AU6228080A - Wind turbine - Google Patents

Description

. WIND TURBINE Background of the Invention The invention is directed to a wind turbine to provide power from one of natures most abundant sources of hourly available energy. The wind turbine consisting essentially of a central rotor having scoop-like blades and outer air guides of a special construction which direct air to the rotor for rotation of the latter. The wind turbine is provided in numerous sizes to vary its uses, to save other types of fuels and to meet zoning and environmental requirements.

Summary of the Invention The invention is directed to a wind turbine normally mounted upon a vertical axis. The turbine in general consists of a rotor having a series of circumferentially spaced bisected cylinders which provide semi-circular shaped blades or collectors of some height to receive air directed to them. Each collector has an inner edge riveted or welded to the rear portion of an adjacent collector to prevent the flow of air into the area inside the collectors. The collectors are secured on opposite ends to an upper and lower plate which in turn are secured to spiders. The spiders each have a central bearing hub which is connected to a central driven or take off shaft. An upper bearing receives the upper end of the shaft for rotation and is supported in a plate which extends inwardly from the roof which covers the wind turbine. A lower bearing receives the lower end of the shaft for rotation therein and is supported on a base mount.

The rotor unit is surrounded by a plurality of circumferentially spaced vertically extending air guide panels to deflect incoming air to the collectors to rotate the latter. The air guide panels extend on a straight line outwardly from the rotor unit but free of the unit so that the latter can rotate therein. The outer edge of each panel has a nose cone construc¬ tion for air pattern division and resistance to wear.

The upper area between each vertical air guide panel is closed by an upper horizontal extending air guide panel which slopes downwardly toward the rotor unit and the lower area between each panel is closed by a horizontally lower air guide panel which slopes upwardly toward the rotor unit. In addition, each upper and lower horizontally extending panel is canted slightly in a direction complementary to a respective opposite panel. The described slant and canting of the upper and lower horizontal air guides provides a construc¬ tion whereby the velocity of the air currents cap¬ tured by the wind turbine is increased in its passage to the rotor which builds up the air pressure delivered to the rotor.

The wind turbine is supported on a frame struc¬ ture at the bottom in a position spaced from the support¬ ing surface so that the shaft driven by the rotor can extend downwardly to drive a take off unit and thus provide energy to a receiving source, not shown. Brief Description of the Drawings Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the preferred embodiment of the wind turbine of the invention; Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of

Fig. 3;

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail view illustrating the upward slope and canting of the lower closure hori¬ zontally extending guide panel.

Detailed Description of the Invention Referring to the drawings, there is shown a wind turbine 1 having in general a central rotor 2 sec- ured to a central take off shaft 3 driven by air applied to rotor 2 and supported in longitudinally spaced relation on the frame 4 from a supporting surface 5 such as concrete or the like.

The rotor 2 is surrounded by circumferen¬ tially spaced vertically extending air guides or panels 6 in turn secured to a support 5.

The upper spaces between the air guides 6 are closed by upper horizontally extending panels or air guides 7. The lower spaces between the air guides 6 are closed by lower horizontally extending air . guides 8. The wind turbine is completed by a roof

9 which covers the top of the rotor 2 and the res¬ pective panels or air guides 6 and 7, and the vertical guides or panels 6 -at the upper end are secured to the plate 9a provided as part of roof 9. More specifically, the rotor 2 is construc¬ ted of a plurality of circumferentially spaced inter¬ locking and elongated scoopes or air collectors 10 which are normally in effect bisected cylinders that provide the semicircular shape of collectors 10. However, collectors 10 could be of various different scooplike shapes. The inner end of each collector

10 is welded or riveted to the back of an adjacent collector 10 as shown at 11 to prevent the flow of air to the interior 12 of the rotor 2. Collectors 10 may be of substantially any. length and for the best operation, range from twelve to thirty in number with variance of the length being based on the size of wind turbine 1, zoning codes and specified uses. Collectors 10 are secured on the opposite ends to the upper and lower closure plates 13 which cover the collector ends and in turn are secured to the spiders 14. Plates 13 inhibit entry of air to the inside of rotor 2 and thereby prevent air turbulence within rotor 2. Spiders 14 each have a central bearing hub .15 which is connected to the driven or take off shaft 3. Shaft 3 at each end is lodged in the bearings

-_£TREA 17 for rotation therein, the upper bearing 17 being supported on plate 16 extending from roof 9 'arid the lower bearing 17 on the base mount 18. Rotation of the collectors 9 by air currents rotates shaft 3 within bearings 17. The collectors 9 could be vertically banked to build a higher turbine unit in which case additional spiders 14 would be employed.

Power may be taken off from shaft 3 at the lower end by a power train consisting of a drive gear 19 secured to the shaft 3 and engaging a driven gear 20 connected to a horizontal shaft 21 which drives an element, such as a pulley or the like, not shown.

Vertical air guides 6 which surround rotor 2 extend on a straight line adjacent the collectors 9 of rotor 2 to the outside of the structure and ^'ter¬ minate within the outer end of roof 9. The spacing of air guides 6 from collectors 9 allows rotor 2 to freely rotate inside air guide 6. Air guides 6 are spaced circumferentially a greater distance from each other at the outer end than at the inner end to pro¬ vide a funnel-like passage for air currents to rotor 2 in a gradually narrowing passageway to aid in building up pressure in the air flowing in the wind turbine. The number of air guides 6 may vary but the best results have been obtained when twelve are utilized because guides - Then provides improved direct flow to rotor 2. The straight line extent of air guides 6 prevents air turbulence from building up between the guides by air flowing off one guide and into an adjacent air guide.

Air guides 6 are also provided with a rounded shape at the outer ends 22 to offer less resistance to the incoming air and to decrease wear of the guides 6. The increase of the pressure of the air in its inward passage to rotor 2 is also developed by several other constructions.

O PI Referring to Fig. 2, the upper space or area between air guides 6 is closed by upper hori¬ zontally extending air guides 7 which are secured to air guide panels 6. Upper air guides 7 in their extent to rotor 2 gradually slope or are tilted down¬ wardly and are slightly canted as at 23. In addition, the lower space or area between air guides 6 is closed by lower air guides 8 and as shown in Fig. 4, in-their extent inwardly of the wind turbine 1 air guides 8 gradually slope or are tilted upwardly and are also canted as at 24. The canting of the upper air guides 7 is complementary to the lower air guides 8.

The slope and cant of the lower horizontal air guides 6, for satisfactory reuslts as illustrated in Fig. 4 may range at an angle from 0° to 30°-55°. on the upper side and at an angle from 0° to 20°-35° on the lower side of air guide 6. Assuming, for example, that the range on the upperside of the hori- zontal air guides 6 was from 0° to 30° and on lower side from 0° to 20°, then the cant on the inner edge would be at an angle of approximately 10°. The previous description would also be applicable to the upper horizontal air guides 6 as the tilt and cant of the upper and lower air gudies 6 are provided comple¬ mentary to each other.

These described constructions increase the velocity of the air and builds up pressure in the air for discharge to the rotor 2 to rotate the latter. The inner portions 25 of the lower air guide

8 is secured to and supported on the frame 4 and the upper air guides 7 are supported on roof plate 16.

The lower portion of wind turbine 1 as. shown in the drawings, is open through the vertical air guide panels 6 but in service it might well be closed so that access to the rotating shaft and gear train could not be made and to protect these parts from the elements. In some constructions the vertical air guide panels 6 need not extend to support 5, and likewise the rotor 2 could be supported for rotation within air guide panels 6 in a number of different ways. The funnel type pattern of control employed has yielded an air thrust ratio of 3.5 to 1 from point of entry to point of collector contact. Ratio results from one test indicated that a constant 12 mph wind achieved a 42 mph collector thrust for the propulsion drive. Because the vertical air guides encircle the collector rotor there is only minimal thrust loss during wind change direction and near zero back pressure is encountered on the collectors as each collector is riveted or welded to the preceding one. The wind turbine has been described for use in a vertical position but it is contemplated that in some applications it could be used in a horizontal position.

Various modes of carrying out the invention are contemplated as being within the scope of the follow¬ ing claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which is regarded as the invention.

O

Claims (6)

We claim:

1. A wind tunnel comprising a centrally located rotor having a plurality of circumferentially ^' spaced scoop shaped collectors facing in the same direction and having their inner ends secured to¬ gether to prevent air from flowing to the area inside the assembled collectors, closure plates at opposite ends of the rotor to which the collectors are secured for support, said closure plates preventing entry of air into the inside of the rotor through the re¬ spective ends to prevent internal turbulence in the

• rotor, means securing the closure plates to centrally located longitudinally spaced hub members, a central rotatably shaft extending through the hub members and secured thereto to be rotated by the hub members in turn rotated by air currents engaging the collectors, longitudinally spaced bearing means receiving the end portions of the central shaft to support the latter for rotation therein.

2. The wind tunnel of claim 1, and a plurality of circumferentially spaced air guide panels disposed around the rotor but free thereof and extend¬ ing outwardly from the rotor on a generally straight line to thereby provide funnel-like passages to -the rotor for direct air flow thereto, additional guide panels closing the area at the opposite ends of the circum¬ ferentially spaced air guide panels, and the additional air guide panels being gradually sloped toward each other in their extent from outside the wind tunnel to the rotor to increase the velocity of the air current flowing to the rotor and building up the pressure of the air discharged into the rotor to rotate the latter and produce energy from the air currents.

3. The wind tunnel of claim 2 and the addi¬ tional air guide panels being canted complementary to an opposite air guide panel to further increase the pressure of the air discharged to the rotor.

4. The wind tunnel of claim 3 and the outer edges of the air guide panels being rounded to decrease resistance to movement of the air currents through the air guides and to the rotor.

5. The wind tunnel of claim 3 in which the means securing the plates to the hub members are spiders, the plurality of circumferentially spaced air guides disposed around the rotor extend in a vertical direction, and the additional air guide panels extend in a hori¬ zontal direction to close the area between the oppo¬ site ends of the air guide panels.

6. The wind tunnel of claim 3 in which, the slope and cant of the additional air guides at both the top and bottom of the wind tunnel slope is on the one side at an angle from 0° to 30°-50° and on the other side at an angle from 0° to 20°-35°.

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