US 11,725,620 B2
Underwater hydroelectric power generation system including a pelton turbine and perforated tubular penstocks
Ernst Kristen Helgoy Kloster, Stavanger (NO); and Rasmus Asp Juhlin, Stavanger (NO)
Assigned to Subsea 7 Norway AS, Stavanger (NO)
Appl. No. 17/288,198
Filed by Subsea 7 Norway AS, Stavanger (NO)
PCT Filed Oct. 25, 2019, PCT No. PCT/EP2019/079293
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Apr. 23, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/084150, PCT Pub. Date Apr. 30, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 1817492 (GB), filed on Oct. 26, 2018; and application No. 1817653 (GB), filed on Oct. 29, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0404433 A1, Dec. 30, 2021
Int. Cl. F03B 13/06 (2006.01); F03B 13/10 (2006.01); F03B 1/00 (2006.01)
CPC F03B 13/06 (2013.01) [F03B 1/00 (2013.01); F03B 13/10 (2013.01); F05B 2230/60 (2013.01); F05B 2240/2411 (2013.01); F05B 2240/95 (2013.01); F05B 2240/97 (2013.01)] 13 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A turbo-generator assembly for producing electrical power underwater, the assembly comprising:
a pressure-resistant shell that defines a sealed internal chamber and is arranged to maintain a gas-filled space within the chamber;
at least one water inlet extending through the shell to effect fluid communication between the chamber and a body of water surrounding the shell;
a Pelton turbine supported within the chamber to turn in the gas-filled space on a spin axis in response to admission of a flow of water into the chamber via the at least one water inlet; and
a drainage receptacle that communicates with the chamber to receive water falling from the turbine, wherein the drainage receptacle is attached to or integrated with an accessory module of a pipeline or with a towhead module of a pipeline bundle, and wherein the shell is separably mountable and sealable to the drainage receptacle;
wherein the assembly is installed on a seabed or the body of water, the spin axis of the turn being generally perpendicular to the seabed;
wherein the at least one water inlet communicates with at least one tubular penstock structure via at least one injector pipe, the injector protruding outward from the shell into the body of water and extending upward toward a surface of the body of water in a direction perpendicular to the seabed,
the penstock structure comprising a tabular body extending outside the shell in the perpendicular direction, the penstock structure comprising an intake portion perforated with a plurality of openings to accept and filter an incoming flow of water from the body of water,
the penstock structure further comprising a tapering accelerator portion disposed between the intake portion and the injector pipe.