WIND CONCENTRATOR TURBINE

By : Franois Gagnon

U.S. patent pending: 61/245 461

WIND CONCENTRATOR TURBINE

Abstract
The present conception of wind turbine systems suffers from several weaknesses that hamper their wide scale installation. The principal problems relate to their lack of efficiency at low or high winds, their unacceptable noise level for residential areas, and the incessant movement of their propellers blades that visually pollute the countryside and present a danger to flying wildlife. The present invention describes a principle of operation that can be applied to a large variety of new wind turbines designs. As a function of the choices in design, this new generation of a wind turbine apparatus improves or remedies each of the above-mentioned problems associated with traditional wind turbines. The basic concept is the funnelling of wind in a conduit to concentring it. The flux of compressed air is thereby directed to interact with the most efficient surface of a wind turbine propeller blade. The turbine can thus be designed with the goal of benefiting from the weakest winds or, contrarily, benefiting from the strongest winds. Since the wind turbine is housed within the apparatus, the resulting noise caused by aerodynamic motions can be almost completely attenuated. Furthermore, an enclosed wind turbine conceals the visible movement of the propellers and protects flying wildlife from entering into contact with the moving parts of the apparatus.

Concepts and designs by Francois Gagnon Intellectual property manage by Goudreau Gage Dubuc of Montral.

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WIND CONCENTRATOR TURBINE

Summary of the invention

The present invention is related to a new approach to conceive electricity generating wind turbines. Even if the known combination of a generator and rotor blades can take advantage of the proposed wind concentrator, different and more efficient configurations are also applicable. Depending on the objectives of a product, diverse air capturing devices can be used depending on the average wind speed available, the sound isolation required, or the importance of visual impact. Existing wind turbines have limitations associated to their use which greatly reduce their scope of application. Firstly, they generally require a minimum wind velocity of 10 kph to engage rotation of the wind turbines rotor and require a greater wind velocity to generate any significant amount of electricity. Secondly, large wind turbines have to reduce their rotational speeds at wind velocities above 45 kph and have to be completely stop when the wind velocities exceed 90 kph. These aforementioned constraints further limit the choice of physical locations where wind farms can be implemented. With a required average wind speed of 20 kph needed for a large wind turbine to attain profitability, the choices of sites are limited and are often located far from large urban centres resulting in an associated loss of energy in transmission network. Furthermore, organized anti-wind power groups, even in rural areas, limit even more the choice of site location. Local rural residents complain of visual and noise pollution caused by wind farms and wildlife protection groups seek to have wind farms prohibited on the migratory paths of birds. The new generation of wind turbines should therefore improve or resolve all these problems so that society can optimally utilize and benefit from the potential energy that can be harnessed from the wind

Concepts and designs by Francois Gagnon Intellectual property manage by Goudreau Gage Dubuc of Montral.

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WIND CONCENTRATOR TURBINE

The creative aspect

The main idea of this invention relates to the development of diverse wind concentration arrangements that maintain laminar wind flow. A stream of concentrated air will be thus directed onto the most efficient parts of a wind turbine in order to produce the maximum torque. Fig. 1 illustrates a laminar wind flow concentration within a wind concentrator. The incoming wind at area 1 is concentrated up to area 2 via a conduit, which favours the non-turbulent through-flow of the wind. If the wind flow is thus concentrated in a laminar fashion, there is no significant loss of energy. We note that there is no creation of energy: the wind captured in the incidental area 1 which is concentrated into a smaller area 2 results only in the increase of wind pressure and speed which will be easier for the turbine to harness. The flow of concentrated wind in area 2 is orientated towards the most efficient part of the turbine 3. For example a triblade wind turbine is inefficient along the central area about its axis of rotation. Similarly, diverse wind speeds will have variable efficiencies as a function of the eccentricity and the geometry of the main rotor blades. It results that the design of new wind turbines should be adapted to the average incidental wind. We finally note that the expulsion of air in area 4 utilized by the turbine has to be facilitated. Such a consideration in the design of new wind turbines is essential to a) respect the principle follow from Betz law and b) to improve efficiency of the apparatus and approach the maximum theoretical level of transformable wind energy into electricity With reference to Fig. 2, we can calculate what the concentration factor will be:

A2 B2 C2

In accordance with the scaled values of A=10, B=5, C=3 in Fig. 2, the concentration factor is 6.25. Since energy contained within the wind varies by the cube of its speed, we can estimate that the speed of the concentrated wind will be approximately 1.8 times that of the incidental wind speed. In reality it will be bit below this value as air pressure will increase in a significant manner.

Concepts and designs by Francois Gagnon Intellectual property manage by Goudreau Gage Dubuc of Montral.

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WIND CONCENTRATOR TURBINE

The dimension L is an important factor for the diversity of possible designs. The greater the desired wind concentration, the greater the length of L should be in order to promote the most laminar air flow through-flow possible. The various proposed designs should thus include options of wind concentration in relation with the average observed winds at a site location. With concentration factors ranging between 3 and 8, it is possible for the wind turbine to produce electricity with winds speeds from 5 to 6 kph. Similarly, winds of 50 to 75 kph could be utilized to their full potentials. With a higher energy yield and a larger range of applications, the overall performance of wind turbines will thus significantly increase.

Details on application and development Fig. 3 illustrates several additional details on the potential of a wind turbine enclosed within the wind concentrator. In this example, we favour a turbine with a centre of rotation perpendicular to the incidental direction of the wind. We thus ensure that one hundred percent of the airflow is utilized. As the concentrator can be assimilated to a cube and the turbine to a cylinder, the concentration factor will be A/B. In accordance with the scale of this diagram, the concentration factor is 6. Among the design considerations, we note that the inflow of air that is concentrated is the same dimension as the turbine blades, here being B. We thus have an airflow concentrated on the most efficient zone of the apparatus. It is also important that no airflow impedes the rotation of the turbine as the canalization 7 is also used as a cover 5 to cover the return blades. Another artifice to increase the aerodynamic efficiency of the machine are the deflectors 6 which increase the low pressure zone at the output of the apparatus to thereby favour the outflow of the residual wind. The choice of dimensions B and C of the turbine are optimized as a function of the average speed of incidental wind. By increasing dimension B we reduce the level of compression A/B, which is required for high wind velocity sites where the laminar flow will be more difficult to maintain. Inversely, by increasing dimension C while maintaining dimension B, we will favour lower rotational speeds with a corresponding increase in torque. These dimensions increase efficiency for the sites where the average wind speed is weaker.

Concepts and designs by Francois Gagnon Intellectual property manage by Goudreau Gage Dubuc of Montral.

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WIND CONCENTRATOR TURBINE

To favour sound isolation and low weight of the unit, the housing 7 will be constructed from expanded polystyrene or of a similar material. The sound isolation will be further increased by laths or trellis 8 located at the input and the output of the air conduits. These same laths or trellis are further useful to restrict access to birds into the core of the apparatus. It has been mentioned that the concentrated wind must enter the turbine in the most laminar fashion possible. As illustrated in the diagram in Fig. 3, the wind guided by the upper conduit 71 of the wind concentrator engages the turbine before wind guided by the lower conduit 72. This could result in turbulence in the lower conduit 72 that could reduce the overall performance of the apparatus. Fig. 4 and 5 illustrate the same wind concentrator whereby the upper and lower guides inject air into the different turbines D and E. This result in a further concentration of wind on the horizontal plane. This
F concentration is equal to (D + 2 E ) . In these figures the concentration is 1.2,

for a total concentration of 6 (vertical) x 1.2 (horizontal) = 7.2. To favour laminar flow of air, the height of L1 can be adjusted as seen in fig 4a. We note in Fig. 4 that the laths 8 at the input and output of the concentrator are designed so as not to hinder the wind flow. A second row of laths may be required to optimally reduce the sound at the output and the dimension L2 can be revised. We finally note that the new configuration in Fig. 5 permits the modification of the conduit in areas 9 to ensure that the turbine utilizes the totality of the harnessed wind.

Concepts and designs by Francois Gagnon Intellectual property manage by Goudreau Gage Dubuc of Montral.

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WIND CONCENTRATOR TURBINE

Directs applications of that new process.

Many new applications can be designed with this improved way to build wind turbine. You will find with this global presentation documents that present a new generation of wind turbines that are conceived for very specifics applications. - The urban wind turbine. This apparatus could be installed in residential areas, for example on the roof of a house. The main effort of design focused on eliminating the noise and vibration, visual acceptability is also to be considered. - The rural wind turbine. Those are products where noise and visual impact are still important in design, but where some compromise can be made on cost of production as the turbine will not be installed too close to the dwellings. Cost of production and maintenance-free concepts will be major factors as wind farms will count many hundreds apparatus. - The wind deflector turbine. This is a special wind turbine designed to be installed where there is a lot of wind but where it is also mechanically unfeasible to fix a large tri-blades turbine, for example on the roof of a skyscraper. - The high-speed wind turbine. It is a special wind turbine designed to efficiently harness energy from high-speed winds, as it may be found in some valleys within large mountains ranges.

Concepts and designs by Francois Gagnon Intellectual property manage by Goudreau Gage Dubuc of Montral.

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WIND CONCENTRATOR TURBINE

Conclusions
There is an absolute need to create a new generation of winds turbines to face the more and more organized resistance to the implantation of classical wind farms. No-one can question that Humanity will soon face a wide range of climatic issues due to over-use of classical energy. On the other hand no-one want the permanent noise and the visual pollution of larges tri-blades turbine in their backyard. There is enough energy in the wind to satisfy all the needs of Humanity. The most efficient way to promote wind energy is to create noiseless and motionless wind turbines that could then be accepted by all. The most efficient way to use wind energy is to install wind turbines as close as possible of the user allowing significant economies by reducing the cost of new road, new transmission lines of electricity and reduce power losses in network distribution. With an appropriate budget, the basis of the concept provided in this patent will rapidly conduct to the development of a new family of wind turbines that will lead to a breakthrough to the production of clean energy.

Franois Gagnon ing.

Concepts and designs by Francois Gagnon Intellectual property manage by Goudreau Gage Dubuc of Montral.

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WIND CONCENTRATOR TURBINE

Concepts and designs by Francois Gagnon Intellectual property manage by Goudreau Gage Dubuc of Montral.

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WIND CONCENTRATOR TURBINE

Concepts and designs by Francois Gagnon Intellectual property manage by Goudreau Gage Dubuc of Montral.

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WIND CONCENTRATOR TURBINE

Concepts and designs by Francois Gagnon Intellectual property manage by Goudreau Gage Dubuc of Montral.

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WIND CONCENTRATOR TURBINE

Concepts and designs by Francois Gagnon Intellectual property manage by Goudreau Gage Dubuc of Montral.

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WIND CONCENTRATOR TURBINE

Concepts and designs by Francois Gagnon Intellectual property manage by Goudreau Gage Dubuc of Montral.

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