Responsive windmill
OwnerZhong Ai Xiainventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A windmill rotates on a vertical axis, with plural articulated working members circling around. Each working member has a pivotal edge like a vane, a flag or a hinged door, swings on its own axis and is also rotatable around the central axis. On the axis of each working member is furnished a joint controller to restrain the movement of each, flipping and engaging the favorable wind in about ¾ turn of the central axis but disengaging in the rest ¼ turn. The engagement of the controller is elastically releasable on excessive load or over-speeding, allowing the respective working member to skip the engaging temporarily during each rotation.
Claims2
A windmill responsive to the wind blowing across its longitudinal axis, comprising:
- a central shaft being rotatable;
- a rotor structure mounted on the central shaft with plural pivoting working members equally spaced around the central shaft;
- each working member including:
- a working part assembly being mounted on
- a joint shaft which is parallel to the central shaft axis with joint bearings on both ends of the same shaft;
- a controller to control whether swinging or pivoting of each working member, including:
- a radial cam with a portion of inwardly indented surface being mounted on the joint shaft, and
- an assembly of the controller with a follower tip elastically coupling into the inwardly indented surface of the cam;
- the controller being configured normally to allow the respective working-part to skew to a respective rotor arm 30 degrees then swing out 90 degrees about the axis of the respective joint shaft;
- wherein the controller's follower tip is movable outwardly from the central axis against a coil spring;
- wherein the torque encountered tends to push the follower tip out of the indented surface of the cam to make a disengagement of the respective working part in case of over-load;
- wherein the centrifugal force developed by the rotating rotor also tends to push the follower outwardly from the central axis to cause a disengaging movement in case of over-speed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.