Patent Application
20140183871
The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:
Wind turbine companies commonly use custom designed rotors and wind vanes affixed upon an alternator for energy production. These rotors and wind vanes affixed to an alternator are welded/bolted onto large vertical towers. The large vertical towers are bolted into a cement foundation outdoors creating a wind turbine system.
A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or pumping water, the device is called a windmill or wind pump.
Developed for over a millennium, today's wind turbines are manufactured in a range of vertical and horizontal axis types. The smallest turbines are used for applications such as battery charging or auxiliary power on sailing boats; while large grid-connected arrays of turbines are becoming an increasingly large source of commercial electric power.
Wind turbines are designed to exploit the wind energy that exists at a location. Aerodynamic modeling is used to determine the optimum tower height, control systems, number of blades and blade shape. Wind turbines can be divided into three components:
A 1.5 Mega Watt (MW) wind turbine of a type frequently seen in the United States has a tower 50-80 meters high. The rotor assembly (blades and hub) weighs 48,000 pounds (22,000 kg). The nacelle, which contains the generator component, weighs 115,000 pounds (52,000 kg). The concrete base for the tower is constructed using 58,000 pounds (26,000 kg) of reinforcing steel and contains 250 cubic yards (190 cubic meters) of concrete. The base is 50 feet (15 m) in diameter and 8 feet (2.4 m) thick near the center.
Although Mega Watt wind turbines generate large amounts of electricity, can be located on land and in water, and has proven to be an effective system, nevertheless they simply do not possess the flexibility for urban inner city home and commercial usage, they are expensive and need large machines for delivery of essential components and installation, and is intermittent in nature as it generates energy only when the wind blows. These systems also entail large amounts of land for use.
Smaller wind turbine systems function better within smaller areas. The US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) defines small wind turbines as those smaller than or equal to 100 kilowatts. Small units often have direct drive generators, direct current output, aero elastic blades, lifetime bearings and use a vane to point into the wind. The smaller wind turbine systems are designed for a small tower with a foundation at ground level or upon a roof top. Although less expensive to manufacture and entail less to install, and cost less to the consumer for purchase, such systems violate some local residential property codes and standards, needs an open area for constant winds, and adjacent property owners objection to the installation of such systems due to the potential of property value lost. Thus, to generate wind electricity within the urban inner city one must have a constant stream of wind, retain the aesthetics and viable relationships within the neighborhood, and cost reasonable for urban inner city consumers. For inner city usage large and small wind turbine systems suffer from a number of disadvantages:
In accordance with one embodiment a wind turbine with a series of blades moving about a generally vertical axis, the wind being funneled into working engagement with the blades for urban inner city use comprises the use of wind that is created by central air conditioning cooling and chiller units, an area of constant wind streams with no wind obstructions, without taking away from the natural and created surrounding aesthetics and functions.
Accordingly several advantages of one or more aspects are as follows: to provide wind generated energy that does not require ample amounts of space, that does not remove the aesthetics of its location, that is relatively inexpensive, that is not an obstruction within its environment, that can be easily manufactured and installed, that will provide consumer with an alternative energy for consumption, storage, and distribution, and that does not remove any natural elements within its designed environment for use.
In drawings, related figures have the same number but different alphabetic suffixes.
One embodiment of the closure is illustrated in
The embodiment has two horizontal structural beams 10 paralleling above chiller unit 18 with horizontal structural support beam 16 bolted through bolt holes 38 into horizontal structural beam 10 at center of horizontal structural beam 10. Horizontal structural beam 10 ends are bolted through bolt holes 24 and 26 onto four vertical structural beams 12 that are welded into metal base plates 14. Base plates 14 are bolted through bolt hole 34 into chiller unit 18 foundation surface. PMA 20 is bolted through bolt hole 30 into top side of horizontal structural beam 10 with blades 22 connected to rotor of PMA 20 fastened with nuts on the bottom side of horizontal structural beam 10.
The embodiment of one closure as shown in
The manner of using the AC chiller unit 18 to generate a wind current, when the AC chiller unit 18 is on wind is generated outward from the chiller unit 18 fans. As shown in
The embodiment of the closure in
Hinges 52 (
The embodiment of one closure as shown in
The manner of using the AC cooling unit 40 to generate a wind current, when the AC cooling unit 40 is on wind is generated outward from the AC cooling unit 40 fans. As shown in
Accordingly the reader will see that, according to the two embodiments of the wind turbine apparatus generating electricity from wind byproduct of AC chiller and cooling units, we have provided the wind turbine apparatus to provide wind generated energy that does not require ample amounts of space, that is relatively inexpensive, that is not an obstruction within its environment, that does not remove the aesthetics of its location, that can be easily manufactured and installed, that will provide consumer with an alternative energy for consumption, storage, and distribution, and that does not remove any natural elements within its designed environment for use.
While the above description contains much specificity, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of any embodiment, but as exemplification of various embodiments thereof. Many other ramifications and variations are possible within the teachings of the various embodiments. For example horizontal structural beams 10 can be constructed as such it does not use the horizontal structural support beam 16 when above AC chiller unit 18. The horizontal structural beams 10 can be crossed supporting without a need for horizontal support beam 16.
Thus the scope should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents, and not by the examples given.
