PATENTS


U.S. Patent Number 6,616,402;  U.S. Patent Number 6,692,230 and other patents pending in the U.S. and worldwide, through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
http://www.uspto.gov


Balanced, High-Output, Rapid-Rotation Wind Turbine
Douglas Spriggs Selsam

Currently Used Technology:
Current wind turbines are a refined version of a 1000 year old design, originated when cast iron was a high tech material. These wind turbines suffer from the following problems, challenges, and drawbacks:

          
  1. Inordinately heavy rotor weight since larger rotors become disproportionately heavy.
    2.       
  2. Inordinately slow blade rotation since larger rotors turn more slowly.
    3.       
  3. Inordinately robust drivetrain required due to high rotor mass & high torque of slow rotation
    4.       
  4. Gearbox required due to slow rotor rotation, since a generator needs to turn faster.
    5.       
  5. Not self-aiming – special apparatus required to maintain a heading into the wind.
    6.       
  6. Inordinately complex mechanisms required to prevent damage in gale force winds.
    7.       
  7. Excessively robust support structure required to hold up all that excessive weight.
    8.       
  8. Excessive maintenance costs are required to service this inordinately complex machinery.

Our Multi-Rotor technology neatly solves all of these classic problems in wind turbine design. Our new design, now proven in small models, combines the power of multiple smaller rotors mounted to a single elongate driveshaft, to give the same power as a single larger rotor, with less cost, weight, and complexity. Smaller rotors weigh less for the swept area, and turn faster, thereby dispensing of the need for a gearbox. Our new design is naturally self-aiming, requiring no dedicated apparatus to achieve this, and is generally simpler, having fewer moving parts, requiring less maintenance. We expect to validate this revolutionary California design, using multiple rotors coupled to a single elongate shaft as being able to harvest more wind energy at less cost than current models which use only a single rotor.









This is the future of wind energy.


Our offshore version can be deployed as a floating installation in water of any depth, making windfarms off the coast of California feasible. It looks like a giant fishing pole supporting rotors at spaced intervals. It tilts with the wind, and bends downwind as well. It conveniently dispenses with the rigid foundation, the gearbox, the yaw bearing, the yaw mechanism, the heavy steel tower, directly driving a generator at relatively high rpm. The generator is at or near surface level. The entire turbine comprises only a single moving part, no slip rings or brushes No crane is needed for deployment or maintenance. These floating turbines can be towed into place. They flex with the action of waves while spinning.


Offshore versions require no rigid foundation, no heavy steel tower, run at high rpm to directly drive a generator that is easily accessible from surface level.  Multiple small rotors sweep the same area with less blade mass.  These floating offshore units may be towed into position, no crane required, simply tilt over to service.