Understream turbine plant

Claim 1

An understream turbine plant for generating electrical power by means of the flow of a large understream effluent comprising a large housing having a large water flow passage therethrough, a single impeller mounted within said passage in a plane transverse thereto and adapted to drive an electrical generator mounted in said housing and sealed from exterior liquid contact, said impeller including a plurality of impeller blades mounted at their inner ends to a hub and radially extending therefrom in said plane and secured at their outer ends to the inner surface of a ring member, said ring member rotatably mounted in bearings and in bearing seal means sealing the interior of said housing from said exterior liquid, drive coupling means engaged with said ring member and said generator to drive said generator by means of understream effluent passing through said opening, means to mount said housing in an ocean understream effluent such as the Gulf Stream with said passage aligned with the flow of said understream, insulated conductor means connected to said generator and passing in a sealed through said housing to conduct electricity from said generator to a location above an ocean surface, said bearing seal means including a smooth annular bearing surface on each side of said ring member, a pair of annular bearing rings respectively annularly engaging said bearing surfaces, support means annularly supporting each of said bearing rings to said housing, and annular resilient seal means annularly disposed under compression between said housing and at least one of said support means to provide a liquid seal therebetween and continuously urging said bearing rings into sealed bearing engagement with said bearing surfaces.