Hydro Alternative Energy, Inc., an emerging independent power provider, recently announced that after almost four years of research, development, legal and technical work, it has received from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, a Notice of Allowance (NOA) for its Hydrokinetic Energy Conversion System, patent application number US 13/679,268. This technology, which incorporates various valve systems, has the potential to allow for the extraction of power from ocean currents and provide for a clean source of electricity.
Hydro Alternative Energy’s Hydrokinetic Energy Conversion System with Buoyancy and Ballast Controls to Harness Underwater Currents for the Generation of Electrical Power, has a combination of an inline turbine and a radial water flow shroud comprising of a plurality of circumferential hydrofoils. The system has a source of compressed air provided to the radial shroud, along with a plurality of valves intermediate to the source of compressed air and the ballast chambers. Valves are used to control the flow of air into the ballast chambers and the release of air from the ballast chambers. The control system has sensors as control inputs, monitoring depth or elevation above the ocean floor, pitch, yaw and roll of the radial shroud. The control system generating valve control, commands respective valves to inject or release air to-and-from corresponding ballast chambers in respective ballast defining circumferential hydrofoils.