1309 results about "Windmill" patented technology

A vertical axis windmill is provided wherein the amount of wind directed to blades in the power producing part of rotation and the mechanical load of multiple generators is controlled by a feedback control to maintain a relatively constant rotational frequency of the shaft of the windmill. In a preferred embodiment, two wind foils extend radially outwardly from the blades to thereby provide a scoop capable of pulling in more air than would normally be received by the blades. The wind foils then direct the wind flow to the power producing part of rotation of the blades for maximum power output, when necessary. The wind foils can close to control the wind flow to the blades. The generating capacity of a plurality of generators is also controlled in response to shaft rotation to maintain substantially constant shaft rotation.

A windmill includes a freely rotatable revolution shaft, a plurality of pairs of pivotal support rods provided at the revolution shaft, and wind receiving blades respectively and rotatably set between the pivotal support rods with wind receiving blade shafts. The windmill is applied to the driving of a lifting pump, a generator and the like by employing revolution driving force. An anemometer / anemoscope measures wind velocity and direction. A servo motor controls the direction of the wind receiving blades based on the detected velocity and direction. Various methods of control are also provided.

Wind power plant with a wind turbine with a turbine shaft with which a generator shaft, which can be an extension of the turbine shaft, is connected to the rotor (12) of an electric generator. The rotor is radially surrounded by a stator, the turbine shaft is journalled in two bearing housings with bearings arranged on a base at the top of a tower, the base is pivotable around a vertical axis, and a motor is provided to effect the pivoting. The generator shaft is integrated with or rigidly connected to a flexing turbine shaft, the stator and rotor are carried by the generator shaft, to allow the generator to follow the flexing movement of the turbine shaft and the stator is locked against turning by a non-rotatable coupling which transfers substantially no bending moment or axial force acting against the flexing of the turbine shaft due to the bending moment acting on the turbine shaft from its hub, the bearings being provided to allow flexing of the turbine shaft.

The present invention relates to a wind energy generating and storing system comprising methods and apparatuses for providing energy dedicated for immediate use and energy storage, to provide electrical power on an uninterrupted and continous basis, to locations remote from an electrical power grid. In a large application, the invention contemplates having a predetermined number of windmills dedicated for immediate use, and a predetermined number of windmills dedicated for energy storage, as compressed air energy in one or more high pressure tanks. A hybrid windmill having the ability to simultaneously switch between energy for immediate use and energy storage can also be provided.

A hydroelectric power plant uses a plurality of windmills connected to compressed air generators to produce pressurized air. Pressurized air is used to drive water through a turbine to produce electrical power. The water is recycled and the power plant includes reserve pressurized air tanks to allow the plant to continue to operate when the wind levels are not sufficient to produce high pressure air. The power plant is designed to be operated on a continuous basis based on wind power. When the wind subsides and the reserve capacity has been exhausted, electricity can be drawn from the local utility supplier. When excess power is generated by the power plant, electricity from the power plant can be added to the grid of the local electricity supplier.

A piezoelectric windmill configured to handle small scale wind flow. One embodiment the piezoelectric windmill solves problems associated with harvesting energy and generating electric energy or power using piezoelectric materials having significant advantages over previously available materials.

A stackable, vertical axis windmill comprised of a braced external frame that enables stacking of multiple windmill assemblies. Couplings are located on both ends of the vertical rotor shaft to enable stacking and the transmission of power, an internal wind flow cavity, and controlled wind guides is described. The external frame includes structural bracing that allows for two or more windmill to be stacked one upon another to optimize the use of land or rooftop space for the generation of electricity from wind power. The computer controlled wind guides automatically close partially in high wind conditions in order to prevent damage to the windmill. The internal wind flow cavity allows wind to transfer power to both the windward and leeward rotors blades. The rotor axis is constructed so that all bearings can be replaced without dismantling the structure.

A wind turbine generator, an active damping method thereof, and a windmill tower in which vibrations of the wind turbine generator itself or the windmill tower can be reduced at low cost are provided. The acceleration due to vibrations of a nacelle (13) is detected with an accelerometer (17) attached to the nacelle (13). In an active damping unit (20), a pitch angle of windmill blades (12) for generating a thrust on the windmill blades (12) so as to cancel out the vibrations of the nacelle (13) is calculated on the basis of the acceleration, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command δθ* for damping. On the other hand, in a pitch-angle control unit (30), a pitch angle of the windmill blades (12) for controlling the output to be a predetermined value is calculated, and the pitch angle is output as a blade-pitch-angle command θ* for output control. The blade-pitch-angle command δθ* for damping is combined with the blade-pitch-angle command θ* for output control using a subtracter (40). The pitch angle of the windmill blades is controlled on the basis of the resulting blade-pitch-angle command after combining.

The author suggests a new method and a new inexpensive, large blade-rope type wind rotor, that will be suspended at high altitude and produce huge quantities of energy. The air installation embodiment includes (FIG. 25): propeller 220, wing 226, rope transmission 229, electric generator 12 located at ground. Water rotors can utilize energy of ocean and sea streams. The invention contains 11 projects: 6 for air, 1 for a river, 3 for the sea and ocean, and 1 for ships. They have a power capacity of up to 60 MgW (air), up to 200 MgW (water) for one unit. The suggested installations have the following advantages: 1. Huge power production capacity-up to 5000-10000 times more than conventional ground-based rotor designs. 2. The rotor operates at high altitude of 1-14 kilometers, where wind has high speed and high stability (permanent flows). 3. The installation is much less expensive compared to conventional currently-employed windmills, partly because no tower is necessary to fix the rotor in space. 4. Wind energy is free -environmentally friendly.

To provide a wind turbine generator, a wind turbine generator system, and a power-generation control method of a wind turbine generator that are capable of improving the power-generation capability and reducing the fatigue load on the windmill. A data accumulation unit 25 sequentially accumulates data sets of a generated output power P during operation of the wind turbine generator, an incoming wind speed Ws estimated on the basis of a wind speed measured at the anemometer, and a wind direction deviation, which is the difference between a wind direction θw measured at the anemoscope and the orientation of the nacelle; statistical analysis of the data accumulated is carried out by an analyzing unit 26; a distribution curve corresponding to the wind direction deviation of the generated output power at each incoming wind speed is determined; the wind direction deviation corresponding to the peak of the distribution curve is set as a correction value θd of the anemoscope; the correction value of the anemoscope for each incoming wind speed is stored in the wind-direction correction table 27; the wind direction Vw measured at the anemoscope is corrected with the correction value θd of the anemoscope for each incoming wind speed Ws; and power-generation control is carried out using the corrected wind direction as a control parameter.

Method and apparatus for treatment of a surface of a rotor blade of a windmill, the apparatus being placed in such a manner to be moveable in relation to the surface of a rotor blade, and the apparatus being caused to move depending on a form of treatment determined by means for treatment mounted on, in or next to the apparatus. In this manner, various forms of treatment of a rotor blade may be carried out such as for instance washing, finishing, sealing, etc.

The present invention provides a wind-turbine rotor-blade hoisting apparatus that enables attachment and removal of wind-turbine rotor blades without using a plurality of heavy machines and that enables attachment and removal of wind-turbine rotor blades on a site having a complex land shape with little flat land, a method for attaching a wind-turbine rotor blade, and a method for constructing a wind power generator. The present invention is characterized in that it includes a sheave (14) that guides a hoisting wire (17) from a rotor head (4), to which a wind-turbine rotor blade (6) is to be attached, toward the wind-turbine rotor blade (6) and that is arranged so as to be movable in a direction along the rotation axis of the rotor head (4); a retaining portion (15) that retains an attaching end of the wind-turbine rotor blade (6) such that a line connecting the center of gravity of the wind-turbine rotor blade (6) and a connecting portion, to which the hoisting wire (17) is connected, crosses the longitudinal axis of the wind-turbine rotor blade (6); and a winch (12) that is disposed on the ground and that draws the hoisting wire (17) to wind up or let out the retaining portion (15).

A spirometer is provided which has an air flow path comprising a mouthpiece, filter (such as an air filter or biostatic filter), and an air pathway in which a multiblade transparent windmill rotor rotates when air travels through same. Tips of the rotor are used to detect the rate of rotation providing a train of pulses linearly proportional to the volume of air flowing through the cylindrical air path.

Disclosed is a wind power generating apparatus in which windmill blades are mounted in a multi-stage fashion to a rotating shaft while being spaced apart from one another to efficiently generate wind power. Each windmill blade includes blade bodies mounted to the rotating shaft, and provided with wind pressure adjusting holes, wind pressure adjusting plates coupled to each blade body, and connected together to a wire, each wind pressure adjusting plate being slidable along guides respectively arranged at opposite sides of the associated wind pressure adjusting hole to adjust an opening degree of the wind pressure adjusting hole, elastic members each adapted to connect one end of the associated wire to the associated blade body, and winches each adapted to connect the other end of the associated blade body, the winches being mounted to a single shaft to simultaneously wind or unwind all wire.

Deployable submarine hydroelectric generator for conversion of kinetic energy of deep ocean currents into electricity by having an electric generator mounted in a sealed hydrodynamic, buoyant vessel with tail fins, and connected by a shaft to a rotary turbine blades at the tail end of the submarine vessel, which vessel is anchored at desired depth to the bottom of the ocean by a cable. The drag of the turbine blades causes the vessel to self-steer against the direction of the ocean current. An electric cable is also provided, connecting said electric generator with electric grid on the land. Such generator is out of sight, unlike windmills, and is environmentally friendly to the sea life, due to slow rotating blades. This clean electricity can also be used for production of low cost hydrogen by electrolysis of sea water.

In order to transport large size windmill towers, the invention suggests a steel tower (1) for a windmill, comprising a number of cylindrical or tapered tower sections (2), at least the wider sections (2) of which being subdivided into two or more elongated shell segments (3), which combine into a complete tower section (2) by means of vertical flanges (6) tightened together, e.g., by bolts (10), said shells being also provided with upper and lower horizontal flanges (4), respectively, to allow interconnection of tower sections (2) one on top of the other.

A turbine engine emergency power system includes low and high pressure spools, the lower pressure spool including a low pressure compressor. A turbofan is coupled to the low pressure spool. The turbofan drives the low pressure spool in a windmill condition in which the low pressure turbine fails to provide rotational drive to the turbofan. A generator is rotationally driven by the low pressure spool in the windmill condition. A gear train is used to increase the speed of the generator in one example. In one example embodiment, a centrifugal clutch is used to selectively decouple the generator from the low pressure spool at a predetermined engine speed, which corresponds to normal operating speeds when the turbine engine is under power.

A power generation plant ship (1) of the present invention having a body (2) with a propulsion mechanism (7) includes a solar power generation system (3), a wind power generation system (4) for obtaining electric energy by driving a generator by rotating a windmill (4a) by receiving wind power, and a storage battery (6) for storing the electric energy generated by the respective power generation systems (3, 4).

Systems and methods for disposing and supporting a solar panel array are disclosed. The embodiments comprise various combinations of cables, support columns, and pod constructions in which to support solar panels. The solar panels can incorporate single or dual tracking capabilities to enhance sunlight capture. The embodiments encourage dual land use in which installation of the systems minimizes disruption of the underlying ground. Supplemental power may be provided by vertical axis windmills integrated with the columns. Special installations of the system can include systems mounted over structures such as parking lots, roads and aqueducts. Simplified support systems with a minimum number of structural elements can be used to create effective support for solar panel arrays of varying size and shapes. These simplified systems minimize material requirements and labor for installation of the systems.

The drive device is provided for inclusion in a windmill with two counter-rotating screws. The shafts of the screws are each connected to a spindle of an epicyclical gearbox, the third spindle providing the energy for the user. The device further comprises a brake device simultaneously acting on the two shafts of the screws. In particular, said device permits the installation of a second screw on a windmill mast designed for a single screw on a windmill mast designed for a single screw, thus greatly increasing the power supplied.

An environmentally friendly combination wind turbine and solar energy collector is provided. Solar panels are mounted on the surfaces of a wind turbine such that the combined energy from the wind turbine and the solar panels are provided as an output.

The windmill assembly is a low drag, streamlined body of revolution that captures the kinetic energy content of the accelerated laminar air surrounding the body. The assembly includes a power-generating, wind-driven turbine that is compact, lightweight and capable of producing a substantially greater output than a conventional windmill with a comparable size rotor. The turbine includes a protruding aerodynamic nose and outer cowling that provide a streamlined, wind-collecting inlet section that constricts the incoming air stream and increases its velocity through the turbine blades. The turbine further includes an exit section designed to exhaust the air stream with a minimum of turbulence. One or more generators are coupled to a turbine wheel, and are electrically switched on and off to maximize the energy capture over the full range of ambient winds. The wind turbine assembly may be configured around a blimp-type body having counter-rotating turbine assemblies.

It is an object of the invention is to provide a vertical axis wind turbine and a wind turbine blade, which are excellent in self-starting performance and have a high torque constant. Since the present invention comprises a wind receiving plate 40 having a wind receiving surface and an openable and closable pivot 42, which wind receiving plate 40 is operated to close in the direction in which the centrifugal force is produced in proportion to the revolution of a blade 18 generating a lifting power, and an energizing means (such as spring 44) for energizing an opening force to open the wind receiving plate to the wind receiving side, the starting performance of the lift type wind turbine can be improved by means of the wind receiving plate 40, which opens at a low revolution of the blade 18 so as to function as a drag type wind turbine, and automatically closes at a high revolution of the blade 18 so as to function as a lift type wind turbine.

A lift-type wind turbine having a substantially vertical rotating shaft and a plurality of substantially vertical blades secured to the shaft. Each blade includes a front portion, a rear portion, and a pivot axis pivotally securing the rear and front portions. The rear portion pivots relative the front portion. The blades additionally include bottom and top edges positioned on each of the front portions. Each bottom edge is arranged substantially equidistant from the shaft proximate a first circumference extending substantially horizontally about the shaft, whereas each top edge is arranged substantially equidistant from the shaft proximate a second circumference extending substantially horizontally about the shaft. The blades are angled relative to the rotating shaft. The blades have an open, drag means position as well as a closed, lift means position, and passively switch between the positions based on wind speed for efficient rotation.

The windmill assembly is a low drag, streamlined body of revolution that captures the kinetic energy content of the accelerated laminar air surrounding the body. The assembly includes a power-generating, wind-driven turbine that is compact, lightweight and capable of producing a substantially greater output than a conventional windmill with a comparable size rotor. The turbine includes a protruding aerodynamic nose and outer cowling that provide a streamlined, wind-collecting inlet section that constricts the incoming air stream and increases its velocity through the turbine blades. The turbine further includes an exit section designed to exhaust the air stream with a minimum of turbulence. One or more generators are coupled to a turbine wheel, and are electrically switched on and off to maximize the energy capture over the full range of ambient winds. The wind turbine assembly may be configured around a blimp-type body having counter-rotating turbine assemblies.

An improved interface for renewable energy systems is disclosed for interconnecting a plurality of power sources such as photovoltaic solar panels, windmills, standby generators and the like. The improved interface for renewable energy systems includes a multi-channel micro-inverter having novel heat dissipation, novel mountings, electronic redundancy and remote communication systems. The improved interface for renewable energy systems is capable of automatic switching between a grid-tied operation, an off grid operation or an emergency power operation. The interface provides for monitoring and for detecting performance and / or faults in power sources such as photovoltaic solar panels.