FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to wind turbines and in particular, to wind turbines with vertical axis of rotation in order to increase their effectiveness.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Various designs have been proposed for wind turbines with vertical axis of rotation including usage of impellers with twisted vanes similar to fans, also impellers with vanes having difference in aerodynamic characteristics from opposite sides. AU those designs use difference in aerodynamic properties of vanes when they face air flow twice during each rotation creating resulting torque for impeller which is applied to drive alternator/generator. Also most of wind turbines require rotational mechanism for positioning impeller perpendicular to wind direction. In some cases in order to increase alternator or generator speed of rotation gear boxes are used, which leads to some loss of torque distributed to alternator/generator.

The present invention overcomes a number of above problems and also improves wind engine performance resulting in wind turbine structure simplification by removing the need of positioning, significantly increasing resulting torque of wind engine and allowing in some cases to remove gear box or replace/combine it with non-linear transmission to improve alternator/generator performance

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A wind engine according to the present invention is part of wind turbine that actually converts wind energy into rotary motion of alternator/generator or pump comprises vertical axis rotating impellers which could be disc or other structure capable to secure several vanes and allow mounting of hinges which allow vanes oscillation and securing their position along axis of rotation once during each half rotation facing wind pressure and, after this to float in opposite direction not more than 90 degree depending on wind speed; vanes with shape allowing maximum utilization of wind energy during their position along plane parallel to impeller axis of rotation and minimum wind resistance when floating another half of rotation with maximum wind speed almost reaching plane perpendicular axis of rotation considerably increasing differential torque created by opposing vanes.

In a preferred aspect of invention each impeller assembly has at least two preferably diagonally opposed oscillating vanes, and each wind engine has at least one impeller assembly and shaft with coupling connecting wind engine with non-linear transmission gear box or directly to alternator/generator.

In an aspect of the invention wind engine has several impeller assemblies on one shaft stacked above each other with angular shift to each other, to reduce torque variation and rotating in the same direction.

In a preferred aspect of the invention wind engine has several impeller assemblies on telescopic shafts stacked above each other rotating in opposite direction with one shaft coupled to rotor and another to stator of alternator/generator doubling its speed of rotation.

In an aspect of the invention wind engine includes special gear box with non-linear transmission to maximize performance of the connected alternator/generator.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention are shown in the drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a view of variation of simplest wind engine configuration showing impeller with two vanes and location of hinges and movement limiters.

Figure 2 is a view of wind engine with stacked impeller assemblies connected to telescopic shaft and coupled to alternator/generator.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The wind engine Figure 1 shows impeller in form of long channel 9 ftnd two hinge assemblies 4 with bearings 3, movement limiters 2 and hinge shafts 5 holding vane 6 facing wind pressure 10. This pressure creates torque on wind engine output shaft 7. At the same time opposite vane 8 is floating under wind pressure with limited resistance creating considerable differential torque. After another 90 plus degree rotation vane 8 starts to face wind and slowly starts to gain torque with maximum torque reaching at position previously occupied by vane 6. Figure 1 shows the need to have more than 2 vanes for overlapping, with preferred four vanes, depending on length of channel 9 this number can go higher.

The wind engine Figure 2 has two stacked impellers assemblies 21 and 22 rotating in opposite direction with telescopic shaft 23-24 with internal shaft 23 connected to rotor 25 of generator and external shaft 24 connected to stator 26 creating double speed without gear box use.

The present invention disclose unique addition of vanes oscillation during impellers rotation allowing eliminate need of repositioning of wind engine with wind direction change, increase differential pressure and torque, also allows stacking of impellers and in some cases increases rotational speed of alternator/generator.

Also it is recommended to include as part of wind engine a non-linear transmission to increase utilization of output power for different applications such as generator, pumps, etc. as explained in my patent pending for SLT device.