Description:TITLE OF THE INVENTION
WINDMILL STACK WITH CONCENTRATOR ON VARIABLE HEIGHT TOWER
FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates to the harnessing of green and renewable energy. And various methods to maximize such energy generation efforts in a micro plant model. It explores wind energy generation in the residential sector using wind concentrators, on variable-height towers (to catch wind energy optimally as winds are stable at more height).
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENION
Conventional windmills are not very popular on rooftops and the reason may be, not so uniform wind and so no power generation guarantee. Also, in such windmills when a single mill is installed on a single pole, do take away space. Rooftop or ground space is limited in urban and semi-urban areas so there is a need for a minimal footprint solution. Also, Solar installations generate electricity only during the day and take away, rooftop space in many cases. So if a tower with solar installation at the height of 7-8 feet and wind stack is installed in a stack of 3 (having 3 windmills in each stack) and having wind concentrators.
Also conventional windmills have only one mill mounted on the pole so waste of space probably. And conventional ones have minimum wind requirements for any energy production. And by nature, windmills are installed commercially in coastal ( sea breeze and Land breeze effect) or windy regions, and also because, today’s windmills are not smart windmills. Winds are relatively higher and stable at higher altitudes.
It is therefore desirable to explore, alternate methods/ ideas to harness renewable energy and reduce the dependency on fossil fuels and lead the environment towards a cleaner and greener environment. Usage of windmills are already in place in many developed and developing countries but most are installed in coastal region. This is huge potential in terms of adding more ways to harness green energy, reducing cost, and indirectly saving fossil fuel, etc. And any form of clean energy generation can be considered a noble cause for humans.
Although efforts have been made to improve windmill design, the current invention details the use of windmill stacks using wind concentrators installed on a variable height tower, to be able to harness winds blowing at little higher altitudes of 50-70 feet heights. This tower with solar panels installed at 7-8 feet height and windmill stacks installed above those will eliminate, the limitation of space in Urban areas
The power generated by these turbines can be clubbed with matching solar panel capacity installed nearby, to improve thoughout of the system over 24 hrs period.
The height adjustable tower with windmill stacks, can be made to operate based on a microprocessor control (and wind speed sensor) and the tower rises in low wind conditions but retracts, when wind speeds are disastrous.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENION
An object of the present invention is to provide a Hybrid windmill and solar tree to save ground footprint in urban areas.
Another object of the invention is to provide a system that can be used for harnessing variable wind speed for optimal production of green energy using a wind concentrator to catch winds and run stacks of windmills.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a variable-height tower, based on wind speeds. Such arrangement can help catch winds efficiently, by raising tower height when wind speeds are low.

Embodiments of the present invention provide a Hybrid windmill and solar tree to save ground footprint in urban areas using a system that can be used for harnessing variable wind speed for optimal production of green energy using wind concentrators and variable height towers. Also as detailed in another patent application of mine (Smart Wind Mill and Wind Solar Tree), smart windmills can be deployed in windmill stacks to operate efficiently. And if a windmill is designed for 100 Watt peak capacity, 3 rows of windmill stacks give 900 Watt peak capacity and DC output (12-80 V) from windmill stacks can be fed to a grid tie inverter (used for Solar panels). So this will enable costly equipment clubbing and reuse, reducing the cost.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
The features of the present invention, which are believed to be novel, are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. Embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings provided to illustrate and not to limit the scope of the claims, wherein like designations denote like elements, and in which:
Fig. 1 illustrates, stack of windmills (top view) with wind concentrator
Fig. 2 illustrates, stack of windmills (front view) with wind concentrator
Fig. 3 illustrates, stack of windmills (side view) with wind concentrator and tail fin, one per stack. Also such a stack needs only one commutator in the middle, at the pole mounting to enable 360 degree movement of windmill stack (to catch and face wind direction correctly).
Fig. 4 illustrates, stack of windmills installed on a pole. All of these 360 degree swivel mechanism around the pole, comprising commutator for electricity transfers.
Fig. 5 illustrates, windmill stacks mounted on a structure with retractable tower, having solar panel installed at the height of 7-8 feet. That gives access to lawn space for home owner.
Fig. 6 illustrates, windmill stack in extended position where windmill stack is say 30-50 feet higher than ground, enabling quality wind harnessing. Also such a mechanism will be similar to retractable boom of cranes and will be designed for automatic extension/ retraction using single motor and cable mechanisms. And it will use wind speed feedback to decide an optimal condition to extend or retract it. Also such extendable/ retractable mechanism gives a flexibility and better control in disastrous wind conditions. Also microchip based solution will generate data to be fed to a central server so that configurable and meaningful, data based decisions can be made and homeowner will get meaningful insights on system performance, generation, any fault indications etc.
Also as mentioned in summary, claims of this patent are to be combined with another patent application Titled (Smart Wind Mill and Wind Solar Tree) by same authors, smart wind mills will also have similar microchip based solution to gather operations data, weather data and feed to central server for better user monitoring and any fault tolerance efforts. Also, it can be designed to club a modular design approach yet, keep the cost low by reduscing number of chips, sensors etc to the minimal like one wind sensor may be enough for whole tower. And similarly one microchip or raspberrypie computer maybe enough for whole stack of windmills.
Fig. 7 is similar to Fig5, illustrates smart windmills stack with few more solar panels, as per the space available.
Fig. 8 is similar to Fig 6 and depicts windmill stack in extended position with more solar panels installed, for increased capacity as per the space availability.
As used in the specification and claims, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. For example, the term “an article” may include a plurality of articles unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
Those with ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the elements in the Figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the Figures may be exaggerated, relative to other elements, in order to improve the understanding of the present invention.
There may be additional structures described in the foregoing application that are not depicted on one of the described drawings. In the event such a structure is described, but not depicted in a drawing, the absence of such a drawing should not be considered as an omission of such design from the specification.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Before describing the present invention in detail, it should be observed that the present invention is an extension of smart windmill invention detailed in patent titled (Smart Wind Mill and Wind Solar Tree) by same authors. Current invention is an extension to make smart windmills, more efficient by stacking them optimally and using a wind concentrator which may help, catch wind from a wider area. And also, the whole mechanism has another feature to extend/ retract, which may enable it to catch more stable winds above the houses. And same tower can house some solar panels, as overall solar and wind, can compliment and average out, power generation, use similar kind of equipment like grid tie inverters, and generate DC voltages.
While the specification concludes with the claims defining the features of the invention that are regarded as novel, it is believed that the invention will be better understood from a consideration of the following description in conjunction with the drawings, in which reference numerals are carried forward.
As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which can be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed structure. Further, the terms and phrases used herein are not intended to be limiting but rather to provide an understandable description of the invention.
The terms “a” or “an”, as used herein, are defined as one or more than one. The term “another”, as used herein, is defined as at least a second or more. The terms “including” and/or “having” as used herein, are defined as comprising (i.e. open transition). The term “coupled” or “operatively coupled” as used herein, is defined as connected, although not necessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically.
Embodiments of the present invention utilize the use of a smart windmill, capable of better wind energy harnessing at various speeds, and has safety mechanisms inbuilt for disastrous levels of wind. In the description of the embodiments of the present invention, numerous specific details are provided, such as examples of components and/or mechanisms, to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of the present invention. One skilled in the art will recognize, however, that an embodiment of the present invention can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other apparatus, systems, assemblies, methods, components, materials, parts, and/or the like. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not specifically shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of embodiments of the present invention.
Fig 1 (top view), Fig 2 (Front view), Fig 3 (Side view) depict a presentation of multiple windmills installed with a wind concentrator. Such concentrators may help increase wind flow at propellers as it will collect wind from a little wider area. And these multi-windmills are installed on a structure that has only one fin, at the back so the whole structure will swivel to face wind direction and will need one set of commutator rings and pivot point, for 360-degree swivel movement and electricity transfer.
Fig 4 (Front and side view) shows that these stack of multi-windmills can be stacked vertically too, to increase max installed wind generation capacity. Such horizontal and vertical stacking will help to utilize space optimally, increase capacity and reduce cost by using a few common sensors, microprocessors etc. And all horizontal stacks have commutator-based swivel mechanisms with fins at the end, allowing independent movements, to face wind direction.
Fig 5, Fig 6 depict windmill stack in extended position where windmill stack is say 30-50 feet higher than ground, enabling quality wind harnessing. Also such a mechanism will be similar to retractable boom of cranes and will be designed for automatic extension/ retraction using single motor and cable mechanisms. And it will use wind speed feedback to decide an optimal condition to extend or retract it. Also such extendable/ retractable mechanism gives a flexibility and better control in disastrous wind conditions. Also microchip based solution will generate data to be fed to a central server so that configurable and meaningful, data based decisions can be made and homeowner will get meaningful insights on system performance, generation, any fault indications etc.Also as mentioned in summary, claims of this patent are to be combined with another patent application Titled (Smart Wind Mill and Wind Solar Tree) by same authors, smart wind mills will also have similar microchip based solution to gather operations data, weather data and feed to central server for better user monitoring and any fault tolerance efforts. Also, it can be designed to club a modular design approach yet, keep the cost low by reduscing number of chips, sensors etc to the minimal like one wind sensor may be enough for whole tower. And similarly one microchip or raspberrypie computer maybe enough for whole stack of windmills.
Fig 7, Fig 8 are similar to Fig 5, Fig 6 and depict arrangement of more solar panels at 7-8 feet height, as per space availability.
Fig 9 is a simple flow diagram showing wind speed sensor feedback, microprocessor, and tower extender actuators. This flow will enable the extension or retraction of the wind tower.
Finally, inventions mentioned in the present embodiment can harness wind energy smartly.
Various embodiments, as described above, provide a method and system for smart energy generation, which is green in nature. And such invention is noble as helps save fossil fuel, enables micro grids, enables ones DIY (do it yourself) side if a person decides to purchase mills and install himself. It may reduce and take away, pressure from centralized grids and a stepntowards greener and cleaner future energy reliance.
While the invention has been disclosed in connection with the preferred embodiments shown and described in detail, various modifications and improvements thereon will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the spirit and scope of the present invention is not to be limited by the foregoing examples but is to be understood in the broadest sense allowable by law.
All documents referenced herein are hereby incorporated by reference.
, Claims:
1. A wind turbine tower with multiple turbines comprising of;
many multi micro wind turbines (mounted vertically on a pole) to increase the capacity in the same footprint;
smart wind turbine tower which is able to sense wind speed and able to adjust tower height for optimal wind harnessing;
And windmill stack with wind concentrator which can help collect wind more efficiently, increasing the efficiency of energy generation.
2. The system claimed in claim 1, wherein the wind concentrator is aerodynamically designed and helps increase wind density at wind propellers. The concentrator will be of lightweight material and aesthetically designed for installations in residential areas, and over rooftops and may help reduce noise by reducing propeller tip turbulences.
3. The system claimed in claim 1, wherein also such turbines can be clubbed with matching solar panel capacity installed nearby, to improve throughput of the system over 24 hrs period.
4. The system claimed in claim 1, wherein also will have an extendable/ retractable tower to extend windmill stack height, based on a smart microchip-based autonomous system, which will use wind speed and other parameters to maximize energy generation.
5. The system claimed in claim 1, wherein can have solar installations as per space availability at 7-8 feet height from the ground and on the immovable part of the tower. The Windmill stack will be installed on an extendable stack as wind needs some adjustments to be able to harness power efficiently.
6. The system claimed in claim 1, wherein also can be rearranged to use only one wind speed sensor (to keep the cost low), and feedback from the same can be given to all wind turbines, tower height adjuster mechanism on the pole, or any close by systems, where it makes practical. Design can be an easy plug-and-play type.
7. The system claimed in claim 1, wherein also should be configurable with safety mechanisms for high winds or disastrous conditions. And such a system should have system overrides to take safe decisions like never extending the tower in case of wind speeds are above the threshold.
8. The system claimed in claim 1, wherein with a microprocessor / small computer onboard and many digital sensors will be able to generate a lot of data which can then be fed to a central server for forecasting, key decisions, any system refinements, and fault tolerance warnings.
9. The system claimed in claim 1, wherein with so many sensors and microprocessor/ small computer may generate valuable data related to weather, wind speeds, temperate, sun intensity etc and this data can be an asset to be used for different home automation, energy-efficient homes, smart homes of the future. Also such data can be analyzed for meaningful data insights to utility companies, home automation companies and future smart homes, with so much home automation on radar, connected houses etc.