367 results about "Paddle wheel" patented technology

A conveyor for orienting and registering articles in a preferred orientation and position for accurate downstream processing. The conveyor includes a conveyor belt running in a conveyance direction next to an orientation belt running parallel in an opposite direction or more slowly in the same direction. The orientation belt has upstanding structure, such as flights, or a high-friction surface. The conveyor belt includes article-supporting rollers on a top side. The rollers are arranged to rotate about axes oblique to the conveyance direction. The rollers also extend below the bottom side of the belt and are rotated by dynamic contact with bearing surfaces supporting the belt as it advances in the conveying direction. The rotating rollers direct conveyed articles toward a side rail. If a portion of a conveyed article extends past the side edge of the conveyor belt into the path of the orientation belt, the obstructions or high-friction surface of the slower- or oppositely-moving orientation belt strikes the conveyed articles and cause them to rotate clockwise toward an alignment of the article in the conveyance direction and into registration against the side rail at the downstream end of the conveyor. In other versions of the article-orienting conveyor, the orientation belt is replaced by a row of posts or a rotating paddle wheel that strikes conveyed articles extending past the side edge of the conveyor belt.

A hermetically sealable dispenser for measuring and dispensing predetermined amounts of a granular product without breakage of the product. The dispenser comprises a container which can be filled with the product, and a flexible, rotatable, paddle wheel fixed within the container. The spacing between paddles of the paddle wheel form measuring compartments. The dimensions of the paddle wheel are such that the wheel forms a hermetic seal near one end of the container. A lid is provided to seal the upper end of the container such that the product is stored in an air-tight compartment prior to dispensing.

The invention relates to a mechanical aquatic plant cleaning boat, in particular to a full-automatic mechanical aquatic plant cleaning boat for river crab aquaculture. The full-automatic mechanical aquatic plant cleaning boat comprises a mower in front of a nose, an aquatic plant storage device at the bottom of the nose and an automatic bait casting machine at a stern. A power device and a central controller are disposed in front of the bait casting machine, the power device is positioned below the central controller, and paddle wheel propellers are arranged on two sides of a boat body in front of the central controller and the power device. The mower is connected with a mower fixing rack which is fixed to the nose. Compared with a normal aquatic plant cleaning boat, the full-automatic mechanical aquatic plant cleaning boat has the advantages that moving power is provided by the paddle wheel propellers consisting of brushless direct-current motor combination speed reducers and paddle wheels, so that the boat is environment friendly and free of pollution, and trajectory tracking, autonomous navigation and unmanned control are realized.

A modular system for producing electricity from the channel, river, ocean or tidal water currents and wind is disclosed. The embodiments of the system comprise a set of interconnected modules. Each module contains a fluid flow energy converter positioned in a protecting housing. A converter consists of a vertical axis underwater hydro-turbine or wind turbine, connected to the electrical generator. The turbine is essentially a paddlewheel having an arrangement of attached paddles with mutually perpendicularly oriented asymmetric blades that are fixed to the poles at both ends. Such orientation of blades provides a positive feedback minimizing the blades' friction while maximizing a drag force and maximizing the turbine's efficiency. The electrical generator transforms the rotational energy of the turbine into electricity. An array of modules may be arranged side by side, thus providing versatile configurations of submersible hydroelectric or wind power systems, which are inexpensive to build, install and maintain.

A wave energy transducer is provided for converting the kinetic energy of waves moving in a body of water, such as waves in the ocean, to usable power. The wave energy transducer of the invention employs a pair of upright posts anchored to the floor of the ocean in a region subject to heavy wave activity. The posts are aligned perpendicular to the predominant direction of wave action. Mounting arms are hinged to the posts and extend in pairs toward shore and away from shore. Each of the pairs of mounting arms carries a paddlewheel, and the ends of the mounting arms are supported by floats. The floats hold the paddlewheels with their axes of rotation continually above the surface of the water and with their downwardly extending paddlewheel blades dipping into the water. Unidirectional drive mechanisms on each end of the paddlewheel axle are coupled to corresponding drive lines that in turn are connected to a power transducer, such as an electrical generator. Power is thereby extracted both from waves moving toward shore and from waves receding away from shore.

A Styrofoam-filled plastic cylinder that has collapsible paddle wheel fins attached about the circumference. Two shafts extend from the ends of the cylinder. The shafts are held by bearings. The bearings are attached to a frame structure that is embedded into the seabed. The shafts then extend past the bearings and are connected to a gear drive system that, in turn, connected to generators or other mechanical devices. When installed in the sea, the cylinder will turn in the swells/tidal action for as long as the ocean produces waves. Platforms on either side of the cylinder rise and fall with tidal action to maintain effective contact with the water at all times. Moreover, because the structure is positioned at or near the water surface, maintenance is much simpler for this device.

The invention discloses an automatic navigation path tracking method for an aquaculture workboat. The method comprises the following steps: 1, collecting the position information of corners reflecting the contour of a work region, and obtaining the target navigation lien and speed of the workboat through track planning; 2, collecting the real-time position, navigation and speed of the workboat, setting the navigation speed of the workboat, and judging whether a target path needs to be switched or not; 3, calculating a tracking target point of the workboat through employing a method of real-time point insertion; 4, enabling the attitude and movement state data of the workboat to be compared with a tracking target point and a target path, obtaining the navigation direction and speed deviation, obtaining the navigation direction and speed control amount through employing the PD and PI algorithms, and finally obtaining the control amounts of left and right paddle wheels; 5, carrying out the real-time navigation control of the workboat according to the final control amounts. The method can remarkably improve the effect of automatic navigation path tracking, and provides guarantee for the high-efficiency completion of aquatic plant cleaning and uniform bait casting.

Disclosed are systems and method that generally relate to the capture of wind energy by small wind turbines mounted on buildings with gabled roofs. Wind energy harnessing system for gabled roof buildings having a roof ridge including a low silhouette visually appealing enclosure mounted along the roof ridge of a building and extending down both sides of the roof forming the ridge. The enclosure includes airflow guides defined by columns extending down a length of both sides of the building roof forming sidewalls and a roof formed of pivoting louvers above the columns. A paddle-wheel type wind turbine consists of a multiple-bladed cylindrical shaft that contacts the wind and provides rotational work mounted within the enclosure and a generator connected to the wind turbine for converting the rotational work from the wind turbine to electrical energy. The enclosure for the wind turbine functions to capture wind and directs the airflow via the airflow guides before it reaches the ridge.

A hydraulic powered electric generator device includes a tubular member having a housing, a partition and a receptacle secured to the housing, a paddle wheel rotatably disposed in the housing for being rotated by the water flowing through the tubular member, an electric generator disposed in the receptacle for generating the electric energy and a follower coupled to the spindle of the electric generator, and one or more magnetic members are attached to the follower and attached to the paddle wheel for allowing the follower and the electric generator to be driven by the paddle wheel and for actuating the electric generator to effectively generate an electric energy.

The invention belongs to the field of agricultural robots, in particular to a small-sized inter-row weeding robot for paddy fields, which comprises a chassis, a drive system, a control system, a sensing system, a weeding device and a power source. A drive motor drives a spindle to rotate so as to drive paddle wheels, and the paddle wheels rotate at different speeds to turn the robot. A direct current motor drives a weeding disc blade to rotate to cut off inter-row weeds on a paddy field. Silt generated in travelling of the paddle wheels covers the weeds among plants to inhibit the inter-plant weeds. After a limit switch contacts with rice plants, a single chip microcomputer controls the left motor and the right motor to rotate at different speeds so as to lead the weeding robot to turn and avoid the plants. When a pressure sensor touches a ridge, the single chip microcomputer controls the drive motor to rotate reversely and the weeding robot continues operating in the opposite direction. The sensing system is capable of measuring information such as paddy field water temperature, plant amount and the like. The small-sized inter-row weeding robot for paddy fields is operated in a mechanical weeding mode, so that usage of pesticides and weeding labor are reduced, environment pollution by the pesticides is lessened, and cost is saved. The small-sized inter-row weeding robot for paddy fields is small in size and light in weight.

A ball retrieval device that picks up tennis balls from the ground and vertically elevates them into a cart. The ball retrieval device includes an L-shaped frame including a first section and a second section. A feeder system is located on the horizontal section of the L-shaped frame and a paddle wheel system is connected to the feeder system. A lift system is located on the vertical section of the L-shaped frame.

The invention discloses a small-sized float grass harvester. In the small and medium-scaled water ecosystem, the existing float grass harvesting is all operated manually, with the problems of high labor intensity, low working efficiency, etc. The small-sized float grass harvester of the invention is characterized in that the harvester comprises a boat body, a diesel engine, two paddle wheel with paddle boards at both sides of the boat body, a left side cutter, a right side cutter and a fore cutter arranged at the bow of the boat, a suspending frame adjusted by a handle through ropes, a delivery device and a mechanical transmission mechanism. The small-sized float grass harvester of the invention has the advantages of mechanical transmission, small size and stable and flexible boat body, needs small driving force and can significantly improve the speed to cut submerged plants and replace the manual harvesting. The small-sized float grass harvester of the invention is applicable to the harvesting of float grass in the small and medium-scaled water ecosystem so as to achieve the goals of biological control and water purification.

The vessel of this invention has a relatively uniform weight distribution throughout the length of the vessel which maintains a level trim under all operation conditions thereby maximizing the efficiency of the design and operation. This is, in part, accomplished by locating the engine and major transmission drive components inboard of the boat rather than outboard astern, and by locating the operator and the rudder assembly at the bow of the boat. Unique features of the invention include the propulsion and steering systems consisting of a paddle wheel, a power supply, a clutch, a gear reduction system to transfer power to the paddle wheel, an optional splash guard mounted between the stern of the boat and the paddle wheel, a frame to attach the propulsion members to the boat and a rudder mounted to the bow of the boat. The paddle wheel can comprise blades secured to angled spokes at an angle skewed to the axis of rotation of the paddle wheel rather than extending radially from the axis of rotation of the center hubs to effect vertical lift. The steering apparatus comprises the rudder mounted at the bow of the boat and being formed and arranged to pivot freely about a horizontal axis in a vertical direction as well as pivot horizontally about a vertical axis.

The invention discloses a solar autonomous mobile oxygenation system for aquaculture. The solar autonomous mobile oxygenation system comprises a solar autonomous mobile oxygenation machine, a GPS navigation module and a dissolved oxygen detection module. In the solar autonomous mobile oxygenation machine, a central control unit is connected with a perforated paddle wheel oxygenation propeller, an upper computer, a wireless data transmission receiver and the GPS navigation module, and used for acquiring information of the dissolved oxygen sensor, conducting positioning and navigation, driving the perforated paddle wheel oxygenation propeller to operate, and then automatically achieving oxygenation for the dissolved oxygen insufficient region of a breeding water area. The system is autonomously mobile, free of any manual operation, and capable of saving labor and material resources. The perforated paddle wheel oxygenation propeller of the oxygenation machine can conduct oxygenation, provide propelling force for the whole oxygenation machine, and effectively save the time of a workboat. In addition, power of the oxygenation machine is supplied by a solar power supply system, external charging is not needed, the oxygenation machine can work at night and on rainy days, and the automation degree is high.

The invention discloses a runway pool microalgae culture system using micro-bubble continuous gas flotation to harvest algal cells; the system includes a runway pool, the runway pool is internally provided with a turbulent flow carbon supplementing device, a device using micro-bubble continuous gas flotation to collect the runway pool algal cells, a flow blocking device, a double-paddle-wheel device and a groove structure which is arranged at the lower side. The system has the following advantages: (1) the circulation of a water body in the runway pool can be accelerated, and the gas exchange frequency between a liquid surface and the atmosphere is improved; (2) preliminary concentration on the algal cells can be achieved effectively in real time, the centrifugal efficiency is improved, the centrifugal energy consumption is reduced and the harvesting cost is decreased; (3) distributed carbon dioxide can be prevented from escaping, the utilization rate of carbon dioxide is improved, and the pH of an algal liquid is more rapidly adjusted; (4) exchange between an upper layer and a lower layer of the algae liquid can be effectively promoted, not only can the algae cells on the surface layer be prevented from being damaged by light, but also the total effective light energy quantity received by the algae cells of the unit water body is increased; and (5) the runway pool can realize continuous cultivation of microalgae, and an extremely small amount of waste water generated in the cultivation process can be recycled after the waste water is introduced to a disinfection pool and a nutrient salt blending pool through a pipeline and is treated.

Embodiments of the invention provide a light module for a pool cleaner. The light module can include a housing, a paddle wheel, a generator, and at least one light emitting diode (LED). The housing can be removably coupled to the pool cleaner and can include a flow directing portion positioned in a fluid path of the pool cleaner. The paddle wheel can be located adjacent to the flow directing portion and can rotate in response to fluid flow through the fluid path. The generator can be coupled to the paddle wheel and can generate power through rotation of the paddle wheel. The LED can be coupled to the generator and can receive the generated power from the generator to illuminate an area adjacent to the pool cleaner.

The present/invention of hand held shower head with filter replacing pre-alarm assembly is therein contrived to mainly comprise a propeller wheel with a magnetic induce signal emitter and signal receptor confronted each other as well as a digital display connected to the signal receptor. Thus, the contrivance generates pre-alarm upon the total quantity by accumulative flux of flowing water, passing through the filter embedded therein, reaching effective critical point, it can initiate alarms to remind the user to replace the filter assembly timely in order to ensure the water filtrated in good quality.