Patent ID: 9222460
Filing Date: 2015-12-29
Classification: F03B,F05B,Y02E

Abstract:
1. A system for generating electricity from water currents comprising a plurality of buoyant modules, wherein each of said modules includes: a. a power unit housing, having the front, back, top, bottom, right, and left sides; b. screen panels covering said front, top, bottom, right, and left sides of said power unit housing, said front screen panel having an opening in its center for the entrance of a water flow into said power unit housing; c. left and right conveyor mechanisms are connected to inner vertically-oriented shafts, wherein said vertically-oriented shafts are mounted via bearings to the top and bottom sides of said power unit housing, said conveyor mechanisms mounted side by side, wherein said left conveyor mechanism is mounted to rotate by the water flow in the clockwise direction while said right conveyor mechanism is mounted to rotate by the water flow in the counterclockwise direction, thus neutralizing the twisting moment produced by each conveyor mechanism; d. electrical generators attached to said power unit housing and coupled to said vertically-oriented shafts to transform the mechanical energy of said conveyor mechanisms into electricity; e. a vertically oriented panel separating said conveyor mechanisms; f. a V-shaped water flow accelerator having the front, back, top, bottom, right, and left sides; g. screen panels covering the top, bottom, right and left sides of said water flow accelerator; h. a filter panel covering the front side of said water flow accelerator to prevent clogging of said water flow accelerator and said power unit housing with debris or fish entrapment; i. the back side of said water flow accelerator incorporated into said opening of said front screen panel of said power unit housing for directing the incoming water flow through the power generating parts of said conveyor mechanisms while blocking the opposite non-power generating parts of said conveyor mechanisms from the incoming water flow and forcing said conveyor mechanisms to turn in mutually opposite directions; j. a self-adjusting mooring mechanism comprising a wheel positioned at the centre of the bottom side of the inlet area of said water flow accelerator, a pair of wheels attached to the bottom side edges of the outermost stern part of said power unit housing, mooring lines running from the bottom side of the inlet area of said water flow accelerator to an anchor, a pontoon pivotally secured to the top side of the inlet area of said water flow accelerator, thus enabling said water flow accelerator and said power unit housing to tilt within an angle ranging between 0 and 30 degrees, limited by the lifting winch incorporated into the stern part of said pontoon, thus providing said water flow accelerator with an additional acceleration of the incoming water flow.