Prime-mover dynamo plants – Fluid-current motors
Reexamination Certificate
2002-01-23
2004-07-27
Ponomarenko, Nicholas (Department: 2834)
Prime-mover dynamo plants
Fluid-current motors
C290S043000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06768218
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an improvement of a small hydroelectric power generator which uses hydroelectric power generated by the flow of water through a faucet.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventionally well-known is an automatic tap apparatus that lets water flow as a sensor senses the presence of a hand placed beneath a faucet.
The configuration of the above mentioned small hydroelectric power generator is briefly described below. In a small hydroelectric power generator, a fluid inlet path and a fluid outlet path are provided in a main case and a partition ring is located therebetween. The water entering the fluid inlet path is divided along a cylindrical wall of the ring and ejected through ejecting openings created in the cylindrical wall.
The ejected water hits on and turns a hydraulic turbine, which is rotatably arranged inside the wall, and exits from the water outlet. A rotator is fixed integrally to a rotary shaft of the hydraulic turbine. The outer circumferential surface of the rotator is magnetized in order to be a rotor magnet. A stator is opposed to the outer circumferential surface of the rotor magnet, interposing a stainless steel partition. A power generating coil is provided in the stator so that, as a magnetic flux enters the stator, the magnetic flux and the coil are inter-linked to generate power.
FIG. 8
shows an example of the configuration of a hydraulic turbine and a rotator (a magnet and a rotary shaft are not included), which are used in the above mentioned small hydroelectric power generator: FIGS.
8
(A), (B) and (C) are respectively a front view, a plan view, and a bottom view thereof. In
FIG. 8
, the hydraulic turbine
3
comprises a rotational center portion
33
which is to be placed around and fixed to the rotary shaft, a plurality of blade members
31
which are joined to the rotational center portion
33
by inner peripheral end portions
33
thereof, and a cylindrical ring portion
32
to which outer peripheral point portions of the blade members
31
are joined. A rotator
4
is formed integrally with the hydraulic turbine.
FIG. 10
shows another example of the configuration of the hydraulic turbine and the rotator used in the above mentioned small hydroelectric power generator: FIGS.
10
(A), (B) and (C) are respectively a front view, a plan view, and a bottom view thereof. The hydraulic turbine
3
comprises the rotational center portion
33
which is placed around and fixed to the rotary shaft, and a plurality of blade members
31
which are joined to the rotational center portion
33
by the inner peripheral point portions thereof. The hydraulic turbine
3
in
FIG. 10
is configured without the ring portion
32
which is present in FIG.
8
.
However, in the above mentioned small hydroelectric power generator, when the flow of the water passing through the fluid path increases, the following problem occurs: when the hydraulic turbine
3
rotates as the water passes by, the outer peripheral point portions of the blade members
31
temporarily block a portion of ejecting openings
22
; therefore, the hydraulic pressure is inconstantly applied onto the blade members
31
.
In other words, each of the blade members
31
of the hydraulic turbine
3
of
FIG. 10
is configured such that the width, d1, of the outer peripheral point portion in the plan view and the width, d2, of the outer peripheral point portion in the bottom view are respectively set to about 1 mm. For this reason, as illustrated in
FIG. 11
containing a sectionally enlarged view, the ejecting openings
22
(The wider the width is, the more the fluid flows; however, the hydraulic pressure is decreased with the wider width and accordingly the power generating capability is reduced. So in this embodiment, the width, d3, is set to about 1.5 mm to obtain an appropriate power generating capability.) for ejecting water inside the water dividing ring-shaped wall portion
2
, which is located between the water inlet path
12
and the water outlet path
13
and in which the hydraulic turbine
3
is provided, are partially blocked by the outer peripheral point portions of the blade members
31
when the hydraulic turbine
3
is turned. Consequently, the hydraulic pressure becomes inconstant and the rotation of the hydraulic turbine
3
becomes imbalanced, causing vibrations to the entire tap. Thus, this increases the rotation noise as well as the vibration noise.
The above mentioned problem occurs with the hydraulic turbine and the rotator of both FIG.
8
and FIG.
10
.
FIG. 9
is a graph of flow rate (liter/min) versus noise (decibel) when the hydraulic turbine and the rotator of
FIG. 8
are used. The noise above 35 decibel occurs at a flow rate of about 6.0 liter/min.
In the same manner,
FIG. 12
is a graph of the flow rate (liter/min) versus the noise (decibel) when the hydraulic turbine and the rotator of
FIG. 10
are used. In the graph, A, B, and C are samples of the hydraulic turbine and the rotator of the same configuration. With each sample, the noise exceeding 35 decibel occurs at a flow rate of about 6.0 liter/min.
As described above, when the sound generated in the small hydroelectric power generator exceeds 35 decibel at a flow rate of about 6.0 liter/min, it becomes a harsh noise to the ear of the user using the automatic tap apparatus.
Thus, the objective of the present invention is to provide a small hydroelectric power generator in which the noise generation is reduced by improving the configuration of the hydraulic turbine.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To achieve the above objective, the present invention provides a small hydroelectric power generator having a main case equipped with a fluid path, a hydraulic turbine arranged in the fluid path and turned as a fluid of a predetermined flow passes by, a rotator connected to the hydraulic turbine to rotate together with the hydraulic turbine, the rotator acting as a rotor portion opposed to a stator portion, so that power is generated by rotating the rotor portion relative to the stator portion as the fluid passes by; wherein a plurality of ejecting openings are provided in the fluid path outside the rotational path of the hydraulic turbine for reducing an area of a flow of the fluid and then for ejecting the fluid; and the hydraulic turbine has a rotational center portion and blade members onto which the fluid ejected from the ejecting openings hits, each of the blade members being formed such that the inner peripheral end portion is joined with the rotational center portion and outer peripheral point portion is extended near the ejecting openings and formed in an edge-shape.
With this, the ejecting openings will not be blocked by the point portions of the blade members of the hydraulic turbine. Therefore, a constant hydraulic pressure is provided. Also, since the water is constantly ejected from the ejecting openings at a plurality of locations, the hydraulic turbine rotates smoothly, thus reducing the rotation noise. Further, the hydraulic pressure and the current are kept constant, and accordingly the vibration noise of the case and the current noise will be reduced.
According to another aspect of the invention, in the above small hydroelectric generator, the width of the portion, which is the point portion of the blade member and formed in edge, in the circumferential direction is set to 30% or less of the width of the ejecting opening in the rotational direction of the hydraulic turbine. For this reason, the ejecting openings are blocked less by the point portions of the blade members of the hydraulic turbine, compared to the one in a conventional configuration. Thus, vibrations and rotation noise which are normally caused by the change in the hydraulic pressure can be reduced.
Also, according to another aspect of the present invention, in each of the above small hydroelectric generator, the plane of the blade member, the side opposite from the plane which receives the fluid, is curved from the inner peripheral end portion to the outer peripheral point portion with the center porti
Elkassabgi Heba
Ponomarenko Nicholas
Reed Smith LLP
Sankyo Seiki Mfg. Co. Ltd.
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