Reciprocating Wind-powered Transducer Employing Interleaved Airfoil Arrays
First Claim
1. A reciprocating transducer powered by the kinetic energy of fluids, comprising:
- one or more upward thrust members;
one or more downward thrust members; and
an array of blades, moveable relative to each other in response to motion of the fluid, the array comprising;
(a) a first configuration of the array, comprising a plurality of the blades ordered in a first grouping of pairs, in which the blades of each pair are driven apart from each other by the motion of the fluid, thereby creating a first linear excursion of the upward thrust members in an upward direction; and
(b) a second configuration of the array, comprising a plurality of the blades ordered in a second grouping of pairs, in which the blades of each pair are driven apart from each other by the motion of the fluid, thereby creating a second linear excursion of the downward thrust members in a downward direction,the transducer further comprising means for configuring the array alternatingly between the first and the second configurations,so that the linear excursions of the thrust members alternate between motion in upward and downward directions at a constant frequency for a given velocity of the fluid.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A reciprocating transducer to convert windpower to electrical energy includes an odd sub-array of blades and an even sub-array of blades, wherein two odd thrust rods are pivotably coupled to the ends of each of the odd numbered blades, two even thrust rods are pivotably coupled to the ends of each of the even numbered blades, an odd tilt rod is pivotably coupled to the trailing edge of each of the odd numbered blades, an even tilt rod is pivotably coupled to the trailing edge of each of the even numbered blades. The tilt rods are moved up and down, thereby changing the attitude of the blades, a crank shaft converts the linear motion of the thrust rods into rotational motion, and a generator converts the rotational motion into electrical power.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A reciprocating transducer powered by the kinetic energy of fluids, comprising:
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one or more upward thrust members; one or more downward thrust members; and an array of blades, moveable relative to each other in response to motion of the fluid, the array comprising; (a) a first configuration of the array, comprising a plurality of the blades ordered in a first grouping of pairs, in which the blades of each pair are driven apart from each other by the motion of the fluid, thereby creating a first linear excursion of the upward thrust members in an upward direction; and (b) a second configuration of the array, comprising a plurality of the blades ordered in a second grouping of pairs, in which the blades of each pair are driven apart from each other by the motion of the fluid, thereby creating a second linear excursion of the downward thrust members in a downward direction, the transducer further comprising means for configuring the array alternatingly between the first and the second configurations, so that the linear excursions of the thrust members alternate between motion in upward and downward directions at a constant frequency for a given velocity of the fluid. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A reciprocating transducer powered by the kinetic energy of fluids, comprising:
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(a) an array of interleaved blades, comprising a first set of blades and a second set of blades, wherein each member of the first set is disposed between two members of the second set; (b) means for tilting the blades to a first position, so that, during a first stroke of the transducer, a leading edge of each blade of the first set is tilted upward away from a leading edge of each blade of the second set, which is tilted downward, so that a passage of the fluid causes the blades of the first set to linearly rise and the blades of the second set to linearly fall; and (c) means for tilting the blades to a second position so that, during a second stroke of the transducer, the leading edge of each blade of the second set is tilted upward away from the leading edge of each blade of the first set, which is tilted downward, so that the passage of the fluid causes the blades of the second set to linearly rise and the blades of the first set to linearly fall, creating linear excursions thereby, so that, at the end of the second stroke the blades are in the same configuration as they were at the beginning of the first stroke, alternating said first stroke and said second stroke of the transducer repeatedly at a constant, controlled, synchronized rate, the device further comprising means for converting the linear excursions of the blades into electrical energy. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification