IMMERSIBLE ENERGY GENERATION INSTALLATION

• US 20100201129A1
• Filed: 04/01/2008
• Published: 08/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Voith Hydro Holding GmbH & Company KG (Voith Familien Verwaltung GmbH)
• Original Assignee: Voith Hydro Holding GmbH & Company KG (Voith Familien Verwaltung GmbH)
• Inventors: Perner, Norman, Holstein, Benjamin
• Granted Patent: US 8,368,242 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 290/53
• CPC Class Codes: F03B 13/264 using the horizontal flow of water resulting from tide movement
• CPC Class Codes: F05B 2260/20 Heat transfer, e.g. cooling
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 5/12 specially adapted for operating in liquid or gas combined with cooling arrangements H02K9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 5/1285 of the submersible type
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 5/203 specially adapted for liquids, e.g. cooling jackets
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 7/1823 structurally associated with turbines or similar engines
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 9/00 Arrangements for cooling or ventilating channels or ducts in parts of the magnetic circuit H02K1/20, H02K1/32; channels or ducts in or between conductors H02K3/22, H02K3/24
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 9/197 in which the rotor or stator space is fluid-tight, e.g. to provide for different cooling media for rotor and stator
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 9/225 Heat pipes
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 9/227 Heat sinks
• CPC Class Codes: H02K 9/26 Structural association of machines with devices for cleaning or drying cooling medium, e.g. with filters
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/20 Hydro energy
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/30 Energy from the sea, e.g. using wave energy or salinity gradient

Abstract

A submersible power generation plant includes a water turbine standing freely on a support structure in an ambient flow; an electric generator which is driven at least indirectly by the water turbine;

• • at least one generator component of the electric generator is enclosed by at least one corrosion protection element which seals against ambient water, with cavities within the corrosion protection element each being filled with a heat-conductive medium; at least one pass-through duct being provided for dissipating waste heat from the electric generator, which the pass-through duct conducts the ambient water and leads through the corrosion protection element without entering into any material exchange with a region encapsulated by the corrosion protection element, and a growth protection system arranged on a flow input of the pass-through duct on an upstream side.

Claims

1. A submersible power generation plant, comprising:

a water turbine standing freely on a support structure in an ambient flow;

an electric generator which is driven at least indirectly by the water turbine;

at least one generator component of the electric generator is enclosed by at least one corrosion protection element which seals against ambient water, with a plurality of cavities within the corrosion protection element each being filled with a heat-conductive medium;

at least one pass-through duct being provided for dissipating waste heat from the electric generator, which the pass-through duct conducts the ambient water and leads through the corrosion protection element without entering into any material exchange with a region encapsulated by the corrosion protection element, and

a growth protection system arranged on a flow input of the pass-through duct on an upstream side.

2. A submersible power generation plant according to claim 1, wherein the at least one generator component enclosed by the corrosion protection element is a stator and/or a rotor and/or components of a control and power electronics of the electric generator.

3. A submersible power generation plant according to claim 2, wherein the corrosion protection element encloses a free volume and forms an encapsulated stator region and/or an encapsulated rotor region.

4. A submersible power generation plant according to claim 3, wherein the corrosion protection element comprises a part of a housing and/or an inside wall of a gondola and a can in a gap between the stator and the rotor.

5. A submersible power generation plant according to claim 1, wherein the heat-conductive medium is a fluid medium.

6. A submersible power generation plant according to claim 5, wherein the heat-conductive medium comprises an oil or an ester compound.

7. A submersible power generation plant according to claim 1, wherein the heat-conductive medium is a solid body in granular form or a solid body which was introduced as a casting compound into the plurality of cavities within the corrosion protection element.

8. A submersible power generation plant according to claim 1, wherein the corrosion protection element comprises cooling fins on its outside.

9. A submersible power generation plant according to claim 1, further comprising a heat exchanger apparatus that emits heat from the heat-conductive medium to the ambient water.

10. A submersible power generation plant according to claim 1, wherein the corrosion protection element substantially follows a shape of the at least one generator component enclosed by the corrosion protection element and an installation space of the power generation plant in which the at least one generator component enclosed by the corrosion protection element is placed and flowed through by ambient water.

11. A submersible power generation plant according to claim 10, further comprising a filter system at an inflow opening for supplying the ambient water to an interior of the power generation plant.

13. A submersible power generation plant according to claim 1, wherein the growth protection system comprises a heating device with an associated apparatus for short-time activation of the heating device.

14. A submersible power generation plant according to claim 1, further comprising at least one heat pipe that dissipates thermal energy from an interior of the corrosion protection element.

12. (canceled)