Patent Application
20100187819
The present invention relates to a large, safe, highly-efficient windmill. In particular, it relates to a windmill structure that allows increases in windmill size to capture large amounts of wind power for the generation of electricity, with the result that investment costs decline and power generation profits increase, while windpower capture remains safe and long-lasting.
The conventional art is as described in “A Windmill” (Chinese patent ZL 96120092.8, hereinafter referred to as the “Reference Invention”). The art of the Reference Invention lies in solving such conventional windpower system defects as “unstable energy output,” “insufficient safety,” and “higher cost.” Therefore, the Reference Invention employs a plurality of small-area blade assemblies to collect the wind energy of many blades and concentrate it in a central axle. In addition, destructive factors of the windmill system, such as its weight and its shaking, are evenly distributed across the many blades to avoid the damage that results from the concentration of stress on one point. Furthermore, the Reference Invention adjusts the windmill blades so that their windward surfaces are vertical, thereby maximizing the windward area. It adjusts windmill blades that are not facing the wind to make them horizontal and thereby minimizes their resistance. The above-described structure, further complemented by many designs to protect against strong wind and snow accumulations, constitutes the improved windmill structure of the Reference Invention.
However, the design of the Reference Invention is still imperfect. It still has a number of deficiencies that necessitate further improvements. First of all, though the frame of the Reference Invention has a steel beam and column design, it is constrained by the effects of the rotating faces of the windmill blades and is still structurally loose. In particular, in windmills of increased size, when the windmill blades are built to a certain height, their own weight, in addition to the effects of windpower, causes instability of the frame structure and increases the probability of its becoming damaged. Furthermore, the blade design of the Reference Invention is still the traditional design and is unable to effectively concentrate windpower, but allows the windpower to be dispersed everywhere and thereby wastes energy. In addition, the Reference Invention has an inappropriate drive mechanism design in which all blade rotation is controlled from the center outwards. Thus, when larger windmills are set up, the farther out the windmill blades are, the more difficult it becomes to drive them. Furthermore, the windmill blades of the Reference Invention are not properly secured. As a result, when winds are relatively intense, the blades are likely to shake or manifest other undesirable phenomena, thereby diminishing windmill energy efficiency and constituting an obstacle to the building of larger windmills.
Thus, it is clear that the Reference Invention described above and other conventional art have deficiencies that necessitate improvement. In view of the above deficiencies, this inventor set about making improvements and eventually developed the large, safe, highly-efficient windmill put forward by the present application.
The main object of the present invention is to provide a large, safe, highly-efficient windmill, which would allow increased windmill size, reduce investment costs, and increase power generation profits.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a large, safe, highly-efficient windmill that would greatly increase the safety of windmill systems and reduce the demand for personnel and materials.
A large, safe, highly-efficient windmill which can achieve one of the objects described above comprises, on the whole, a plurality of fan vane assemblies stacked on top of each other. Each fan vane assembly comprises a fan vane axle center. At the two ends of this axle are connectors connecting to two fan vane assemblies, above and below, and transmitting motive power, ultimately, to the generator at the base, which generates electric power. Extending from these connectors are vertical H-shaped columns or H-shaped crossbeams. In addition, at the base of the windmill, where there are no fan vane assemblies, there are reinforcing vertical columns, and there is a roof at the top of the frame to prevent the accumulation of snow on the blades. Furthermore, a plurality of blade assemblies extends in two directions from the fan vane axle center. The blades have a curved extension plane at the distal end from the fan vane axle center, such that the extension plane is at an 18-20 degree angle relative to the blade. A rotating shaft is provided above and below the fan vane assembly. Said rotating shaft is equipped with a drive motor, which enables the rotating shaft to control the rotation of a plurality of blades. The rotating shafts are externally provided with horizontal protective rods, and vertical connecting rods are provided between upper and lower pluralities of blades. The vertical connecting rods concentrate the motive power of the blades to the upper and lower horizontal protective rods so as to concentrate the wind energy of the fan vane assemblies to the fan vane axle center. In addition, a wind-direction vane is provided on top of the windmill. This wind-direction vane is connected to a wind-speed switch. Depending on variations in wind direction or wind force, it can change the rotation of the blades to obtain optimal wind energy efficiency.
Please refer below to the detailed descriptions of the preferred embodiments of the present invention and to the attached drawings for a better understanding of the technical contents of the present invention and to the efficacy of its objects. The drawings relating to the embodiments are:
Please refer to
A detailed description follows. The windmill comprises a plurality of fan vane assemblies. Each fan vane assembly comprises the above-described fan vane axle center 2. At each of the two ends of the fan vane axle center 2 is a connector 21, which enables the upper and lower fan vane assemblies to connect and transmit motive power. In addition, a plurality of blade 1 assemblies extends to two sides from the fan vane axle center 2. The blade 1 assembly is composed of a large number of blades 1. Above and below the fan vane assembly are rotating shafts 13 and 14, respectively. The rotating shafts 13 and 14 are equipped with drive motors 31 and 32, respectively, which enable the rotating shafts 13 and 14 to control the rotation of a plurality of blades 1. The rotating shafts 13 and 14 are externally provided with horizontal protective rods 15 and 16, respectively, that concentrate the wind energy from the blade assembles onto the fan vane axle center 2. In addition, there is a wind wind-direction vane 4 on top of the windmill. This wind wind-direction vane 4 can control the rotation of the blades 2.
The blades 1 are supported by an expandable safety structure, which, as shown in
To strengthen the structure, the H-shaped columns 51 that serve as the structural foundation of the frame base are reinforced where there are no fan vane assemblies with vertical columns 53 and with horizontal beams 54 that interconnect horizontally with the vertical columns 53. In addition, the top of the frame is provided with supporting columns 56 and with a roof 55 to prevent snow accumulation on the blades.
The above-described generator 82 can be a generating set consisting of multiple generators driven by a gear box 81 that is axially provided on the bottom fan vane axle center 2. This gear box 81, depending on the intensity of the wind force, transmits motive power to any one or simultaneously to multiple generators 82, which generate electricity.
In addition, as shown in
The diameter of the blades 1 is increased incrementally by adding blades 1. Its safety structure includes:
(1) A vertical connecting rod 17 is provided between the upper and lower horizontal protective rods 15 and 16 in order to transmit the wind energy received by the blades 1.
(2) As shown in
(3) The projections 18 are connected to the spinning axle 12 of the blades 1 at the front end. When the blades 1 are horizontal, the horizontal part of this projection 18 can support the back of the blade 1 to stabilize the blade 1 in a horizontal position. When the blade 1 is vertical, the vertical part of the projection 18 likewise can support the vertical part of the blade 1 and prevent vibrations.
As shown through the analysis above, after each small blade 1 absorbs wind energy, the generated force is transmitted from the two ends of the blade 1 and then from the vertical connecting rod 17 to the upper and lower protective rods 15 and 16.These upper and lower protective rods 15 and 16 collect the force generated by the blade 1 assembly and concentrate it onto the fan vane axle center 2. Because the small blades 1 on the left and right are responsible only for collecting wind energy, the blades 1 do not affect each other. That is, the blades 1 near the fan vane axle center 2 are not responsible for transmitting wind energy collected by the outside blades 1. Therefore, the blade 1 assembly can be increased in size, and the overall structure is safer. In addition, a cover 25 is installed over the top blade 1 assembly. This cover 25 provides protection from snow accumulation so that the blades can keep moving.
In addition, as shown in
The wind-direction vane 4 is also connected to a wind-speed switch 6. The wind-speed switch 6 is connected to a fan-shaped control wheel 61. A plurality of microswitches 62 are provided along the rotation path of the fan-shaped control wheel 61. When wind force increases, the fan-shaped control wheel 62 drives the appropriately-positioned microswitches 62. The microswitches 62 activate the relay 33 to effect reverse-rotation control of the drive motor 31 and thereby adjust the rotation of the blade 1. The drive motor 32 remains unchanged, with the result that some of the blades 1 of the windward-facing blade 1 assembly are horizontal. This reduces the area of the windward surface of the blades 1 and keeps the rotation speed of the fan vane axle center 2 within a safe range.
As further shown in
As further shown in
Please refer to
The lift that can be generated by this lift-generating extension surface 11 is entirely the same as the optimal curve surface P1 relative to wind direction A in a traditional windpower generator P. The following is an analysis of the above: When each blade 1 assembly is at a 90 degree angle to the wind direction A and moves backwards, the vertical windward surface gradually decreases while the escaping wind energy F escaping across the extension surface 11 increases. We can perform analysis and calculations based on an angle of 135 degrees relative to wind direction A. This gives us the equations below:
a. W=Total wind energy of the windmill (windmill height×windmill width)
b. ¼ W=Wind energy of one windmill blade 1 assembly. Since there are four unit assemblies, it is one-fourth of W.
c. ¼ W×cos 45 degrees=0.1767767 W (escaped wind energy F).
d. Given that the above-described escaped energy F=0.1767767 W, and the full quantity passes over the lift-generating extension surface 11, the following forces can be generated:
(1) Lift, the maximum lift that can be generated from an extension surface 11 having an 18-20 degree angle relative to the wind direction A; its coefficient is 1.8.
(2) This force is generated by the extension surface 11 at the distal end of the blade 1. Compared to this force evenly distributed over the entire blade 1 unit (the blade 1 closest to the rotating shaft center to the blade 1 furthest out), it can double (multiply by 2) the force.
(3) When the above-described escaped wind energy F passes over the extension surface 11, the force that it generates can have a maximum value of 0.1767767 W×1.8×2=0.63639612 W.
When a blade 1 assembly in the above-described second quadrant is at a 135 degree angle relative to the wind direction A, there will be a blade 1 assembly at a 45 degree angle to the wind direction A in the first quadrant. Its wind energy is ¼×sin 45 degrees=0.1767767 W. The total wind energy generated by the first and second quadrant blade assembly units is 0.81317282 W, which exceeds the 0.593 W maximum for wind energy absorbed by a traditional wind power generator P.
The above detailed description is a concrete description of a feasible embodiment of the present invention. The purpose of this embodiment is not to restrict the present invention. All equivalent embodiments or modifications that do not depart from the art of the present invention should be included within the present invention.
The present invention provides a large, safe, high-efficiency windmill that increases windmill size so as to capture a large amount of wind power for the generation of electricity. It lowers investment cost, and increases power generation profits while maintaining wind power safely over a long period of time. It can be effectively applied to wind energy power generation technologies.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2007/02653 | Sep 2007 | CN | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN07/02653 | 9/5/2007 | WO | 00 | 1/22/2010 |
