Patent ID: 10738755

Abstract:
Hydrostatic pressure turbine runners according to the present disclosure are designed for maximally exploiting the hydrostatic pressure of a flowing fluid, rather than maximizing extraction of kinetic energy from the flow. The design converts less kinetic energy of the flow into hydropower as compared with current run-of-river turbine runner technologies. However, hydrostatic pressure turbine runners according to the present disclosure convert substantially more potential energy into hydropower. As a result, the total amount of energy converted into hydropower is significantly higher than the hydropower available from conventional run-of-river turbine runner designs, and, without promising any particular utility, may be capable of surpassing the upper limit of converted energy as defined by Betz' law. In a run-of-river context, the total amount of converted energy—mainly converted potential energy—may surpass the amount of kinetic energy of the flow engaged by the turbine runner.