1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an ocean water drawing system, more particularly to an ocean water drawing system including a working well, a working tunnel, a pipeline disposed in the working tunnel and in fluid communication with the working well and the ocean, and an access tunnel extending downwardly from the ground surface to intersect the working tunnel for access into the working tunnel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional ocean water drawing system includes a well 12 disposed adjacent to a seashore of an ocean 14 and extending downwardly from a ground surface 11, and a pipe 13 made from high density polyethylene (HDPE) and extending from a bottom of the well 12 into the ocean 14 so as to draw ocean water from the ocean 14 into the well 12. The pipe 13 has a horizontal section extending from the well 12 through a soil or a bedrock layer in the vicinity of the seashore and into the ocean 14 at a first level proximate to that of the bottom of the well 12, and an end section disposed in the ocean 14 and extending downwardly from the horizontal section to a desired depth for drawing the ocean water at a second level much deeper than the first level. However, the conventional ocean water system is disadvantageous in that it requires expensive pumping equipment and that maintenance of the pipe 13 requires diving experts and is relatively difficult and inconvenient. Moreover, the end section of the pipe 13 tends to be damaged due to long exposure to the sea water. Furthermore, the drawn ocean water can be contaminated when the end section of the pipe 13 is broken and causes undesired level(s) of the ocean water to enter into the end section of the pipe 13.
To overcome some of the aforesaid drawbacks, referring to FIG. 2, another conventional ocean water drawing system has been proposed. The proposed ocean water drawing system includes a well 16 and a tunnel 15 having an inclined section extending downwardly from a bottom of the well 16, and a horizontal section extending from the inclined section through a soil layer or a bedrock layer in the vicinity of the seashore and into the ocean 14 at a level proximate to that of the horizontal section. The ocean water can flow into the well 16 through hydrostatic pressure without using expensive pumping equipment. However, the conventional ocean water drawing system still has the aforesaid disadvantage of maintaining an outlet 151 of the tunnel 15.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds