Conversion ring for airborne wind turbines

Abstract

Conversion ring characterized in that the ring consists of a support surface (1) which encloses the buoyancy body.

Description

[0001] According to the current state of the art, no airborne wind turbine operating on the lift principle has yet progressed beyond prototype status.

[0002] The main problem is the weight. If it's too high, the lift force, which is designed to counteract both the weight of the turbine and the wind force via tethers, is insufficient to prevent the turbine from drifting out of the wind.

[0003] The conversion ring consists of a ring that encloses the rotating lift body, rotor blade roots to which the rotor blades are mounted, a support surface on the lift body and a running surface that is approximately perpendicular to the support surface and is enclosed by the drive roller and the counter rollers of the generator.

[0004] The generator is driven to rotate on the running surface by a drive roller, which is pressed onto the track by at least one opposing roller using spring, hydraulic, or pneumatic force. Perpendicular to this is the support surface on the buoyancy body.

[0005] The advantage of rotating buoyancy bodies with conversion ring is 1. the lightweight construction of the rotor as the ring forms the stable mount for the rotor blades 2. the elimination of a gearbox. 3. that the outer skin of the lifting body remains largely free of forces and stresses due to the integration of the rotor blades into the conversion ring and can therefore be constructed with correspondingly small dimensions and light weight. 4. that axial forces acting on the rotor plane due to the wind and attached to holes in or eyelets on the conversion ring are transferred directly to the rotor hub without acting on the hull of the lifting body.

[0006] An advantageous embodiment of the invention is shown in the Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 explains. They show: Fig. 1: a conversion ring with attached rotor blades without lift bodies Fig. 2: Conversion rings installed in an airborne wind turbine List of reference symbols 1 support surface 2 holes or eyelets for pulling ropes 3 Career Generator 4 Rotor blade root 5 rotor blades 6 conversion rings in installed state

Claims

[1] Conversion ring characterized by that the ring consists of a support surface (1) which encloses the buoyancy body. [2] Conversion ring according to claim 1 characterized by that perpendicular to the support surface there is a generator running surface (3) which is enclosed by the drive and counter rollers of the generator. [3] Conversion ring according to one of the preceding claims characterized by that the rotor blades (5) are mounted on one of the rotor roots (4). [4] Conversion ring according to one of the preceding claims characterized by that receptacles for pulling ropes, e.g. holes or eyelets(2) are part of the ring.

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