Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

An inlet screen for an ocean thermal power plant has an outer side parallel to the ocean current and a plurality of parallel bars extending at an acute angle to the horizontal, wherein the acute angle opens toward the upstream direction of the current. The total area of through openings in the inlet screen receive the predetermined flow requirement of the power plant at a velocity no greater than 0.5 feet per second, so that fish are not sucked against the screen. The vertical spacing between the bars is no greater than one-half of the inner diameter of tubes in heat exchangers in the plant. The spacing between bars is at a minimum at the outer side of the screen, and the spacing increases between the outer side and the inner side, so that objects do not become wedged between the bars. The inlet screen extends sufficiently below the ocean level to accommodate the plant's water flow requirement at a velocity of no greater than 0.5 feet per second, and extends sufficiently above the ocean level to dissipate the energy of ocean waves as they strike walls of the plant, so that the total form of the waves on the plant is reduced.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim