Patent ID: 7081690

Claim:
An electricity production unit to provide for a conversion of energy from a flowing body of water into electricity, the electricity production unit comprising: a) a paddle wheel partially positionable into the flowing body of water, the paddle wheel having: i) a plurality of paddles which repetitively encounter the flowing body of water and move along with the flowing body of water while in contact with the flowing body of water; ii) opposing ends; iii) a central axis about which the paddle wheel rotates; b) mounting means to provide for mounting the opposing ends of the paddle wheel for rotation of the paddle wheel about the central axis of the paddle wheel; c) transfer means to provide for transferring motion from the rotation of the paddle wheel; d) an electricity generator capable of a conversion of the motion of the rotation of the paddle wheel transferred by the transfer means into electricity; e) means to selectively vary a depth of penetration of the paddle wheel into the flowing body of water; and f) control means to provide for measuring a torque of rotation of the paddle wheel and selectively varying the depth of penetration of the paddle wheel into the flowing body of water depending upon the measured torque of rotation of the paddle wheel.