shaft to a second driveshaft hence allowing transferring rotational energy from the first driveshaft to the second set of flywheel and generator, which may allow generating electricity as mentioned above.

[0039] In other embodiments of the invention, a gear system 113 may be deployed to alter the relation between the and torque of a driving mechanism and the speed and torque of the driven parts to achieve a suitable or preferred speed or torque to activate the flywheel and / or generator.

[0040] In further embodiments of the invention, the gear mentioned above may allow at least two free wheel mechanisms to be deployed to allow them turn in oppositedirections and hence allow harvesting the rotational energy of movement of the connecting element regardless of the direction of its motion.

[0041] As can be appreciated, the size of the system and each of its parts may be planned to fit for its intended placement, depth and output.

[0042] Although selected embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it is to be understood the present invention is not limited to the described embodiments. Instead, it is to be appreciated that changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the claims and the equivalents thereof.

Claims

CLAIMS1. An electricity generation system 100 comprising a construction 101, placed in a body of fluids wherein said fluids height fluctuate, comprising: a first guiding construction 102 connected to said construction and adapted to guide the movement of a buoy 103 created by said fluctuating fluids; said buoy is connected to a weight 104 via cable or chain 105 wherein said weight movement is guided by a second guiding construction 106; a free wheel mechanism 107 is located so said cable or chain allow its activation; a flywheel 108 is mechanically connected to said free wheel mechanism allowing said free wheel mechanism to activate said flywheel; an electric generator 109 is mechanically connected to said flywheel allowing said flywheel to activate said generator.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of said guiding constructions have a limiter 110, 111 adapted to stop the movement of said weight or buoy.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said weight is submerged in the fluid.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said weight is not submerged in the fluid.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein more than one generator is connected to said flywheel.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said connection between the flywheel and generator is achieved by a drive shaft 112.

7. The system of claim 7 wherein at least one more set of flywheel 202 and generator 201 are mechanically connected 203 to said driveshaft.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein a gear system 113 is connected to at least two free wheel mechanisms 107 wherein said free wheel mechanisms are adapted to turn in opposite directions.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein said leading constructions are pipes.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein said pipes have maintenance holes 114, 115.

11. The system of claim 7 wherein said electric generator is connected to said driveshaft using a gear system 301.

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