Vertical axis wind turbine
AssigneeDME Wind Energy Corporation
InventorsSid J. Reyna, Patrick R. Conarro, Douglas Bachli, Darrin Trussell
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) with improved and optimized wind-directing, wind-shaping, and wind-power conversion features is disclosed. The shapes of these features directly affect the ability of the VAWT to use the power of moving air, such as wind, to spin a rotor and create torque on a rotor shaft to generate electricity. The wind-power-conversion mechanical efficiency of the invention is significantly improved over previous efforts, to the point that the invention can convert wind energy into electrical power at a price-to-performance ratio that competes with or surpasses existing alternative energy technologies.
Claims18
A vertical axis wind turbine, comprising:
- at least one rotor blade adapted to turn a shaft;
- a rotationally symmetric stator skirt, wherein at least a portion of a wind-facing surface of the stator skirt is parabolic, and wherein the stator skirt has a horizontal cross-section of an ellipse;
- and
- at least one stator fin, each stator fin being attached at a bottom of the stator fin to the stator skirt and comprising a fin flip, the fin flip being disposed at an angle of β relative to a longitudinal axis of the stator fin and adapted to compress wind and direct the wind to the at least one rotor blade in a predetermined direction,
- wherein a height-to-width ratio of the vertical axis wind turbine is between 0.1 and 3.0.
A vertical axis wind turbine, comprising:
- at least one rotor blade adapted to turn a shaft;
- a rotationally symmetric stator skirt, wherein at least a portion of a wind-facing surface of the stator skirt is parabolic, and wherein the stator skirt has a horizontal cross-section of an ellipse;
- a rotationally symmetric amplifier skirt, wherein at least a portion of a wind-facing surface of the amplifier skirt is parabolic, and wherein the amplifier skirt has a horizontal cross-section of an ellipse;
- and
- at least one stator fin, each stator fin being attached at a bottom of the stator fin to the stator skirt and comprising a fin flip, the fin flip being disposed at an angle of β relative to a longitudinal axis of the stator fin and adapted to compress wind and direct the wind to the at least one rotor blade in a predetermined direction,
- wherein a height-to-width ratio of the vertical axis wind turbine is between 0.1 and 3.0.
A vertical axis wind turbine, comprising:
- at least one rotor blade adapted to turn a shaft;
- at least one rotor plate attached to the at least one rotor blade at one or both of a top and a bottom of the at least one rotor blade;
- a rotationally symmetric stator skirt, supporting the at least one rotor plate and comprising N identical trapezoidal panels, each trapezoidal panel forming an angle α with respect to a horizontal axis, the stator skirt having a horizontal cross-section of a regular polygon having N sides;
- at least one stator fin, each stator fin being attached at a bottom of the stator fin to the stator skirt and comprising a fin flip, the fin flip being disposed at an angle of β relative to a longitudinal axis of the stator fin and adapted to compress wind and direct the wind to the at least one rotor blade in a predetermined direction;
- and
- a top frame, attached to a top of each stator fin,
- wherein angle α is less than 45° or more than 55°.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.