Wind turbine
OwnerHarold E. Reinerinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An improved vertical axis wind turbine is disclosed. The wind turbine in accordance with one embodiment, does not include a support tower but instead includes a bearing support for mounting a torque tube rotatably connected to blades, the bearing support being secured to ground by a plurality of guy cables. The torque tube may comprise a plurality of tube sections including an intermediate bearing and additional guy cables for supporting the torque tube to the ground in a vertical orientation. In another embodiment of the present invention, control means are disclosed for independently controlling the pitch of respective wind turbine blades in response to relative wind direction.
Claims19
A wind turbine comprising:
- a base secured to ground;
- torque generating means responsive to wind including a plurality of blades disposed radially outwardly from a rotatable hub, said blades being effective for rotating said hub upon application of wind over said blades for generating torque;
- a torque tube having a lower end, and an upper end fixedly attached to said hub for rotation therewith;
- a first bearing support rotatably connected to said torque tube upper end;
- a second bearing support disposed on said base and rotatably connected to said torque tube lower end;
- a plurality of guy cables fixedly connected to said first bearing support and to said ground at a distance from said base for maintaining said torque tube in a vertical position;
- and
- power take-off means disposed on said base and operatively connected to said torque tube for obtaining power from said torque generating means transmitted through said torque tube.
A wind turbine comprising:
- a base secured to ground;
- torque generating means responsive to wind including a blade disposed radially outwardly from a rotatable hub, said blade being effective to rotate said hub upon application of wind over said blade for generating torque;
- a torque tube having a lower end, and an upper end fixedly attached to said hub for rotation therewith;
- a first bearing support rotatably connected to said torque tube upper end;
- a second bearing support rotatably connected to said torque tube lower end;
- said first and second bearing supports being effective for supporting said torque tube to said base;
- power take-off means operatively connected to said torque tube for obtaining power from said torque generating means transmitted through said torque tube;
- and
- control means responsive to relative wind for controlling pitch of said blade.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.