Solar and wind energy converter

Abstract

A system for converting wind and solar energy for use with an electrical generator, the system includes a wind powered subsystem including: a rotor for receiving wind to generate mechanical energy; and a first shaft for providing a permanent mechanical coupling between the rotor and the electrical generator for transferring the generated mechanical energy to the electrical generator; a solar powered subsystem including: a solar collector for receiving solar energy to generate thermal energy; a thermo-mechanical engine coupled to the solar collector for converting the generated thermal energy into mechanical energy; and a second shaft mechanically coupled to the thermo-mechanical engine; and an interconnection subsystem for selecting between coupling the second shaft to the first shaft for combining the mechanical energy generated by the wind and solar powered subsystems to be transferred to the electrical generator, and decoupling the second shaft from the first shaft.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.