1705 results about "Ocean current" patented technology

Installation for harvesting kinetic energy of ocean currents in deepwaters is based on utilization of a semisubmersible platform and the multiple of vertically oriented Darrieus type hydraulic turbines with funnels. The turbines are located bellow sea level on distance sufficient to exclude them from being affected by wave actions. The electric power generators are located on a structure above water and transmit electric power to the shore utilizing flexible cable from semisubmersible to the sea bottom and underwater cable going to the shore, where it connected to the power distributing network. One of the Embodiments of this invention is designed to harvest energy of tides in deepwaters.

A self-supporting, submersible generating plant for producing electricity from ocean currents, consisting of two counter-rotating, rear-facing turbines with a plurality of rotor blades extending radially outward from two separate horizontal axis that convey the kinetic energy from the two side-by-side, counter-rotating turbine rotors through separate gearboxes to separate generators that are housed in two watertight nacelles that are located sufficiently far apart to provide clearance for the turbine rotors. The two generators and their gearboxes serve as ballast and are located far below a streamlined buoyancy tank that extends fore and aft above and between them. A combination of a leverage system and a pressure-controlled system adjusts the hydrodynamic lifting forces to maintain constant depths. There are systems to purge the ballast water to facilitate the recovery of both individual submersible power plants and a group of many submersible power plants.

Deployable submarine hydroelectric generator for conversion of kinetic energy of deep ocean currents into electricity by having an electric generator mounted in a sealed hydrodynamic, buoyant vessel with tail fins, and connected by a shaft to a rotary turbine blades at the tail end of the submarine vessel, which vessel is anchored at desired depth to the bottom of the ocean by a cable. The drag of the turbine blades causes the vessel to self-steer against the direction of the ocean current. An electric cable is also provided, connecting said electric generator with electric grid on the land. Such generator is out of sight, unlike windmills, and is environmentally friendly to the sea life, due to slow rotating blades. This clean electricity can also be used for production of low cost hydrogen by electrolysis of sea water.

An underwater apparatus for generating electric power from ocean currents and deep water tides. A submersible platform including two or more power pods, each having a rotor with fixed-pitch blades, with drivetrains housed in pressure vessels that are connected by a transverse structure providing buoyancy, which can be a wing depressor, hydrofoil, truss, or faired tube. The platform is connected to anchors on the seafloor by forward mooring lines and a vertical mooring line that restricts the depth of the device in the water column. The platform operates using passive, rather than active, depth control. The wing depressor, along with rotor drag loads, ensures the platform seeks the desired operational current velocity. The rotors are directly coupled to a hydraulic pump that drives at least one constant-speed hydraulic-motor generator set and enables hydraulic braking. A fluidic bearing decouples non-torque rotor loads to the main shaft driving the hydraulic pumps.

A floating, semi-submerged, tethered device that supports a horizontal axis turbine and power generation equipment for extracting kinetic energy from a tidal stream or ocean current. A submerged body (1) is supported by surface piercing struts (2) of small water plane area (FIG. 6). The device is tethered to the seabed by a spread of mooring lines (12) that are deployed both into and away from the direction of the tidal current. A horizontal axis turbine (4) harnesses energy from the water flow and drives a generator housed within the body. A horizontal strut hydrofoil (24) corrects the trim of the device when subject to varying loads from the mooring system and can also be used to dampen pitch motion. Rudder flaps in the struts (25) can be used to counteract roll motion. Power is exported from the device to the seabed by an umbilical (17). A thrusters (22) can be used to constrain the rotation of the device about its mooring system to prevent excessive twist building up between the mooring lines and the power export umbilical.

A floating, semi-submerged, tethered device that supports a horizontal axis turbine and power generation equipment for extracting kinetic energy from a tidal stream or ocean current. A submerged body (1) is supported by surface piercing struts (2) of small water plane area (FIG. 6). The device is tethered to the seabed by a spread of mooring lines (12) that are deployed both into and away from the direction of the tidal current. A horizontal axis turbine (4) harnesses energy from the water flow and drives a generator housed within the body. A horizontal strut hydrofoil (24) corrects the trim of the device when subject to varying loads from the mooring system and can also be used to dampen pitch motion. Rudder flaps in the struts (25) can be used to counteract roll motion. Power is exported from the device to the seabed by an umbilical (17). A thrusters (22) can be used to constrain the rotation of the device about its mooring system to prevent excessive twist building up between the mooring lines and the power export umbilical.

A self-sufficient material property profile regulation method and system, for adjusting fluid property profiles such as in an ocean of multiple property layers, is described. Using this Fluid Property Regulator, the property profiles of a non-enclosed material, including property profiles related to material density, chemical characteristics and space-time position, are affected due to motion of the material relative to a body in the flow stream. The state of other matter with which the initial material then makes direct or indirect contact is also affected. For example, in the case of a liquid such as an ocean current, the temperature, salinity, nutrient content and other properties may be destratified (i.e. layers being combined) as the system lifts large quantities of deep water and combines this material with surface water in the downstream far-field region of the system. The resulting regulation of such ocean water property profiles may then also indirectly affect the properties of the atmosphere above the ocean so that the system can be said to affect planetary properties both oceanic and atmospheric. Rather than merely discharging a pumped material, such as cold water that might quickly re-submerge, the system regulates lasting property profiles. The new Fluid Property Regulator system described in this invention regulates material properties to produce desired outcomes such as increased food and energy production as well as to prevent undesirable outcomes such as hurricanes, elevated planetary temperatures, decreased planetary ice sheet size, raised sea level and glacial freshwater incursions that can halt important major currents.

The self adjusting ocean current generating device with simple structure, less jamming from the typhoon, reliable and safe in running, it comprises a base whose top fastens a brace control system and who has sleeves that equipped with vane generator units, the said brace control system including several primary transducers and sequentially connecting with a primary generators, pulleys, cables and braces. The said generator units comprise vane brace that passes through the generator platform and controls the motor, vane shaft, vane, gear box and generator, and the said vane brace has several secondary transducers and the brace of the generator platform in the brace control system connects with the generator platform of the said vane generator units. Utilizing the ocean current, the invention can make the vanes driving generators and self adjust the angle and depth of the vane based on the volume and direction of the ocean current, so as to generate the biggest current.

The invention discloses an underwater vehicle path planning method based on ocean current historical statistic information, comprising the following steps of: determining a sailing region, rasterizing the sailing region, generating an ocean current field in the sailing region by an ocean current historical statistic database, taking an electronic chart as an environment field to simplify and combine obstacles, islands and phytal zones in the sailing region and generate a prohibited area, storing ocean current information and prohibited area information according to grids, creating a path evaluation function, searching for an optimal path by a particle swarm optimization algorithm, outputting the optimal path and ending the path planning process. In the method provided by the invention, the ocean current field closer to a true value is generated by the ocean current historical statistic database, under the condition of taking full account of ocean current influence, the path evaluation function is designed based on safety, economical efficiency and smoothness, the particle swarm optimization algorithm is used as a path searching algorithm to perform global path planning for the underwater vehicle so as to plan an underwater vehicle sailing path which is closer to a practical sailing path.

An underwater hydro-electric farm comprising a plurality of electrical generator assemblies arranged in an array on a bottom surface of a body of water within an ocean current path to take generate power from a kinetic energy caused by the flow of the underwater current. Each assembly is installed in a cradle, which is anchored with a pile driven system to the bottom surface. Each assembly is a modular system allowing for easy swapping out of an assembly under water. Generated power is transmitted to a land based facility directly to or through an intermediate transfer station. Generator portion may have internally or externally supported field windings. Various configurations of propellers may be used, some with channels or solid vanes and another being a spiral shaped propeller. All water exposed surfaces of the generator and propeller portions are coated with a non-conductive, heat dissipating, anti-fouling and water specific protective coating.

In short, the Eolic Marine Electrical Generator "GEEM" is an extraordinary invention used for capturing the huge impulse force of water or wind, to generate mechanical energy and to transform the mechanical energy into electrical energy, clean and ecological, without consuming vital oxygen thanks to the invention of immense split, self-regulating panels, radially fixed in dihedral angle to a rotary central shaft, panels which capture by shock the inexhaustible energy of the wind, the waves or the ocean currents; or fixed on rotary or flying machines of high speed, with panels formed at the same time by oscillating vanes that at a certain time of a turn of 360° will face the natural energy as a single group or panel, capturing therefrom the impulse force and converting it into rotary movement through the central rotary shaft. Said vanes in other rotation, by oscillation, will divide the panel and will align themselves with the natural vector, permitting its free passage, eliminating the turning resistance of the panel against water or wind and generating a constant rotation movement, independent of the direction of water or wind, and then transforming said mechanical energy into electrical energy by existing conventional means. The invention will allow men to renew their resources and to obtain electrical energy from anywhere in the planet such as cities, countryside, deserts, forests, mountains, seas, floating cities or spaces such as the Arctic and the Antarctic, neither polluting the environment, nor depending on costly networks or non-renewable inputs. The invention will also generate electrical energy on fleets, land vehicles or airship without consuming non-renewable fuel or destroying oxygen. Moreover, this invention replaces the internal combustion engines by eolic electrical motors, changing the scenery of the modern world and recovering the ozone lost in the Antarctic. And this invention will also be used when men in future colonize planets, without rivers or seas but with plenty of wind, to generate electrical energy without polluting this new vital space of the human race.

A group of devices and machines for converting the mechanical energy of live loads into electricity. A generator is operated by gears which in their turn are operated by a Bourdon tube or similar-acting device fed by working fluid in a pipe from a reservoir. The reservoir walls are impacted by a choice of the rolling weight of a motor vehicle, the bending force on some object and / or by a decompressing force on the working fluid. The invention is applied to roadways, buildings, sailboats, cars with internal combustion engines, elevators, ships and bridges. If the varying impacts are caused by wind or subsurface ocean currents a new type of diverging nozzle is used to magnify pressure input. By using the invention pressure waves are used to transfer energy with minimal movement of working fluid, minimizing friction and other losses.

A power generation apparatus that will not exhaust carbon dioxide is provided where a strong rotating motion is created by the combination of solar heat energy, gravitational energy, and ocean current or tidal current energy. In the sea area having stream current such as ocean current and tidal current, the power generation apparatus is constructed by a weight mass provided with a rotation axis (shaft) on the top part thereof, a floating body provided with a bearing for fitting in the rotation axis where it moves up and down according to the swell on the ocean surface, a normal rotation conversion generator for converting the reverse motion produced on the rotation axis to a normal rotating motion by using a one-way clutch or a ratchet mechanism, and a mooring member for fastening the wire rope between the anchor and the connecting point of the floating body and weight mass.

The invention relates to the new-energy distributed power generation operation control and aims at providing a wind-energy / solar-energy / storage / ocean-current-energy new-energy isolated network stabilization operation integration control system and a method thereof. In the system, an energy storage apparatus and a new energy generator set are merged into an alternative current (ac) bus power grid through grid-connected convertors which are respectively configured in the energy storage apparatus and the new energy generator set. The each generator set and the energy storage apparatus are configured with monitoring apparatuses which is equipped with CAN interfaces and Ethernet network interfaces. The each monitoring apparatus is connected with the grid-connected convertor corresponding to the monitoring apparatus through a CAN bus. Simultaneously, information interaction can be realized through connection of the Ethernet and a central integration control unit. In the invention, a real-time Ethernet field bus technology is used to change new-energy isolated power generation into distributed concentrated scheduled orderly power generation. A stabilization control problem of clearance-type power supply can be partially solved. A computer network control technology, an intelligent scheduling control technology, a real time synchronization communication technology and a modern high-efficient grid-connected converting technology are combined. The system possesses flexible control, good stability, good redundancy and the like.

The invention discloses and provides a tidal current power generation device which comprises a horizontal impeller, a vertical impeller, a first magnetic coupling coupler, a second magnetic coupling coupler, a first gear speed increasing box, a second gear speed increasing box, a first generator, a second generator, a gear tumbler, a sealed cabin, a speed-limit control mechanism and an energy storage device. The tidal current power generation device has the advantages of combining horizontal shaft tidal current power generation with vertical shaft tidal current power generation, being good in self-starting performance, adapting to directional changes of incoming flow, being high in power generation efficiency, beneficial to the design, debugging and maintenance of an electrical control system due to an integral suspension structure, capable of connecting with a fixing anchor chain of a sea surface wave power generation device through a supporting truss structure and hierarchically arranged below the sea surface in a suspension mode to form into an ocean current wave power generation system, achieving good utilization of the ocean energy and the like.

The invention discloses an observation system and determining method for the resuspension quantity of deep-sea internal waves to seafloor sediments. The observation system includes a seafloor observation platform, a cable and an anchoring tethered weight. The seafloor observation platform is equipped with an acoustic releaser, a single-point ocean current meter, a turbidimeter, a high-precision conductivity-temperature-depth instrument and a sediment capture device, and the cable is equipped with a main floating body and a sub floating body; a part, located at the middle of the cable, of the main floating body is equipped with an acoustic doppler current profiler; the sub floating body is provided with the turbidimeter and the high-precision conductivity-temperature-depth instrument; the anchoring tethered weight is a gravity anchor with a square-shaped clamping groove and a fixed ring. The determination method includes the steps: calibrating the instruments indoor, placing and recovering the observation system by an auxiliary ship, reading the data of the observation instrument and analyzing the composition of captured suspended matters, and determining the resuspension quantity of the internal waves to the sediments. The observation system can be placed on the deep sea bottom safely and steadily, and can observe the full-water-depth marine dynamic environment parameters fromthe seafloor to the sea surface, and determines the resuspension quantity of the internal waves to the sediments.

An apparatus and method for generating electricity from the movement of seawater in ocean currents. An impeller is set within a stationary frame. The impeller rotates around a non-moving shaft. There are four sets of electromagnetic coils, two of which are stationary, and two of which rotate with the impeller. The first set of coils is stationary. The second and third sets of coils rotate with the impeller. The second set of coils moves past the first set, generating an electric current which is used to energize the third set of coils. The fourth set of coils is also stationary. The third set of coils moves past the fourth set, generating another electric current, part of which is fed back to the first set of coils until they are brought to a maximum operating electro-magnetic field density, and part of which is transmitted externally to supply electric power on shore.

The invention provides a method for fusing ocean current observation data of an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV), which comprises the following steps of: 1, obtaining ocean current profile data, when the UUV underwater navigates at a certain depth, obtaining an ocean current profile with a certain water layer thickness at the upper part or lower part of the UUV; 2, filtering the ocean current profile data, filtering the obtained ocean current original data, eliminating a wild value, carrying out smooth correction on a measured random error; 3, carrying out time registering on the ocean current profile data, reducing asynchronous data into synchronous data under the same time moment; and 4, reducing position information of the UUV, starting from one known coordinate position of the UUV to reduce a coordinate position of the next time according to the navigation direction, the navigation speed and the navigation time of the UUV at the coordinate position; and 5, fusing the ocean current profile data, converting longitude and latitude position information obtained from the reduction of the position information into ASCII (American Standard Code For Information Interchange) codes, and inserting into corresponding positions of an ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler) data packet. According to the invention, accurate and complete ocean current profile information can be obtained under a geodetic coordinate system.

The invention provides a remote operated vehicle for subsea pipeline detection. The remote operated vehicle for subsea pipeline detection mainly aims to solve the problem that a traditional ROV provided with a cable is prone to being influenced by an ocean current and subsea complicated environments. The remote operated vehicle for subsea pipeline detection is characterized by comprising a ROV body, a pipeline clamping and walking device and a detecting device. The ROV body is used as a carrier to provide power for a pipeline clamping device and walking devices and mainly comprises a carrier frame, mechanical arms, vertical propellers, horizontal propellers, a buoyancy module, a pressure-proof bin, a pan-tilt and a hydraulic oil tank. The pipeline clamping and walking device is mainly used for clamping a pipeline so as to ensure that inwards-recessed wheels are tightly attached to the pipeline for walking. The dimension of the pipeline clamping device can be adjusted so that the pipeline clamping device can be suitable for pipelines of different diameters. The detecting device completes comprehensive detection of the subsea pipeline through various sensors and multiple kinds of detecting equipment with a supporting ship as an operation platform. By the adoption of the remote operated vehicle for subsea pipeline detection, the problems that the ocean current influences the measurement stability, and the surrounds are damaged when propellers of the traditional ROV operates can be relieved.

The invention relates to an underwater hybrid-power robot platform which comprises a housing, a mainframe cabin and a motion control cabin. The outer contour of the housing is in shape of bionic fish,one end of the housing is connected with a bionic fish tail structure, and propellers are arranged on two sides of the housing. The side, close to the front end of the housing, of the mainframe cabinis connected with a camera, and an electronic compass and a controller are arranged in the mainframe cabin. A pitching gravity center adjusting mechanism is installed in the motion control cabin. Thepropellers, the electronic compass and the pitching gravity center adjusting mechanism are electrically connected with a battery cabin. The underwater hybrid-power robot platform adopts the hybrid-power driving design of the propellers and the bionic fish tail structure, and the operating capability of a robot in a complicated ocean current environment is greatly improved. The underwater hybrid-power robot platform can carry multiple types of detection devices, can meet complicated task demands, can performs operations such as water quality extraction, detection and photography, can sample and detect water at different depths through a water pumping cabin and has a wide application prospect.

The invention relates to an ecological culture net cage capable of automatically sinking and floating to keep balance and relates to a culture net cage in the field of seawater culture equipment. The ecological culture net cage comprises a net cage frame which consists of buoyancy vertical pipes, top connecting pipes, bottom upper connecting pipes, bottom lower connecting pipes, internal tie bar pipes and ground anchors; a net cage sinking and floating system which consists of communicated air pipes, a head air pipe, air inlets / outlets and water inlets / outlets; and a net which consists of a top net, a bottom net, side nets and net ribs. The sinking and floating system is an automatic-balanced net cage sinking and floating system consisting of the buoyancy vertical pipes and air inlet / outlet valves and water inlet / outlet valves in the buoyancy vertical pipes, can realize the automatic-balanced sinking and floating of the net cage, is stable to be lifted up and lowered down and can prevent the net cage from getting turned upside down during sinking and floating. Since sea cucumber anti-wind and anti-wave adhering bases are arranged in the net, when heavy-wind and heavy-wave ocean currents are encountered, sea cucumbers can enter the adhering bases for inhabitation. Since a dual-layer net with a black inner layer and a light green outer layer is arranged and the internal part of the net is dark green, the net is particularly suitable for the growth habit of the sea cucumbers. The net cage has the advantages that the cultured sea cucumbers grow vigorously, the yield is high, the economic income of fishermen is good and the social benefit is remarkable.

The invention discloses an ocean current field inversion satellite-borne SAR system based on angle diversity, and a method thereof. The satellite-borne SAR system comprises two radar antennas which are arranged in the flying direction of a satellite, wherein the two radar antennas respectively generate two radar wave beams; and the two wave beams have different squint angles and can irradiate the same area on the ocean surface in different time. The method comprises: utilizing the satellite-borne SAR system and taking a doppler center frequency as the observation variable to perform inversion on an ocean current field; and obtaining a complete velocity vector of an ocean current, that is, the ocean current information obtained through inversion not only includes the radial velocity information of the ocean current but also includes the azimuth velocity information. Compared with a traditional ocean surface current field inversion means, such as field observation and shore-base radar observation, the ocean current field satellite-borne SAR system based on angle diversity can realize inversion of a worldwide ocean current field, can comprehensively know about temporal and spatial variation of the ocean current, and can work all day long and all weather without limitation of meteorological conditions.

The invention relates to a system for integrally exploiting marine energy resource, which is characterized in that the system comprises a wave energy power generation module, a traditional oil-gas production module, a marine temperature difference energy power generation module, a tide and ocean current underground power generation module, and a seabed natural gas hydrate exploitation module; thewave energy power generation module generates the power by the marine waves; the marine temperature difference energy power generation module generates the power by the marine temperature difference;the tide and ocean current underground power generation module generates the power by the tide and the ocean current; the traditional oil-gas production module, the wave energy power generation module, the marine temperature difference energy power generation module and the tide and ocean current underground power generation module share a living foundation equipment and a power foundation equipment, and share a drilling equipment and a seabed oil-gas conveying pipeline along with the seabed natural gas hydrate exploitation module; the electric energy output by the wave energy power generationmodule, the marine temperature difference energy power generation module and the tide and ocean current underground power generation module is externally output by the cables depending on the seabedoil-gas conveying pipelines; and the natural gas hydrate exploitation module exploits the natural gas hydrate by a ocean surface warm-water injection method and a carbon dioxide replacing method.

Installation for harvesting energy of ocean currents (IHOC) in deepwaters is based on utilization of a semisubmersible platform and the multiple of vertically oriented Darrieus type hydraulic turbines. The turbines are located as close as possible to ocean surface, where speed of current is usually at its maximum. Since speed of current fluctuate during the seasons a system controlling buoyancy force of that keeps IHOC floating near surface is employed. The mooring system consists of three tethers, which prevent transferring of overturning moment applied to IHOC to anchoring base. The electric power generators are located in a machinery room on a structure well above sea level and would transmit electric power to the shore utilizing flexible cable. During hurricane it will be lowered to the depth preventing turbines from being affected by wave actions, at the same time it would keep machinery room above wave action. For the purpose of delivery assembled on shore Turbine Housing to destination site and installing it there a special convoy is formed consisting of Catamaran Delivery Barge and Stabilizing Platform.The second Embodiment of this invention is designed to harvest energy of tides in deepwaters.

The present invention discloses telescopic paddle sea-current energy power generation equipment. It mainly includes the following several portions: cylindrical-type wheel hub, flat-plate straight blades, blade stretching and contracting mechanism, stainless steel band wheel, power generator and tower frame. Said invention also provides the working principle of said sea-current energy power generation equipment and its concrete operation method.

A float-type offshore power generating platform comprises a float, an anchoring system, a power generating system, a power transmission and distribution system, and an energy-storage system, and is fixed in a sea area near a small island in an anchoring manner, a plurality of box bodies are integrally connected to form a platform through bolts, the float is used for providing buoyancy force for the platform, and the box bodies comprise a plurality of wind power generating box bodies, a plurality of solar power generating box bodies, a plurality of ocean current power generating box bodies and an energy storage box. During the work of the platform, electric power produced by the power generating system is partly conveyed to the load on an island through a submarine cable, redundant electric power is used for preparing hydrogen through electrolyzed water and the hydrogen is stored in a hydrogen fuel battery, and in case of natural energy source insufficiency, the fuel battery can be used as an auxiliary energy source for supplying power to the load. According to the float-type offshore power generating platform, clean energy is adopted for power generation, the land space of the island is not occupied, the power generating system is modularized, and the mounting and the dismounting are convenient.