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US 2019/0154003 A1Published application
Multi-Tether Clock-Face De-Twist
AssigneeMakani Technologies LLC
InventorCharles Nordstrom
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Airborne turbine systems with multiple aerial vehicles connected via multiple tethers to a shared ground station are disclosed. The ground station includes a multi-tether clock-face de-twist apparatus with a de-twist element that rotates along with the looping aerial vehicles. The de-twist element may be passively rotated through torque applied via the tethers or may be actively rotated via a drive system.
Claims17
An airborne wind turbine system, comprising:
- a ground station comprising a de-twist element, wherein the de-twist element is rotatable about a de-twist axis in a plane normal to an elevation axis;
- a plurality of aerial vehicles;
- and
- a plurality of tethers, wherein each tether of the plurality of tethers comprises an electrical conductor, wherein a distal end of each tether of the plurality of tethers is coupled to an aerial vehicle of the plurality of aerial vehicles, and wherein a proximate end of each tether of the plurality of tethers is coupled to the de-twist element.
1 more element
An airborne wind turbine system, comprising:
- a ground station comprising a de-twist element, wherein the de-twist element is rotatable about a de-twist axis in a plane normal to an elevation axis;
- a plurality of aerial vehicles;
- and
- a plurality of tethers, wherein each tether of the plurality of tethers comprises an electrical conductor, wherein a distal end of each tether of the plurality of tethers is coupled to an aerial vehicle of the plurality of aerial vehicles, and wherein a proximate end of each tether of the plurality of tethers is coupled to the de-twist element;
- a de-twist carrier, wherein the de-twist carrier carries the de-twist element;
- a ground station base;
- a rotary elevation joint, wherein the rotary elevation joint is coupled between the de-twist carrier and the ground station base, wherein the rotary elevation joint rotates about the elevation axis;
- and
- a rotary azimuth joint, wherein the rotary azimuth joint is coupled between the de-twist carrier and the ground station base, wherein the rotary azimuth joint rotates about an azimuth axis.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.