WO2020222114A1

WO2020222114A1 - A turbine apparatus for rotating a power take-off shaft

Info

Publication number: WO2020222114A1
Application number: PCT/IB2020/053984
Authority: WO
Inventors: Rajeev Hiremath
Original assignee: Rajeev Hiremath
Priority date: 2019-04-30
Filing date: 2020-04-28
Publication date: 2020-11-05

Abstract

A turbine apparatus (100) for rotating a power take-off shaft (112) comprises a helically arranged pipe (110) having a plurality of coils enclosing a space therebetween, a first end and a second end, the pipe (110) comprises a plurality of turbine blades (1106) disposed inside the pipe (110) and nozzles (1104), a power take-off shaft (112) rotatably connected with the pipe (110) using supporting rods (1121), fluid inlet (114) connected with the first end of the pipe (110) via a first of plurality of rotary union (118), fluid outlet (116) connected with the second end of the pipe (110) via a of plurality of second rotary union (120) and a plurality of support columns (122) supporting the pipe (110) and the power take-off shaft (112) with the help of bearings (124), the first of plurality of rotary union (118) and the second of plurality of rotary union (120) at the first end and the second end of the pipe (110).

Description

A TURBINE APPARATUS FOR ROTATING A POWER TAKEOFF SHAFT

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Embodiment of the present invention generally relates to power technologies and more particularly to a turbine apparatus for rotating a power take-off shaft.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Requirement of power is growing every day with increasing population and living standards. At present, these requirements are fulfilled by exploiting the maximum resources and deriving power out of it. But, with time the resources are perishing and limiting. The existing technologies are inefficient when it comes to maximize the utilization of limited resources. In short, these solutions incur a lot of energy loss while converting the resources into energy. According to stats available, most of the turbines runs on 30% to 50% efficiency. Hence, almost 70% of energy is wasted while converting potential and kinetic energy of a fluid into mechanical energy due to wastage of energy rich fluid and further due to complications related to installation and working of traditional turbines. Further, weight of the existing turbines is very high and handling such heavy systems is complex as well as cumbersome.

Therefore, there is a need in the art for a turbine apparatus for rotating a power take-off shaft to overcome above mentioned shortcomings of existing solutions.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a turbine apparatus for rotating a power take-off shaft. Another object of the present invention is to increase the conversion ratio of energy.

Yet another object of the present invention is to maximize the utilization of potential and kinetic energy of fluid.

Yet another object of the present invention is to minimize the loss of energy rich fluid.

SUMMARY OF THE INVNETION

The present invention is described hereinafter by various embodiments. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiment set forth herein.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a turbine apparatus for rotating a power take-off shaft is provided. The turbine apparatus comprises one or more helically arranged pipe having a plurality of coils enclosing a space therebetween, a first end and a second end, the one or more pipe comprises a plurality of turbine blades disposed inside the pipe; and one or more nozzles, a power take-off shaft running through the center of the space from the first end to the second end and rotatably connected with the one or more pipe using one or more supporting rods, one or more fluid inlet connected with the first end of the one or more pipe via a first of plurality of rotary union, one or more fluid outlet connected with the second end of the one or more pipe via a second of plurality of rotary union and a plurality of support columns supporting the one or more pipe and the power take-off shaft with the help of one or more bearings, the first of plurality of rotary union and the second of plurality of rotary union at the first end and the second end of the pipe. Further, the one or more helically arranged pipe and the power take-off shaft are free to swivel on the plurality of support columns and about the power take-off shaft. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the one or more fluid inlet is configured to admit fluid, having a pressure and a velocity, inside the helically arranged pipe.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the turbine blades are configured to convert the pressure and velocity of fluid into rotation of the power take off shaft.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the one or more nozzles are configured to maintain the pressure and the velocity of the fluid inside the helically arranged pipe.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of turbine blades disposed inside the one or more pipe are configured to maintain the pressure and the velocity of the fluid inside the helically arranged pipe.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the one or more bearings are configured to provide a frictionless and smooth rotation to the power take-off shaft and the one or more helically arranged pipe on the plurality of supporting columns.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the first of plurality of rotary union is configured to enable admitting of the fluid inside the rotating one or more helically arranged pipe via the one or more fluid inlet.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the second of plurality of rotary union is configured to enable discharging of the fluid from the rotating one or more helically arranged pipe via the one or more fluid outlet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular to the description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments.

These and other features, benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent by reference to the following text figure, with like reference numbers referring to like structures across the views, wherein:

Fig. 1 illustrates a turbine apparatus for rotating a power take-off shaft, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig. 2 illustrates another embodiment of turbine apparatus of fig. 1 employing multiple helically arranged pipes for rotating a power take-off shaft, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 illustrates another embodiment of turbine apparatus of fig. 1 employing multiple helical pipes in a concentric arrangement for rotating a power take-off shaft, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

While the present invention is described herein by way of example using embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to the embodiments of drawing or drawings described and are not intended to represent the scale of the various components. Further, some components that may form a part of the invention may not be illustrated in certain figures, for ease of illustration, and such omissions do not limit the embodiments outlined in any way. It should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. As used throughout this description, the word "may" is used in a permissive sense (i.e. meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense, (i.e. meaning must). Further, the words "a" or "an" mean "at least one” and the word“plurality” means“one or more” unless otherwise mentioned. Furthermore, the terminology and phraseology used herein is solely used for descriptive purposes and should not be construed as limiting in scope. Language such as "including," "comprising," "having," "containing," or "involving," and variations thereof, is intended to be broad and encompass the subject matter listed thereafter, equivalents, and additional subject matter not recited, and is not intended to exclude other additives, components, integers or steps. Likewise, the term "comprising" is considered synonymous with the terms "including" or "containing" for applicable legal purposes. Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles and the like is included in the specification solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not suggested or represented that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention.

In this disclosure, whenever a composition or an element or a group of elements is preceded with the transitional phrase “comprising”, it is understood that we also contemplate the same composition, element or group of elements with transitional phrases“consisting of”, “consisting”, “selected from the group of consisting of,“including”, or“is” preceding the recitation of the composition, element or group of elements and vice versa.

The present invention is described hereinafter by various embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein reference numerals used in the accompanying drawing correspond to the like elements throughout the description. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiment set forth herein. Rather, the embodiment is provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the following detailed description, numeric values and ranges are provided for various aspects of the implementations described. These values and ranges are to be treated as examples only and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims. In addition, a number of materials are identified as suitable for various facets of the implementations. These materials are to be treated as exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

Figure 1 illustrates a turbine apparatus (100) for rotating a power take-off shaft (1 12). In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the turbine apparatus (100) may include a one or more helically arranged pipe (1 10), a power take-off shaft (1 12), a one or more fluid inlet (1 14), a one or more fluid outlet (1 16), a plurality of support columns (122), a plurality of rotary unions. The one or more helically arranged pipe (1 10) may have a plurality of coils enclosing a space therebetween. The one or more pipe (1 10) may be, but not limited to, made of non-corrosive material such as stainless steel, galvanized steel, plastic, PVC, Bakelite, rubber, polymer, carbon fiber, fiber, glass. The one or more pipe (1 10) may have a first end and a second end. The first end of the one or more pipe (1 10) may be connected with one or more fluid inlet (1 14) via a first of plurality of rotary union (1 18). The one or more fluid inlet (1 14) may be fixed in its place. The one or more fluid inlet (1 14) may admit fluid (105) inside the one or more helically arranged pipe (1 10). The fluid (105) may be, but not limited to water, heavy water, gas, water vapor, air. The fluid (105) may have a pressure and a velocity. The first of plurality of rotary union (1 18) may enable admitting of the fluid (105) inside the rotating one or more helically arranged pipe (1 10) via the one or more fluid inlet (1 14). The second end of the one or more pipe (1 10) may be connected with one or more fluid outlet (1 16) via a second of plurality of rotary union (120). The second of plurality of rotary union (120) may enable discharging of the fluid (105) from the rotating one or more helically arranged pipe (1 10) via the one or more fluid outlet (1 16).

Further, the one or more pipe (1 10) may comprise a plurality of turbine blades (1 106) disposed inside the one or more pipe (1 10). The turbine blades (1 106) may be disposed on inner wall of the one or more pipe (1 10). The turbine blades (1 106) may convert the pressure and the velocity of fluid (105) into rotation of the power take off shaft (1 12). Further, the one or more pipe (1 10) may comprise one or more nozzles (1 104). The one or more nozzles (1 104) may be disposed on inner surface or the outer surface of the one or more pipe (1 10). The one or more nozzles (1 104) may maintain a pressure and a velocity of the fluid (105) inside the one or more helically arranged pipe (1 10). Moreover, the apparatus may comprise a power take off shaft (1 12) running through the center of the space from the first end to the second end. The power take-off shaft (1 12) may be rotatably connected with the one or more pipe (1 10) using one or more supporting rods (1 121 ). The power take off shaft (1 12) may be rotated through conversion of the pressure and velocity of fluid (105) turbine blades (1 106).

In addition, the apparatus may comprise a plurality of support columns (122) supporting the one or more pipe (1 10) and the power take off shaft (1 12) with the help of one or more bearings (124), the first of plurality of rotary union (1 18) and the second of plurality of rotary union (120) at the first end and the second end of the one or more pipe (1 10). The one or more bearings (124) may be configured to provide a frictionless and smooth rotation to the power take-off shaft (1 12) and the one or more helically arranged pipe (1 10) on the plurality of supporting columns. The plurality of support columns (122) may allow the one or more helically arranged pipe (1 10) and the power take-off shaft (1 12) to freely swivel and about the power take-off shaft (1 12). Figure 2 illustrates another embodiment (200) of turbine apparatus (100) of figure 1 for rotating a power take-off shaft (1 12). In this embodiment, for better explanation, multiple helically arranged pipes (201 , 202, 203, 204) are considered. The pipes (201 , 202, 203, 204) may have variable diameter to accommodate variable amount of fluid (105) to pass through the pipes (201 , 202, 203, 204). The embodiment may use one or more fluid inlet for admitting fluid (105) inside the pipes (201 , 202, 203, 204). The power take off shaft (1 12) may be rotated by conversion of potential and kinetic energy of fluid (105) through plurality of turbine blades (1 106) disposed inside the pipes (201 , 202, 203, 204), as shown in figure 1 . The usage of more than one helically arranged pipes (201 , 202, 203, 204) around the power take-off shaft (1 12) may result in more power production and requires less space.

Figure 3 illustrates another embodiment (300) of turbine apparatus (100) of figure 1 for rotating a power take-off shaft (1 12). In this embodiment, for better explanation, multiple helical pipes in a concentric arrangement (301 , 302, 303, 304) are considered. The pipes (301 , 302, 303, 304) may have variable diameter to accommodate variable amount of fluid (105) to pass through the pipes (301 , 302, 303, 304). The embodiment may use one or more fluid inlet for admitting fluid (105) inside the pipes (301 , 302, 303, 304). The power take-off shaft (1 12) may be rotated by conversion of potential and kinetic energy of fluid (105) through plurality of turbine blades (1 106) disposed inside the pipes (301 , 302, 303, 304), as shown in figure 1 . The usage of more than one helical pipes in the concentric arrangement (301 , 302, 303, 304) around the power take-off shaft (1 12) may result in more power production and requires less space.

The invention works in following manner:

The turbine apparatus (100) may be configured to admit fluid (105) through the fluid inlet (1 14) into the helically arranged pipe (1 10) via the first joint union at the first end of the pipe (1 10). The first joint union may allow water inside the pipe (1 10) while rotation. The fluid (105) flowing inside the pipe (1 10) may strike the plurality of turbine blades (1 106) disposed inside the pipe (1 10). The plurality of turbine blades (1 106) may convert the pressure and the velocity of the fluid (105) into rotation of the pipe (1 10) about the power take-off shaft (1 12) running through the center of the space from the first end to the second end and rotatably connected with the pipe (1 10) using one or more supporting rods (1 121 ).

The power take-off shaft (1 12), being rotatably connected with the pipe (1 10) at center of the plurality of coils enclosing a space therebetween, is rotated as a result of rotation of the helically arranged pipe (1 10). The one or more nozzles (1 104) disposed on the surface of the pipe (1 10) may be configured to maintain the pressure and the velocity of the fluid (105) inside the helically arranged pipe (1 10). The nozzles (1 104) may provide the auxiliary pressure and velocity to the fluid (105) inside the pipe (1 10) in case there is a depreciation in pressure and velocity of the fluid (105) inside the pipe (1 10) resulting in lack of rotation of the pipe (1 10) and the power take off shaft (1 12). Finally, the fluid (105) is discharged at the fluid outlet (1 16) via the second of plurality of rotary union (120). The second rotatory may enable the discharging of fluid (105) from the fluid outlet (1 16) while the rotation of the pipe (1 10).

Further, the helically arranged pipe (1 10) along with the power take off shaft (1 12) is rested on the plurality of support columns (122) supporting the pipe (1 10) and the power take-off shaft (1 12) at the first end and the second end of the pipe (1 10). The plurality of support columns (122) supporting the pipe (1 10) and the power take-off shaft (1 12) with the help of one or more bearings (124), the first of plurality of rotary union (1 18) and the second of plurality of rotary union (120) at the first end and the second end of the pipe (1 10). The one or more bearings (124) may be configured to provide a frictionless and smooth rotation to the power take-off shaft (1 12) and the helically arranged pipe (1 10) on the plurality of supporting columns. The invention offers a various number of advantages. The invention provides a cost effective and efficient approach regarding the conversion of potential energy and kinetic energy of a fluid into mechanical energy. The invention can be helpful in minimizing auxiliary losses such as inefficiency of traditional turbines which causes a lot of energy wastage. In other words, the energy conversion ratio of the present turbine apparatus is better than the traditional methods. Moreover, the present invention provides a better ease of installation and can be fitted in a minimal space irrespective of geographical limitations. Also, the use of multiple helically arranged and/or spirally arranged pipe having smaller diameters reduced the total system weight and eliminate the need of heavy turbine systems with complex components as well as cumbersome working.

Various modifications to these embodiments are apparent to those skilled in the art from the description and the accompanying drawings. The principles associated with the various embodiments described herein may be applied to other embodiments. Therefore, the description is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown along with the accompanying drawings but is to be provided broadest scope consistent with the principles and the novel and inventive features disclosed or suggested herein. Accordingly, the invention is anticipated to hold on to all other such alternatives, modifications, and variations that fall within the scope of the present invention and the appended claims.

Claims

I claim:

1. A turbine apparatus (100) for rotating a power take-off shaft (112) comprising:

one or more helically arranged pipe (110) having a plurality of coils enclosing a space therebetween, a first end and a second end, the one or more pipe (110) comprising:

a plurality of turbine blades (1 106) disposed inside the pipe (1 10); and

one or more nozzles (1104);

a power take-off shaft (1 12) running through the center of the space from the first end to the second end and rotatably connected with the one or more pipe (1 10) using one or more supporting rods (1121 ); one or more fluid inlet (1 14) connected with the first end of the one or more pipe (110) via a first of plurality of rotary union (1 18);

one or more fluid outlet (1 16) connected with the second end of the one or more pipe (110) via a second of plurality of rotary union (120); and

a plurality of support columns (122) supporting the one or more pipe (1 10) and the power take-off shaft (1 12) with the help of one or more bearings (124), the first of plurality of rotary union (1 18) and the of plurality of second rotary union (120) at the first end and the second end of the pipe (110);

wherein the one or more helically arranged pipe (1 10) and the power take-off shaft (1 12) are free to swivel on the plurality of support columns (122) and about the power take-off shaft (1 12).

2. The turbine apparatus (100) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the one or more fluid inlet (1 14) is configured to admit fluid (105), having a pressure and a velocity, inside the helically arranged pipe (1 10).

3. The turbine apparatus (100) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the turbine blades (1106) are configured to convert the pressure and velocity of fluid (105) into rotation of the power take off shaft (1 12).

4. The turbine apparatus (100) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the one or more nozzles (1 104) are configured to maintain the pressure and the velocity of the fluid (105) inside the helically arranged pipe (1 10).

5. The turbine apparatus (100) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the plurality of turbine blades (1 106) disposed inside the one or more pipe (1 10) are configured to maintain the pressure and the velocity of the fluid (105) inside the helically arranged pipe (1 10).

6. The turbine apparatus (100) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the one or more bearings (124) are configured to provide a smooth rotation to the power take-off shaft (112) and the one or more helically arranged pipe (1 10) on the plurality of supporting columns.

7. The turbine apparatus (100) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first of plurality of rotary union (1 18) is configured to enable admitting of the fluid (105) inside the rotating one or more helically arranged pipe (1 10) via the one or more fluid inlet (114).

8. The turbine apparatus (100) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the second of plurality of rotary union (120) is configured to enable discharging of the fluid (105) from the rotating one or more helically arranged pipe (1 10) via the one or more fluid outlet (116).