scrub potentially toxic smokestack exhaust (see below)
filter out contaminants while pumping fluids
act as "fish ladders" to assist fish migration upstream
refill hydropower reservoirs upstream
pump blood for cardiac assist
micro-hydraulic circuits for switching/routing
PUMPING Water: lower cost irrigation, heating systems, fire fighting, filling reservoirs, bilge pumps, hydraulic applications, car washes, high rise buildings, pools, fountains, toys.
Separate out contaminants: particulate matter, suspensions, different density liquids.
Manufacturing: pump 2 liquids to mix together; miniaturization to assist in chip manufacturing; micro-hydraulics for new circuits and aircraft controls.
Blood pump: cardiovascular assist [potential to be gentle on RBC's and platelets].
Oil: pipelines, catalytic crackers, engine lube.
Fish ladder: move fish upstream to spawn via open central core of peripheral design model.
Making power generation more ecologically friendly: Helping fish by pumping them upstream around obstacles. The Ribbon Drive Pump peripheral design could benefit hydropower projects.
Pump air to help maintain proper oxygenation for fisheries or lobster ponds.
Worth investigating for environmentally interested organizations.
Applies to scrubbing pollutants [for ex., gaseous or liquid effluent can enter main cylinder space, and the adsorbent or chemical reactant will be sucked inward from the side tubes because of the changing frequency of the coils.] As a pump or propulsor for non-toxic environments, the outer cylinder focuses the water energy. The coils are steep initially, then more gradual toward the exit. Water entering at left is speeded up more by each coil further apart. Ducts [may be configured as an outer, hollow, wheel-like ring and spoke appearance] channel extra water from outer slipstream into inner thrust stream beyond the first coil. This increases exit stream volume and thrust like a turbofan on a jet engine, and reduces cavitation to near zero.
SAFER, QUIETER MARINE PROPULSION DRIVE
Stainless steel prototype, operational, central design, 2nd generation
Stainless steel, entry end, central design; auxiliary flow side inlet ducts visible.
IN THE NEWS--May 18, 2008--2 whales with cuts "apparently caused by a boat propeller" headed upriver from San Francisco !
NEWS ITEMS elsewhere--swimmers cut/gashed/killed by boat propellers. Severe accidents. But,
Wouldn't have happened if boats had used Ribbon Drive propulsors with their motors-- a double helix of coils covered by a cylinder, NOT multiple, individual blades flailing away at the water [and at marine life or swimmers ].
SCIENCE SUMMARY: Since 1999 the Ribbon Drive propulsor--a shrouded, stretched series of coils--has been corkscrewing into the forward wall of water, BORING into it, PULLING ahead. The outer cylinder PREVENTS high energy water from mixing with low energy water until the exit. More ENERGY is added at each coil, increasing exit THRUST out the back. The changing coil angles and continuous vane MINIMIZE cavitation.
How is this technology special?
INCREASED THRUST / EXIT PRESSURE / VELOCITY -- without requiring high RPM's for propulsion or pumping. Functions not unlike the Turbofan of some jet fighters, where ambient air is ducted into the jet engine toward the exit end.
ATTACK THE FRONT WALL OF WATER with a corkscrew action. Multiple, sequential planes keep "grabbing" at the water in front, not just one level of plane with the 3 or 4 blades all on that same plane.
MINIMIZES CAVITATION -- less noise, less erosion of the coils' surfaces.
CONSERVES ENERGY--attention, boat and ship owners:
the same velocity with less fuel, or higher velocity from the usual amount of fuel.
lightweight materials
varying coil angles-->
add incremental force for propulsion or pumping
side ducts:
for adding liquid inside to increase exit thrust/ volume in propulsion
for pumping, add chemicals used in scrubbing exhaust gases / mixing in from the side/ manufacturing
outer containment cylinder:
to separate external low-energy water from inner high-energy water during acceleration
The inventions herein are protected under patents registered USPTO #6,431,926; 6,357,998; 6,527,520; 6.592,335; and patents registered or pending abroad.
Website edited December 24, 2011. Website content copyright 2011 by Ribbon Drive & SCRUBtox, UIE. All rights reserved.
Click on this link to go to the Popular Mechanics article on the stealth drive for silent and more efficient marine propulsion in the June 2003 issue.
