Method and System for Water Transportation

Description TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention refers to a method and system for the transportation of water.

BACKGROUND ART

Technological advances in the modern age include the development and construction of water transportation infrastructures. Water transportation infrastructures that exist today can be either small scale or large scale. A large scale water transportation infrastructure can refer, for instance, to the transportation of water from the water source area (lake, river, spring, reservoir, and so on) to remote areas for agricultural, industrial and domestic use. In a great many places throughout the world, such infrastructures are designed to transport water over distances of hundreds and even thousands of kilometers. Existing water transportation infrastructures are essentially based on the three following components: reservoirs, piping, and water pumps.

In most cases, the route along which the water is transported is not straight but includes obstacles such as mountains, hills, cliffs and so on, which require to lift the water to a higher place (using a pump) and then letting the water flow to a lower place (by force of gravity).

The methods and systems that currently exist for the transportation of water in cases of such height obstacles are based on the following stages (depicted for instance in Drawing No. 1): (a) Water is pumped from the starting point A in the initial reservoir (100) using a pump (2), and is transported through a pipe (10) to a second reservoir (200) located either on the obstacle or at the peak of the obstacle (3) (such as a mountain, hill, and so on). The water flows from the second reservoir (200), through a pipe (20), down the obstacle (the said mountain or hill) to a third reservoir (300) located at the bottom of the valley, and from there, through a pipe (300), to the next stop, and so on and so forth, until the water reaches its final destination.

The water is transported from the upper reservoir (200) down to the lower reservoir (300) by letting it flow freely in the pipe by force of gravity, using the pressure column method or by letting it flow in an open conduit.

When the water transportation route is especially long, it may include a significant number of such obstacles. In other words, when water is transported from starting point A to its final destination, it is customary to lift the water to the top of the obstacle and let it flow downwards, over and over again for each height obstacle along the route, until the final destination. It happens, not infrequently, that there no height differential exists, or that only a relatively small height differential exists, between the water transportation's starting point and its final destination. In addition, due to the need to overcome obstacles (such as mountains, hills and so on), a great deal of energy is spent on lifting the water to the top of each obstacle, when following this, the water is allowed to flow back down. This is repeated for the next obstacle, and so on and so forth.

The water is lifted the starting point (100, Drawing No. 1) (of from any other low point) to the reservoir located at the nearest peak along the route (200) using water pumps (2), which operate in a variety of methods (pressure, compression, vacuum, and so on), and require high and expensive electrical capacities. The electrical consumption of the water pumps sometimes amounts to several percent of the electrical consumption of the entire country.

The methods and systems described above are known to any average expert in the field and, therefore, a description of the pumps' structures and modes of operation is deemed unnecessary.

The method and system (1), subject of the present invention, are designed to render the said water transportation methods and systems more efficient so as to offer very significant savings in the electrical consumption required in order to transport the water.

THE INVENTION

The present invention refers to a method and system (1) designed to render more efficient the methods and systems that exist today for transporting water. The method and system (1), subject of the present invention, are based on different positioning of the water pumps and reservoirs used in cases of height obstacles (mountains, hills, cliffs and so on).

Drawing No. 2 depicts the same route as is depicted in Drawing No. 1. Nevertheless, Drawing No. 2 depicts the method and system (1), subject of the present invention, designed to transport water from starting point A, the water source (100), to a reservoir (300) located on the other side of the obstacle. The method and system (1), subject of the present invention, are based on positioning the water pump (2) at point B, on the downside of the obstacle (3), on the side opposite the side on which the water source, A, is located. Alternately, the pump may be positioned at point A or, in appropriate cases, two pumps may be installed: One pump (2) at point B and a second pump (4) at point A. The location of point B is (somewhat) lower than the height of starting point A.

The water pump (2) is run, pumping water from the reservoir (100) at point A, through the pipe (10) until point B, where it flows into a reservoir (250). After a relatively short time during which the pump (2) operates, the pipe (10) becomes completely full of water, and according to a physical principle, when the action of the pump (2) is stopped, water continues to flow from the reservoir (100) at point A to the reservoir (250) at point B, due to the force of gravity acting on the water in the right-hand side (RlO) of the pipe (10) [i.e. the segment of pipe that extends from the peak (10T) to point B]. The mass of the water in the right-hand part (RlO) is greater than that of the water in the left- hand part (LlO) of the pipe, and the water has inertia as it flows through the pipe (1), from the reservoir (100) at point A to the reservoir (250) at point B.

While the pump (2) is active, it is both possible and feasible to use an additional pump (4) (that operates according to the principle of compression) that will be located near point A. One of the main conditions for the continuous flow of water from point A to point B is that the pipe (10) is completely full of water.

In order for this condition to be fulfilled, it is possible and desirable to use a pipe (10) with a relatively small diameter or a pipe that is composed of several parallel pipes, each with a relatively small diameter, so that each of the narrow pipes will be full of water so as to enable the continuous flow of water from point A to point B without the need to use the pump (2) [except for a short period of time at the beginning of the water transfer process]. The fact that the pipe (10) is composed of several narrow pipes enables the operator to use a different number of pipes at any time, according to the required water consumption. As mentioned, pumping may be executed using pump (2) or pump (4) or both. In addition, using a pipe (10) that is composed of several pipes with relatively small diameters, enables to use a pump with a relatively low output (and hence, is less expensive) At first, the pump will pump water through one narrow pipe, and after the water in the said pipe starts flowing by force of inertia, the pump will be connected to a second narrow pipe, and so on and so forth until water is flowing by force of inertia through all of the narrow pipes that make up the pipe (10).

The method and system (1), subject of the present invention, can be implemented in any case in which a height obstacle exists; in other words, when a height obstacle is located between starting point A and point B, which is located at another, lower point beyond the said height obstacle. A height obstacle can be a mountain, a cliff, a hill, a wall, a building or any other kind of obstacle of any size. The drawings and explanations that accompany the application refer to a natural obstacle such as a hill or mountain, although the application refers to and covers any kind of height obstacle. In addition, the method and system (1) can be implemented several times along the water transportation route, according to the actual situation, i.e. according to the actual number of obstacles along the route. In addition, implementing the method and system (1) does not require that point B be lower than the starting point of the water pumping process. Drawing No. 3 depicts a situation whereby the starting point for the water pumping process (X) is lower than point B due to the topography of the land. In order to implement the method and system (1) in the case depicted in Drawing No. 3, water can be pumped from the reservoir (100) at the starting point X to a reservoir (150) at point A, which is located uphill, on the obstacle.

The water is then transported from point A to point B according to the method and system (1), as mentioned above. The basic components of the method and system (1) (pumps, pipes, reservoirs and so on) are familiar to any average expert in the field and, therefore, a detailed description of them is deemed unnecessary.

The implementation of the method and system (1), subject of the present invention, enables to transport water over high obstacles by taking advantage of both the action of gravitational forces on the water flowing downward in the pipe and of the vacuum that is created, in order to cause the water to flow continuously from point A to point B.

The implementation of the method and system (1) will save the energy

(electricity) that is currently spent on lifting the water to the top of the obstacle by means of a pump that must operate continuously.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is understood that this invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.

The drawings attached to the application are not intended to limit the scope of the invention and the possible ways of its application. The drawings are intended only to illustrate the invention and constitute only one of many possible ways of its application.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Drawing No. 1 depicts an existing method and system for transporting water over an obstacle.

Drawings Nos. 2 and 3 depict the method and system (1), subject of the invention, for transporting water over an obstacle.