JPH07103840B2 - High pressure air manufacturing equipment - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a high-pressure air manufacturing apparatus that utilizes wave power of ocean energy.

[Prior art and its problems] Wave power generation systems have been studied as one of the uses of ocean energy. As an example of this wave power generation, there is an air chamber type, which is an upper part of an air chamber with a bucket reversed as shown in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 62-87185 and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 62-87184. A nozzle is provided in the air conditioner, and the volume change in the air chamber due to the vertical movement of the wave, that is, the compression and expansion of air is converted into an air flow from the nozzle, whereby the turbine is rotated to generate electricity.

However, the compression of air due to wave force, that is, the pressure fluctuation, is very small, and only about 0.1 atm is obtained for a wave height of 1 m. A special air turbine is required on a scale, and as a result, the entire apparatus is large, the mechanism is complicated, and the construction cost per unit output is large.

Further, since the air flow from the air chamber fluctuates according to the magnitude of the wave force that constantly changes, in power generation that directly uses such an air flow, the output also greatly fluctuates, and the power generation output Usage is restricted.

The object of the present invention is to eliminate the disadvantages of the above-mentioned conventional example, to always provide a constant high-speed air flow, and when used for wave power generation, the turbine can be small in size, and a constant power generation output can be obtained and used. An object of the present invention is to provide a high-pressure air manufacturing device capable of expanding the range.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention accommodates a float integrally formed with a piston at an upper part in a caisson having an opening for entering and exiting water by waves, and an air supply pipe connected to a cylinder into which the piston is inserted. Intake pipes are respectively branched and connected above and below the cylinder, and the air supply pipe and the intake pipe are connected to a plurality of air tanks connected in series or in parallel, and the plurality of tanks are connected to the piston and the cylinder. The gist of the invention is that the pump mechanism and the air supply pipe and the intake pipe are connected to each other.

[Action]

According to the present invention, when the seawater enters and leaves the caisson due to waves, the float and the piston integrated with the float move up and down,
The air supplied from the intake pipe into the cylinder is compressed by the vertical movement of the piston to become compressed air, which is sent under pressure to the air tank via the air supply pipe and stored therein.

In this case, the air sent from the intake pipe to the cylinder can also be supplied from the air tank, so the compressed air can be further pressurized to a higher pressure and sent to another tank. Can be operated.

In addition, since the air supply pipe and the intake pipe are branched and connected to the upper side and the lower side of the cylinder, the air stored in the tank can be sent alternately to the upper side and the lower side of the piston, so high-pressure air can be reliably supplied. Obtainable.

〔Example〕

 Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional front view of a pump mechanism portion, which is a main portion of an embodiment of a high-pressure air manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a connection relation of a plurality of air tanks, which is another main portion of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing the present invention, which is composed of a pump mechanism and a plurality of air tank groups communicating with the pump mechanism.

As a pump mechanism, as shown in FIG. 1, a columnar caisson 1 made of concrete or steel having an opening 2 for water inflow and outflow of waves due to waves is installed on the bottom of the sea, and a piston 3 is provided in the upper part of the caisson 1 at the top. The float 4 of which the diameter is almost the same as the inner diameter of the caisson 1 is housed.
A cylinder 5 into which the end of the piston 3 is inserted is fixedly installed in the inner upper portion.

The intake port 6a and the air supply port 7a are located above and below the stroke range of the piston 3 on the wall of the cylinder 5, respectively.
And an intake port 6b and an air supply port 7b. 8a, 8b, 9a, 9 in the figure
Reference numeral b denotes a check valve provided at the intake ports 6a, 6b and the air supply ports 7a, 7b and opened only in the downstream direction.

Reference numeral 13 in the drawing denotes a plurality of holes formed in the upper part of the caisson 1 for ventilation, which smooths the vertical movement of the float 4 and protects the device as a breakwater in the event of abnormal waves.

Then, one end of each of the intake pipe 6 and the air supply pipe 7 is branched to form an intake port 6 formed above and below the cylinder 5.
a and 6b and air outlets 7a and 7b, respectively.

The other end of the intake port 6 and the other end of the air supply pipe 7 are branched, and a plurality (five in the illustrated example) of intake branch pipes 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, and a plurality of (illustrated in the drawings). In this example, four air supply branch pipes 71, 72, 73, 74 are provided, and a plurality of (four in the illustrated example) air are provided through the intake branch pipes 61 to 64 via valves 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d, respectively. On the discharge side of the tanks 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d,
Further, the air supply branch pipes 71 to 74 are connected to the valves 12a, 12b, 12c, 12 respectively.
It is connected to the suction side of the tanks 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d via d, and the remaining intake branch pipe 65 is provided with a valve 11e in the middle thereof.
The other end of was in communication with the atmosphere.

To explain the usage and operation, in order to produce high-pressure air, in the normal case, first, the valve 11e is opened to take the outside air into the intake pipe 6 from the intake branch pipe 65, and the air is introduced into the cylinder 5 from the intake port 6a. Send in.

On the other hand, when the wave rises, the float 4 rises as the water surface rises, and the piston 3 integral with this rises. However, since the cylinder 5 is fixed to the caisson 1 and does not move, the piston 3 moves upward in the cylinder 5, so that the air in the space above the piston 3 in the cylinder 5, that is, the intake port 6a The air taken in 5 is compressed, pushes back the check valve 9a, and is sent under pressure from the air supply port 7a to the air supply pipe 7.

At this time, if the valve 12d provided on the air supply branch pipe 74 communicating with the air tank 10d is opened, the high-pressure air compressed as described above is stored in the air tank 10d.

On the other hand, the space inside the cylinder 5 below the piston 3 is
Since the pressure is reduced by the rise of the piston 3, the check valve 8b
Is opened and the air sent into the intake pipe 6 through the intake port 6b is taken into the space inside the cylinder 5 below the piston 3.

When the wave descends, the float 4 descends as the water surface descends, and the piston 3 moves downward in the cylinder 5.
This time, the air taken into the space below the piston 3 in the cylinder 5 is compressed by the piston 3 and pushes back the check valve 9b to open it from the air supply port 7b through the air supply pipe 7 to the air tank 10d. Pumped.

In this way, not only the air tank 10d but also other tanks 10a
High-pressure air is sequentially sent to ~ 10c and stored there, but when the pressure in the air tanks 10a-10d rises due to the high-pressure air, the load applied to the piston 3 increases accordingly, and the pump The function is decreasing. Further, when the wave height is small, the movement of the piston 3 is so slight that the pump mechanism may not work and air may not be pumped.

In such a case, a method of further driving the pump to produce high-pressure air will be described. For example, in order to further pressurize the high-pressure air to the air tank 10c in which the high-pressure air is already stored, the same level as the air tank 10c is used. The valve 11d of another air tank, for example, 10d, which stores the compressed air is opened to send the compressed air in the air tank 10d to the cylinder 5 through the intake pipe 6.

As a result, on the pump side, the pressure inside the cylinder 5 above and below the piston 3 is balanced and the load applied to the piston 3 is reduced, so that the piston 3 moves up and down again. As a result, the pressure feeding capacity is increased, and the compressed air sent out from the air tank 10d is further compressed to have a high pressure and is newly stored in the air tank 10c. Thus, higher pressure air can be obtained.

Also, when the wave height is small and the wave energy is small,
By sending compressed air into the cylinder 5, the compressed air can balance the pressure in the space above and below the piston 3 in the same manner as described above, and the piston 3 can be moved up and down.

On the other hand, since the pressure of the air tank 10d that has sent out the compressed air is reduced, the load acting on the piston 3 is reduced, and as a result,
It is possible to open the valve 11e, compress the outside air taken in through the intake branch pipe 65 by the pump mechanism including the piston 3 and the cylinder 5, and send the compressed air to the air tank 10d again.

In this way, the air in the high-pressure air tank 10c becomes higher in pressure, and the low-pressure air tank 10d can newly receive air from the outside air to receive low-pressure compressed air. Such an operation can be performed between higher-pressure air tanks, and by appropriately increasing the number of air tanks, it is possible to obtain higher-pressure air within the range allowed by the pressure resistance of the device, thus increasing the energy storage amount. it can.

It is desirable that a pressure sensor is provided in the air tanks 10a to 10d for the opening / closing operation of the valve, and the output is automatically controlled by the output from the pressure sensor.

In the first embodiment, there is one pump mechanism, and a plurality of air tanks are connected in parallel to this pump mechanism. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and as shown in FIG. 3 as the second embodiment. Plural (for example, four) pump mechanisms P ₁ , P ₂ , P ₃ , P ₄ which operate by wave energy as shown in FIG. 1 are provided, and the intake mechanism is provided between these pump mechanisms P ₁ -P _4. A plurality of air tanks 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d may be sequentially connected in series via the pipe 6 and the air supply pipe 7. In such a case, among the pump mechanisms P _{1 to} P ₄ , the pump mechanism located at the intake side end
For P ₁ is the other end of the intake pipe 6 for connecting to the pump mechanism P ₁ is to communicate with the atmosphere.

Then, the air taken in from the intake pipe 6 communicating with the atmosphere is compressed by the first pump mechanism P ₁ and first stored in the air tank 10a, and then the compressed air in this air tank 10a is passed through the intake pipe 6 to the next position. To the pump mechanism P ₂ , where it is further compressed and pressure-fed to the next air tank 10b. Thus the pump mechanism _{P 1, P 2, P 3} , 10b are sequentially compressed again by the P ₄ the air that the high pressure from the air tank 10a by, 10c, to obtain a higher pressure air are sequentially pumped into 10d In the case of the second embodiment, unlike the first embodiment, it is not necessary to provide valves in the intake pipe 6 and the air supply pipe 7, and the capacities of the air tanks 10a to 10d are sequentially compressed to a higher pressure. It needs only a small capacity to store air.

In both the first embodiment and the second embodiment, the pump mechanism is a double-acting type capable of sucking and pumping air in both strokes of raising and lowering the float 4, but the present invention is not limited to this. It is also possible to use a type in which suction and pumping are sequentially performed only by one stroke when the float 4 is raised or lowered.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, since the high-pressure air manufacturing apparatus of the present invention stores high-pressure air, it can always provide a constant high-speed air flow. For example, if this high-speed air flow is used for wave power generation, the turbine can be made small and inexpensive. .

In addition, since the air pressure can be smoothed by the plurality of air tanks, and higher-pressure air can be produced, the range of energy utilization can be expanded. Further, the pump can be operated even when the wave energy is small, which is efficient.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional front view of a pump mechanism portion, which is a main portion of an embodiment of a high-pressure air manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a connection relation of a plurality of air tanks, which is another main portion of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the connection relationship of a plurality of air tanks. 1 ... Caisson, 2 ... Water inlet / outlet opening 3 ... Piston, 4 ... Float 5 ... Cylinder, 6 ... Intake pipe 61, 62, 63, 64, 65 ... Intake branch pipe, 6a, 6b ... Intake port 7 ... Intake pipe , 71, 72, 73, 74, ... Air supply branch pipe 7a, 7b ... Air supply port, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b ... Check valve 10a, 10b, 10c, 10d ... Air tank 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d , 11e, 12a, 12b, 12c , 12d ... valve 13 ... _{hole, P 1, P 2, P} 3, P 4 ... pumping mechanism

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A float having an integrally projecting piston at an upper part is housed in a caisson having an opening for entering and exiting water by waves, and an air supply pipe and an intake pipe connected to a cylinder into which the piston is inserted are branched. Connected to the upper and lower sides of the cylinder and connected to a plurality of air tanks in which the air supply pipe and the intake pipe are connected in series or in parallel, and the plurality of tanks are composed of the piston and the cylinder. A high-pressure air manufacturing apparatus characterized in that they are communicated with each other through a mechanism, an air supply pipe, and an intake pipe.