Smart Product Innovations of Juno Beach Fl has been awarded the ConocoPhillips Energy Prize for their latest innovation, the ECO-Auger™, a hydrokinetic machine that converts moving water from river and ocean currents to renewable electric energy. Chosen as a one of five finalists from more than 150 proposals, the ECO-Auger™ team, led by Scott Anderson, was presented the award at a ceremony held at ConocoPhillips corporate offices in Houston, Texas on October 20, 2009.
The ECO-Auger’s™ hydraulic accumulator storage system assures constant energy output and evens out the normal tidal cyclic variations. Designed with tapered helical leads on each end rather than sharp edges, the machine does not impact marine wildlife.
The ECO-Auger™ is driven by moving water forcing the machine to rotate. This rotation is directly coupled through planetary gears to a high-pressure hydraulic pump located in the machine’s nose cone. The nose cone, which is tethered to bridges or anchored in moving water, stabilizes the torque generated from the rotation and transfers it to the hydraulic pump. The pump supplies variable volumes of high-pressure fluid at set controlled pressure, regardless of the direction or speed of rotations. This pressure feeds an oil-driven electric generator that delivers constant electrical current through a VRS (Voltage Regulation System).
Constant power generation is achieved through the ECO-Auger’s™ unique hydraulic pump. As the ECO-Auger™ rotates; the high-pressure oil flows through check valves to an array of standard air oil accumulators that are connected directly in line to the oil motor driving the electric generator. The oil to the electric generator is sized below the maximum gallons per minute of the ECO-Auger’s™ hydraulic pump, allowing the pumped oil to be supplied to the motor, while the excess volume is stored in the accumulator. This storage system, which is monitored by a computer to assure maximum energy stability, stores enough energy to supply the generators during the ebb of tidal flow.
“Our SPI team has worked with intense dedication on this invention. We worked through many failures and disappointments with no proof that our invention would ever really capture hydrokinetic energy.
We proved the ECO-Auger™ would capture energy from moving water. I am so proud of our team. ConocoPhillips and Penn State University recognized the huge potential of this simple, yet unique device, and the fact that it will not injure marine life. They knew it would have a worldwide impact.” States Scott Anderson, CEO of Smart Products Innovations.
 The ConocoPhillips Energy Prize is a joint initiative of ConocoPhillips and Penn State to recognize new ideas and original, actionable solutions that can help improve the way the nation develops and uses energy.
“We intend to use the awarded funds to push harder, faster and further to prove the validity of this device to capture clean, renewable energy for all mankind.” Concludes Anderson.
Smart Product Innovations is an experienced manufacturing/design firm bringing great minds together to offer premier consumer lifestyle products to the market. For more information on the ECO-Auger™ and the award-winning line of Smart Product Innovations, please contact Mike Graham at 877-441-8368 or visit on the web at www.smartproductinnovations.com. |
