Submersible Turbine Self-Anchoring via Hydrodynamic Locking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Deploying and anchoring underwater turbine systems is challenging and costly, often requiring specialized divers and being hazardous due to water currents, especially in locations with significant fluid flows.
Innovation Solution
The development of diverless anchoring techniques using pivotable mounts and rampart devices that harness fluid dynamics to orient and secure submersible turbines relative to fluid flow, allowing for deployment and anchoring without divers, utilizing anchors with caps and channels to lock the turbines in place, and employing tether systems for positioning and retrieval.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If diverless anchoring techniques are used, then deployment cost and safety are improved, but anchoring reliability may worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The turbine system performs its own anchoring through hydrodynamic forces generated by water flow acting on the hydrodynamic shape of the outer housing and the channel mechanism, eliminating the need for external diver intervention and achieving both cost reduction and reliable self-anchoring
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes hydraulic forces from water flow to drive the channel mechanism that locks the turbine to the anchor, using the fluid environment itself as the actuating force for reliable anchoring without human intervention
2Stability of the object's composition
If fixed anchoring positions are used, then anchoring stability is improved, but adaptability to flow direction changes worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The outer housing is designed with a hydrodynamic shape that enables it to pivot and rotate in response to changing water flow directions, allowing the turbine to dynamically adjust its orientation while maintaining stable anchoring through the channel mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The system allows changes in the orientation parameter of the turbine housing based on flow conditions, enabling adaptation to varying flow directions while maintaining stable anchoring through the hydrodynamic interaction and channel locking mechanism
3Reliability
If complex anchoring mechanisms are used, then anchoring reliability is improved, but device complexity worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The anchoring mechanism is self-actuating, using hydrodynamic forces from water flow to automatically engage and lock the turbine to the anchor through the channel mechanism, eliminating complex external control systems while maintaining reliable anchoring
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses hydraulic forces from the water environment itself to drive the anchoring mechanism, replacing complex mechanical or electrical control systems with a simple fluid-based actuation through the channel and hydrodynamic shape
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
Enables cost-effective, safe, and efficient deployment and maintenance of underwater turbines by eliminating the need for divers, allowing for dynamic positioning and increased durability against debris, while generating energy from fluid flows without disrupting natural waterways.
Implementation Method 1
The outer housing can be configured to produce a ventral downforce based on a forward fluid flow from the bow portion toward the stern portion
Implementation Method 2
a submersible turbine configured to rotate relative to the anchor while submerged
Implementation Method 3
urging the submersible turbine against a direction of flow of the body of water such that a channel defined along a ventral portion of the submersible turbine is drawn over a cap of the anchor
Data Source
AI summary
The subject matter of this specification can be embodied in, among other things, a method of submersible deployment that includes submersing a submersible turbine toward an anchor seated along a bottom of a body of water so that tail portion of the submersible turbine is oriented closer to a cap of the anchor and upstream of a nose portion of the submersible turbine, urging the submersible turbine against a direction of flow of the body of water such that a channel defined along a ventral portion of the submersible turbine is drawn over a cap of the anchor, and while the cap is slidably engaged the submersible turbine, rotating the submersible turbine about the cap such that the nose portion is oriented upstream of the tail portion.