Abstract:
A system for supplying a fluid to a turbine includes an inlet for allowing the fluid to enter the turbines, a filter to filter the fluid, and a pump apparatus to pressurize the fluid and to mix the pressurized fluid with the un-pressurized fluid at a location in the neighborhood of the inlet.

Description:
PRIORITY 
   The present invention claims priority based on 35 USC 119 for provisional application Ser. No. 60/580,589 filed on Jun. 18, 2004. 

   FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates to a cleaning system and in particular to a self-cleaning Hydro system. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   The industrial society of today depends substantially on a source of economical electric power. Most of these sources of electric power are not renewable and as a consequence, are increasingly expensive for the consumer. Additionally, many of these sources of electric power pollute the environment and are undesirable from this aspect. The pollution may include many forms of harmful byproducts such as smoke and airborne particles of harmful dust for example from coal burning plants and carbon dioxide from gas burning facilities. The coal burning plants use coal as a fuel which is provided for example by strip mining which can cause massive environmental disturbances. Electric power can be obtained from nuclear generating step plants. However, nuclear generating plants have created public hostility and fear, and in addition, these nuclear generating plants have experienced exploding construction costs and has an additional problem of disposing of spent radioactive fuel rods. Typically, the nuclear, coal-fired, or gas-fired generation plants require large centralized generating facilities with huge transmission infrastructure. 
   Hydroelectric power is environmentally clean to produce electricity but can be very expensive and environmentally disruptive to install. These conventional hydroelectric plants can only be situated on large rivers with sufficient flow and fall which is the distance the water must drop to build up energy enough to turn a turbine. Usually, hydroelectric power requires constructing a large dam across the river and a large centralized generating facility with expensive transmission network to transmit the generated power to the consumer. Necessarily, such a dam radically alters the landscape. 
   What is required is a source of electric power that is economical, renewable and will not alter the landscape to any great degree. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The self-cleaning Hydro delivery system of the present invention does not require a dam, and consequently there is no impact on the surrounding landscape. The self cleaning hydro delivery system can be located beside a stream where the water table has a high-rise, at the top of a waterfall or adjacent to a mountain (The present invention can be used even though the water to the system may have to run uphill.) The self-cleaning hydro delivery system requires no central facility or long transmission network because it can be installed at the location of the consumers. Furthermore, the present system is nonpolluting since it does not require any nonrenewable resource, and it does not require a dam, heavy capital expenditures and does not change the landscape. The system of the present invention has minimal environmental impact. 
   Hydroelectric power converts the kinetic energy of falling (moving) water into electric energy by running the water through a turbine. The water turns the turbine which in turn spins a generator which converts the kinetic energy into electricity. The self-cleaning hydro delivery system includes a building which may be rectangular and may have a high impact wall at one end of the building to protect the building. The building can be constructed of block, concrete or steel or any other suitable material. Water enters the building by one or more water inlet doors which our constructed several feet below the water level. The building includes a grate floor which may cover the entire surface of the building to catch debris from the water source. The grate includes holes to allow the water to flow through while retaining the debris. The size of the holes can be varied in order to accommodate the tolerances of the turbines. The water flow can be regulated by inlet doors which are movable and suspended by cables over openings. The water from my stream or river may include a large amount of mud, sand or other debris suspended within the water. High pressure nozzles stir the water so that it does not congeal to cause a problem for the turbines. These high-pressure nozzles are connected to a high pressure pump which may be located on the top of the facility. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a top view of the self cleaning hydro delivery system; 
       FIG. 1   a  illustrates a cross-sectional view of the self cleaning hydro delivery system; 
       FIG. 1   b  illustrates another cross-sectional view of the self-cleaning hydro delivery system; 
       FIG. 1   c  illustrates another cross-sectional view of the self-cleaning hydro delivery system; 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a side view of the high-pressure sediment nozzle and primer pump of the self-cleaning hydro delivery system; 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a top view of the water inlet doors of the self-cleaning hydro delivery system; 
       FIG. 4  illustrates a side view of the water inlet doors of the self-cleaning hydro delivery system; 
       FIG. 5  illustrates an end view of the water inlet feed trough of the self cleaning hydro delivery system; 
       FIG. 6  illustrates a detail of the inlet opening area of the self-cleaning hydro delivery system. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     FIG. 1  shows the self-cleaning hydro delivery system  100  which includes structure walls  30  and a high impact wall  1  to provide additional protection for the system  100  from the debris that flows in the water stream  32  under high volume conditions. Positioned along the waterside wall  30  are several guard beams  15  which are secured in the bank of the water stream  32  and support interlocking cables  16  which may be made from steel to the prevent large debris from entering the self cleaning hydro delivery system  100 . The waterside wall  30  includes at least one water inlet door  17  which opens and closes to regulate the amount of water from the water stream  32  that enters the self cleaning hydro delivery system  100 . The support interlocking cable  16  is positioned in front of the water inlet door  17 .  FIG. 1  shows a water inlet trough  22  to allow water to flow from the water stream  32  to the water inlet door  17 . The water inlet trough  22  could be replaced with other means such as a pipe to convey water from the water stream  32  to the water inlet door  17 . The principles of the invention are applicable to other fluids including water 
     FIG. 1  additionally shows an inlet pipe  10  which connects the self-cleaning hydro delivery system  100  with the turbine  40  to convey clean water to the turbine  40  which powers the electric generator (not shown). The inlet pipe  10  is shown substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the self-cleaning hydro delivery system  100 , but other orientations for the inlet pipe  10  are within the scope of the present invention. A high pressure fluid line  13  is shown positioned along the inlet pipe  10  and includes self-cleaning nozzles  14  for self cleaning. The high-pressure fluid line  13  is connected to the inlet pipe  10  downstream as a source of clean water.  FIG. 1  shows two high pressure flush lines  13 , but one or more than two are within the scope of the present invention.  FIG. 1  shows a maintenance office  6  with a door  7  positioned between the high-pressure fluid lines  13 . However, the location of the maintenance office  6  could be anywhere in the self-cleaning hydro delivery system. 
     FIG. 1   a  shows a cross-sectional view along the line A—A as shown in  FIG. 1 . A slide track  19  is mounted on waterside wall  30  to provide a track for the water inlet door  17  so that the water inlet door  17  can be opened and closed. The interlocking cables  16  are shown positioned in an X pattern, but other patterns could be used. The water inlet door  17  is connected to support cables  21  so that the water inlet door  17  can be opened and closed. The grate floor  12  is a filter and is shown below the water line and includes holes so that the water may pass through and the debris is filtered out and remains on the grate floor so that only debris free water is sent to the turbine. Inlet pipe  10  includes an inlet pipe opening  20  so that clean water may enter the inlet pipe  10 . While  FIG. 1   b  shows the inlet pipe  10  rising above the water level, other configurations are possible. 
   Near the high impact wall  1 , a trolley crane mount  2  is positioned and includes a trolley crane  3  to lift large debris from in front of the waterside wall  30 . The grate floor  12  is shown that extending from one end of the self cleaning higher hydro delivery system to the other. However, the grate floor  12  could cover a portion of the self-cleaning hydro delivery system  100 . A back flush and primer pump  8  is used to pump water from the inlet pipe  10  to the high pressure flush pipe  13  and to the self-cleaning nozzles  14 . Thus, when the back flush and primer pump  8  is activated, the self-cleaning nozzles  14  spray water on to the bottom  34  which will mix the water before it enters the opening  20 . 
   A suction line  11  is connected to back flush and primer pump  8  to suction water near the bottom  34  of the self-cleaning hydro delivery system  100 . This suction action from the suction line  11  aids in mixing the water. 
     FIG. 1   b  shows an end view of the self cleaning hydro delivery system  100  opposite to the high impact wall  1 . The high pressure flush line  13  is positioned adjacent to the inlet pipe  10  so that the self-cleaning nozzles  14  can spray water in the neighborhood and near the opening of the high-pressure flush line  13 . Additionally shown is the water inlet trough  22  extending from the water stream  32  to the waterside wall  30  and the water inlet doors  17  to allow water from the water stream  32  to flow to the water inlet door  17 . Additionally,  FIG. 1   b  shows stairs  5  extending from the a maintenance office  6  to the grate floor  12  so that the operators of the self-cleaning hydro delivery system  100  can descend from the maintenance office  6  to the grate floor  12 . 
     FIG. 1   c  shows details of the high-pressure self-cleaning nozzle  14  and the high pressure flush line  13 . 
     FIG. 2  shows the high-pressure self cleaning nozzle  14  and the back flush and primer pump  8  of the self-cleaning Hydro delivery system  100 . The high pressure self cleaning nozzle  14  is connected to high pressure flush line  13 . Water is pumped from the supply line  9  and suctioned from the suction line  11  to the back flush and primer pump  8  and the back flush and primer pump  8  pumps the water to high pressure flush line  13 . 
     FIG. 3  shows the relationship between the water inlet doors  17  and the guard beams  15  with respect to the interlocking cable  16  to prevent large pieces of debris from entering the self-cleaning hydro delivery system  100 . The guard beams  15  support the interlocking cable  16 . 
     FIG. 4  shows support cables  21  to lift and lower the inlet doors  17  thereby adjusting the amount of water that can enter the self-cleaning hydro delivery system  100  through water inlet opening  20 . The inlet door  17  moves up and down on the slide track  19 . Other apparatus and methods could be used to control the amount of water that can enter the self-cleaning hydro delivery system  100 .  FIG. 4  additionally shows the grate floor  12  is positioned so that the water can flow through the grate floor  12  once the water has entered the self cleaning hydro delivery system  100 . 
     FIG. 5  shows the water trough  22  below the surface of the water and the inlet door  17  positioned partially below the surface of the water. Also the grate floor  12  is positioned below the surface of the water. 
     FIG. 6  shows the details of the water inlet opening  20 . The surface of the water  16  is located above the grate floor  12  so that the water  16  can drain through the holes in the grate floor  12 . The water inlet opening  20  is protected by the interlocking cable  16  which is positioned directly in front of the water in the opening  20 . The interlocking cable  16  is supported by the guard beams  15 , and the interlocking cable  16  is formed in a substantially X shape. However, other configurations for the interlocking cable  16  are within the scope of the present invention. 
   While the present invention has been described in terms of various embodiments, it should be understood that variations on the disclosed aspects of the present invention are within the scope of the present invention.