Mitsubishi with patent on geothermal power generation with ultrahigh-pressure water
Mitsubishi turbine at the Hellisheidi geothermal power plant, Iceland (source: flickr/ ThinkGeoEnergy, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
31 Ağu 2011
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries receives patent on geothermal power generation with ultrahigh-pressue hot water, filed in 2010.
Filed in February 2010, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was now assigned a patent on “using ultrahigh-pressure hot water in geothermal power generation.”
According to the abstract posted by the World Intellectual Property Organization: “Provided are a geothermal power generation apparatus using ultrahigh-pressure hot water and a method for using ultrahigh-pressure hot water in geothermal power generation, wherein ultrahigh-pressure ground water such as fossil seawater can be used, and a general-purpose pump can be used as a return pump for returning the water that has been used for power generation into the ground.
The geothermal power generation apparatus has a production well for retrieving geothermal water from the earth, power-generating facilities for retrieving electric energy from the geothermal water by driving a turbine using the thermal energy of the geothermal water, a return pump for increasing the pressure of the geothermal water from which the thermal energy has been removed, and a return well for returning the geothermal water having a pressure increased by the return pump into the earth. A power retrieving turbine for retrieving energy of the geothermal water and reducing the pressure of the geothermal water is provided on a passage of the geothermal water, said passage extending from the production well to the power generation facilities, so that the pressure of the geothermal water is reduced to 7 MPa or less by the power retrieving turbine, and the energy retrieved by the power retrieving turbine is used as a part of driving power for driving the return pump.”
Further information via WIP: http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/ia.jsp?ia=JP2010/052412
