Patent ID: 7291936
Filing Date: 2007-11-06
Classification: F03B,F05B,Y02E,Y02P

Abstract:
1. A submersible electrical power generating plant for generating electrical power from ocean current, the submersible electrical power generating plant comprising: a submersible electrical power generating structure, a streamlined, torpedo-shaped buoyancy tank, a pair of water turbine rotors, and a pair of watertight nacelles, the power generating structure comprising a superior located center of buoyancy, an inferior located center of gravity, and a center of drag, the buoyancy tank comprising a nose end, a rear end, a top side, a bottom side, a left side, a right side, a front compartment a rear compartment, a pair of airfoil-shaped hydrofoils, and a pressurizeable ballast water purging system, said pair of hydrofoils having a first hydrofoil and a second hydrofoil, said first hydrofoil being a mirror image of said second hydrofoil, said first hydrofoil fixed on said left side of said buoyancy tank projecting horizontally leftward and said second hydrofoil fixed on said right side of said buoyancy tank protecting horizontally rightward, said pair of hydrofoils located at said rear end of said buoyancy tank, said pair of hydrofoils capable of providing said submersible electrical power generating structure with more lift at high angles of attack when the leading edges of the hydrofoil is are higher than the trailing edges in relation to the flow of water, the buoyancy tank being located above and between the pair of water turbine rotors, the water turbine rotors each having a water turbine axis parallel to the buoyancy tank, the pair of watertight nacelles connecting to the water turbine axes, the pair of nacelles being interconnected via center-connecting, means, the center-connecting means having an upside, a downside and a center point, the center point being placed below and slightly forward of the center of drag, the center-connecting means being mounted to the bottom side of the buoyancy tank, the pressurizeable ballast water purging system and a first depth-control system and a second depth control system, the first depth-control system being controlled by hydrostatic pressures and housed within the buoyancy tank for transferring ballast water between the front and rear compartments, the transferable ballast water for selectively raising or lowering the front and rear ends, the second depth control system comprising an attaching device located at said center point of said center connecting means, said attaching device being adjustable up and down vertically by a device to adjust the leveraged drag forces to change the angle of attack of said pair of the rigidly attached hydrofoils to balance the hydrodynamic lifting forces to changes in the downward vector forcer caused by changes in drag force acting through a downward angled anchor line, said first and second depth control systems to combine the accuracy of said first depth control system with the speed and reliability of said second depth control systems, the pressurizeable ballast water purging system for controllably purging the front and rear compartments of ballast water for raising the power generating plant to a water surface.