ROTOR POWER CONVERSION APPARATUS AND METHOD

摘要

ROTOR POWER CONVERSION APPARATUS AND METHOD An apparatus for converting fluid flow and pressure into rotational mechanical power at high efficiency, has a hollow pressure-tight rotor with central fluid entrance and radial fluid passages, thrust-jets, a rotor support and bearing means and a fluid supply. The thrust-jets extend from the rotor and impart tangential reaction thrust or torque to the rotor by ejecting fluid approximately tangential to the arc described by the rotor's rotational motion, the thrust being always relative to its point of origin and continuously amplified by the increase in fluid pressure within the rotor due to the enforced rotation of the fluid together with the rotor and the centrifugal force acting on the fluid coincidental to its rotational motion. The rotor has rigid axles attached along its axis of rotation, at least one of the axles being hollow to admit fluid. In one embodiment the rotor is suspended over a fluid reservoir by a solid upper axle with bearings and support frame while the hollow lower axle extends downward from the rotor into the fluid supply beneath the rotor from which fluid enters the rotor through a sealed rotating hollow joint channelling fluid from the bottom of the reservoir via a feed pipe within the reservoir. The upper axle extends through low friction bearings on the upper support frame to provide a power take-off whereby mechanical power may be transmitted by gears, pulleys or the like. Rotor speed governors, an air purging mechanism and a shut-off mechanisms are provided. A method for operating the apparatus is described.