3. PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION

BACKGROUND:

In today's world one of the most significant problems faced by the nations all over the globe Is the scarcity of power. It is obvious that any country's development/growth is greatly dependent on the availability of power. A large amount of power goes un utilized in many areas and one such area or application is during the movement of trains over the rails. The enormous amount of energy available due to weight and motion of the trains Is not utilized in an effective manner. This invention illustrates an effective, ecological and economical way of generating electricity from the compression of the tracks when the train moves over it. (Using hydraulics).

PRIOR ART:

There are some publications relevant to generation of electricity using movement of trains on a railway track. In the Indian patent application 886/CHE/2008, the Invention deals with generation of electricity from movement of trains over the track by using transmission gears that are placed under both the sides of the track. In the US patent application 7148581, the invention deals with generation of electricity from the motion of trains by using capacitors. In the US patent application 20090195122, the invention deals with generation of electricity from the motion of trains by using piezoelectric generator. In the European patent application WO 2005/119055, the Invention deals with generation of electricity from the motion of trains (braking energy) by using springs to store energy. In the European patent application WO 2009/145544, the invention deals with generation of electricity from the motion of trains by using vibration generator and gear trains, in the European patent application WO 2009/098673, the invention deals with generation of electricity from the motion of trains by using piezoelectric generators. However hydraulics is not made use of in generating power.

SUMMARY:

Our invention deals with generation of electricity using the movement of trains over the tracks, i.e. converting the available kinetic energy to useful electrical energy in an effective, economical and ecological manner.

4. DESCRIPTION

The movement of the train over the tracks causes a vertical deflection of the tracks. The defection value depends on the weight of the train. A shock absorber system is placed beneath the tracks which absorbs the shocks produced by the movement of the train over the tracks. The shock absorber system is connected to a Piston (through a lever system) which moves inside a hydraulic cylinder. The lever system is employed to scale the deflection (to magnify the value of deflection). The movement of the piston rod inside the cylinder causes the turbine blades to rotate for few minutes. The duration of turbine shaft rotation can be increased by utilizing a momentum conservation system (such as Gears or Flywheel). A dynamo connected to the turbine shaft helps in generating electricity. Thus the motion (Weight) of the train over the tracks is used to generate electricity.

The designed mechanical system is as shown in the figures 1(a), 1(b) and 1(c). This application can also be used in other scenarios where high pressure (Force) is available for short durations due to large weights, for example speed breakers on the road, aero plane runways etc.

Fig. 1(a) shows the shock absorption system placed beneath the railway tracks. This system makes use of shock absorption plate (2) attached to a spring (3). The spring and the shock absorption plate are supported by a base plate (4). This complete system is placed below the tracks (below the sleeper) as shown in fig. 1 Whenever a train moves over the track (1), there is downward deflection of the track (1) which is absorbed by the spring system.

The deflection or the displacements of the track is small in magnitude. To magnify or to scale the value of displacement, a simple lever system is employed which is as shown in fig. 1(b). The shock absorption plate (2) is connected to a connecting lever (6) using a revolute joint. The other end of the connecting lever (6) is joined to piston rod (7) through a revolute joint. The connecting lever is placed on the fulcrum (5) enabling magnification of the obtained displacement. The lever system ensures magnification of the displacement and also retains the vertical motion. The Piston rod (7) is connected to the Piston (8) through a spherical joint. The piston moves vertically inside the hydraulic cylinder (9). Any movement/deflection in the absorption plate (2) causes the lever system to move which in turn leads to movement of the piston (8) inside the hydraulic cylinder (9). The hydraulic cylinder (9) is filled with hydraulic fluid. The hydraulic cylinder (9) is provided with inlet (12) and outlet tubes (11) which are connected to the outlet and inlet of a turbine casing (14) respectively. Check Valves (10) are placed inside these tubes to ensure one way flow of the fluid in the tubes. At the end of the outlet tube (11) (near to the turbine inlet), a nozzle (13) is provided to build up the pressure (force) of the fluid, When the piston (8) moves inside the hydraulic cylinder, the hydraulic fluid is pushed through the outlet tube (11). The pressurized hydraulic fluid, through the nozzle (13) impinges on to the turbine blades (15) causing them to rotate within the turbine casing (14). The used fluid passes through the outlet of the turbine casing and flows back to the cylinder (9) through the inlet tube (12) as shown in fig. 1(b). The hydraulic fluid is circulated continuously. The Piston (8) provided is of spring return type and hence ensures that the piston (8) is back to its original position after the upward movement. This complete system comprising of Levers, Piston rod. Piston, Cylinder, Turbines etc is called as the motion converter system (shown in fig. 1(b)).

This motion convertor system is connected to a third system called as the Power Generation System as shown in fig. 1(c). The Power Generation system comprises of Flywheel (17), Coupler (18) dynamo shaft (19) and a Dynamo (20). The turbine blades set (15) is mounted on the turbine shaft (16) which rotates when the blades (15) rotate. This turbine shaft (16) is in turn connected to a Flywheel (17) and then to a coupler (18). A dynamo (20) is connected to the dynamo shaft (19) which is connected to the coupler (18). The flywheel is used to conserve the momentum gained after every stroke. The rotation of the turbine blades (15) causes the dynamo shaft (19) to rotate thereby generating electricity through a dynamo (20).

Effectively, the hydraulic system is used as a prime mover which is connected to a DC Dynamo by means of a suitable coupler. The coupler can be designed so as to increase the duration of rotation of the dynamo shaft. The DC power generated by the dynamo can be used to charge the DC Batteries utilized in the railway systems and platforms (a 12V, 100Ah battery can easily be charged). Thus the mechanical energy is converted to usable electrical energy.

I / We claim -

1. This invention is about generating electricity, using compression motion of tracks generated during movement of train over the railway track, by hydraulic system connected to the tracks and the referred hydraulic system consisting of (a) shock absorption system, (b) motion converter and (c) power generator system-as shown in fig 1.

2. The Shock absorption system referred in claim (1) comprises of a shock absorption plate (2), spring (3) and a base plate (4). The entire system is placed beneath the railway tracks. The movement of the train over the tracks causes the shock absorption plate (2) to move vertically downward. The springs (3) ensure that the plate is back to its original position after every downward movement. The shock absorption plate (2) is connected to the connecting lever (6) which, in turn, is connected to the piston rod (7). Further the piston rod (7) is connected to the piston (8) which moves inside the hydraulic cylinder (9). The piston is of spring return type facilitating smooth facilitating smooth movement of the piston inside the cylinder. When the shock absorption plate deflects, the piston rod and hence the piston reciprocates inside the hydraulic cylinder. [fig 1(a)]

3. The Motion converter referred in claim (1) comprises of fulcrum (5), connecting lever (6), Piston rod (7), Piston (8), Hydraulic cylinder (9), Outlet Tube (11), Inlet tube (12), Check Valves (10), Nozzle (13), Turbine casing (14), Turbine blades (15) and turbine shaft (16). Further, the hydraulic cylinder (9) is connected with an inlet (12) and outlet pipe (11) through check valves (10). These pipes are, in turn, connected to the turbine casing (14) in which the turbine blades (15) are placed. The check valves (10) ensure one way flow in the tubes. A nozzle (13) provided at the end of the outlet tube ensures that the desired pressure is built to rotate the turbine blades. When the piston moves inside the cylinder, the hydraulic fluid moves through the tubes and impinges on to the turbine blades causing them to rotate. The hydraulic fluid is circulated within the tubes and the cylinder. The turbine shaft connected to the turbine rotates along with the turbine, [fig 1(b)]

4. The Power generation system referred in claim (1) comprises of a Flywheel (17), Coupler (18), Dynamo shaft (19) and dynamo (20). The flywheel is used to conserve the momentum gained during each stroke. The turbine shaft referred in claim (3) is connected to the flywheel which, in turn, is connected to the coupler. The coupler is further connected to a dynamo shaft to which a dynamo is connected, [fig 1(c)]

5. Due to the motion of the train over the tracks, the piston reciprocates in the cylinder, which causes the pressurized fluid to impinge on the turbine blades thereby rotating it. Since the turbine shaft is connected to the flywheel, coupler and the dynamo, electricity is generated whenever the turbine blades rotate. The energy generated by this method, referred in claim (1), can be utilized for charging of batteries which can be used for various purposes.