Wind turbine including pivotable blades and annular shroud

Abstract

A wind turbine including a lower mount; a nacelle; a hub rotatably coupled to the nacelle and configured to rotate about a longitudinal axis of the hub; a generator housed within the nacelle and configured to convert kinetic energy of the hub to electricity; a plurality of pivotable blades coupled to the generator and configured to rotate with the hub, each pivotable blade of the plurality of pivotable blades configured to pivot about a longitudinal axis of the pivotable blade; and an annular shroud fixed to the lower mount and located radially outward of the plurality of pivotable blades, the annular shroud coupled to the nacelle by at least one support member that is inclined so as to extend frontward and radially outward from the nacelle to the annular shroud; wherein the lower mount is configured to passively rotate about a mast.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.