Power generation apparatus
OwnerOrville J. Birkestrandinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A power generation apparatus comprises a rotor rotatably mounted to a support and a plurality of vanes extending radially out from the rotor and positioned to be engaged by a moving fluid stream. Each vane includes a wing-shaped main blade having leading and trailing edges, and a co-extensive conditioner blade having leading and trailing edges. The conditioner blade is spaced parallel to the main blade so as to define therebetween a slot having an entrance and an exit. A lift-varying device boarders the slot to vary the lift produced by that vane inversely to the speed of the moving fluid stream so that the rotor turns at a relatively constant rate. The rotor, driven by wind or water, may be coupled to the armature of an induction motor/generator to produce electric power.
Claims18
Power generation apparatus comprising a rotor rotatably mounted to a support, a plurality of vanes extending radially out from the rotor and positioned to be engaged by a moving fluid stream, each vane including a wing-shaped main blade having opposite surfaces, a leading edge and a trailing edge, a co-extensive conditioner blade having opposite surfaces, a leading edge and a trailing edge and being spaced parallel to the main blade so as to define therebetween a slot having an entrance and an exit, and a lift varying device bordering the slot in each vane to vary the lift produced by that vane inversely to the speed of the moving fluid stream;
- further including a cylindrical magnus roller rotatably mounted to the main blade of each vane coaxial to the shank thereof so that the roller protrudes from the opposite surfaces of that main blade and intrudes into the corresponding slot, and a rotation mechanism in each vane for rotating the corresponding magnus roller;
- and
- wherein each rotation mechanism comprises an electric motor having an annular rotor in the corresponding magnus roller and a stator in the corresponding shank radially inboard said rotor.
Power generation apparatus comprising a rotor rotatably mounted to a support, a plurality of vanes extending radially out from the rotor and positioned to be engaged by a moving fluid stream, each vane including a wing-shaped main blade having opposite surfaces, a leading edge and a trailing edge, a co-extensive conditioner blade having opposite surfaces, a leading edge and a trailing edge and being spaced parallel to the main blade so as to define therebetween a slot having an entrance and an exit, and a lift varying device bordering the slot in each vane to vary the lift produced by that vane inversely to the speed of the moving fluid stream;
- wherein said vanes also include radial shanks connecting the corresponding main and conditioner blades of each vane to said rotor, each shank having a longitudinal axis and each main blade being oriented about the axis of the corresponding shank so that the main blades of all of the vanes have substantially the same attack angle relative to the moving fluid stream;
- further including a rotary connection between each shank and the rotor enabling the shanks to be rotated about their respective axes, and an adjustment mechanism in the rotor for rotating the shanks in unison about their respective axes to change the pitch of the vanes thereby changing the attack angle of the main blades;
- and
- wherein the adjustment mechanism rotates all of the shanks in unison so that the attack angles of the main blades are the same.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.