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US 2012/0261918 A1Published application
Atmospheric energy extraction devices and methods
OwnerJohn Hanbackinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for producing electricity includes a tower capable of adding moisture at the top of the tower to hot-dry air so as to generate a downdraft of wind within the interior of the tower, vanes coupled to the exterior of the tower that at least partially define elongated pockets at the exterior of the tower, flaps located within the pockets configured to redirect incident wind downwards, and at least a first wind tunnel configured to receive the redirected incident wind so as to convert such wind to electricity.
Claims20
An apparatus for producing electricity, comprising:
- a tower having first sprinklers capable of adding moisture at the top of the tower to hot-dry air so as to generate a downdraft of wind within the interior of the tower so as to create generated wind at the bottom of the tower;
- vanes coupled to the exterior of the tower that at least partially define elongated pockets at the exterior of the tower, and flaps located within the pockets configured to redirect incident wind downwards to create captured wind at the bottom of the tower;
- and
- at least a first wind tunnel configured to receive at least one of the generated wind or the captured wind, and convert at least one of the generated wind and the captured wind into electricity.
1 more element
A method for producing electricity, comprising:
- adding moisture at the top of an energy tower to hot-dry air so as to generate a downdraft of wind within the interior of the energy tower so as to create generated wind at the bottom of the energy tower;
- capturing incident wind using vanes coupled to the exterior of the tower that at least partially define elongated pockets at the exterior of the tower, and flaps located within the pockets configured to redirect incident wind downwards to create captured wind at the bottom of the tower;
- and
- converting at least one of the generated wind or the captured wind to electricity using a first wind tunnel.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.