Segmented Water Storage Tower for Gravity Power Generation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Renewable energy sources like solar and wind power are intermittent and unpredictable, limiting the delivery of electricity to the grid.
Innovation Solution
A gravity-based energy storage tower with upper and lower sections of floors, where water is pumped to the upper section to store energy as potential energy and released to generate electricity via turbines, utilizing a turbine-pump system to convert gravitational potential energy into electrical energy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If water is pumped to upper floors to store energy, then energy storage capacity is improved, but water pressure on floor walls increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tower is divided into multiple independent floor sections, each capable of holding water separately. This segmentation allows the system to store large quantities of water for energy storage while limiting the pressure on any single floor's walls to only the weight of water in that specific floor, not the entire column of water above it.
2Productivity
If multiple turbine pumps are used to improve pumping capacity, then energy storage rate is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system combines turbine and pump functions into a single reversible machine. The same device can operate as a pump during energy storage mode and as a turbine during energy generation mode, eliminating the need for separate pump and turbine systems and reducing overall device complexity while maintaining high productivity.
3Power
If water is released from upper floors to generate electricity, then power generation capacity is improved, but control precision required for valve operation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses individually controllable valves at each floor level to release water. This segmentation allows precise control of water flow from specific floors, enabling fine-tuned power generation output and simplified valve operation control compared to a single large control valve.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system provides a reliable and efficient method to store and generate electricity using renewable energy sources, ensuring predictable delivery to the grid.
Implementation Method 1
pump the liquid from the lower section to one or more of the plurality of floors to store energy as potential energy
Implementation Method 2
the turbine is operable to generate electricity from a flow of the liquid through the set of pipes from the plurality of floors to the lower section under a force of gravity
Data Source
AI summary
An energy storage tower can include an upper floor section with one or more floors. A pump, a turbine, a turbine-pump, or a plurality of turbine pumps on, below or proximate the ground can be hydraulically connected with each of the floors in the upper floor section. To store energy, water can be pumped from a lower elevation, to one or more of the floors in the upper floor section via one or more pipes, and one or more valves can be selectively closed to store the water. To generate electricity, one of more of the valves can be selectively opened to allow water to flow from the upper floor section to the lower elevation under force of gravity. The water can flow past and rotate a turbine or turbine pump to generate electricity via a generator electrically connected to the turbine or turbine pump.