Vortexis

Vortexis is a type of vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) used to generate electricity from the energy carried in the wind.

Abstract

Fig. 1: Early prototype of Vortexis, Miami, Florida

Fig. 2: Vortexis Schematic

Developed between 2008 and 2010, and receiving patent approval in 2015,^[1] (See Fig.1) Vortexis is a vertical axis wind turbine formed from a concentric arrangement of fixed stator blades to provide fluid flow acceleration into an arrangement of rotatable blades secured to a generator for invoking electrical power generation. The stator blades are maintained in a fixed position by use of an upper and lower stator plate. The rotor blades include an upper and lower plate, the upper plate coupled to the upper stator plate, and the lower rotor plate coupled to the generator. The amount of stator and rotor blades may be scaled in number and size depending upon the type of generator to be driven and associated mechanical energy to be obtained. The stator blades are designed for air deflection in a direction for optimal rotor blade rotation by accelerating air flow into a pre-swirl before the flow contacts the rotor blades. Each stator blade is oriented at a sufficient stagger angle so that an angle of the relative velocity does not exceed the stall angle of said rotor blade.

The turbine consists of a concentric arrangement of fixed blades having an optimal geometric formation for deflecting wind forces for wind flow acceleration into a concentric arrangement of rotatable blades having an optimal geometric formation for rotating to invoke electrical power generation. In the preferred embodiment, the wind turbine has at least three stator blades and at least three rotor blades adapted for optimum wind deflection, which provides for a wind turbine having stator and rotor blades of a geometric formation that provide for greater efficiencies over a conventional vertical axis wind turbine. This design of wind turbine was patented by Dr. Gecheng Zha, an Chinese-American aeronautical engineer in 2015, and has been adapted for Special Operations use by the Department of Defense as "Black Swan."(See Fig. 3).^[2][3]

Method of operation

Fig. 3: DoD prototype of Vortexis, Miami, Florida

The need for renewable energy sources is constantly increasing. A focus on improved wind turbines has steady increased over time. The general quandary with wind turbines to date relates to the inefficient transfer of kinetic energy to mechanical energy for power generation. While a typical wind turbine converts as little as ten percent (10%) of the possible kinetic energy into mechanical energy for electricity generation, there are many factors that affect the efficiency of a wind turbine. What is lacking in the art is a vertical axis wind turbine design capable of producing a wind turbine capable of at least a thirty percent (30%) power generation. The Vortexis wind turbine addresses these and other shortcomings by introducing a system for vertically aligned wind turbine power generation having improved rotor and stator blade geometry.

As such, stator and rotor blades of a geometric formation that provide for greater efficiencies over a conventional vertical axis wind turbine, accelerate the airflow by passage area reduction, generating pre-swirl of the flow, which is to guide the flow to tangential direction instead of keeping the flow in the radial direction before the flow hits the rotor, providing a plurality of stator blades for engaging an incoming wind flow. The wind flow may include, inter alia, wind, air water or the like fluid flow containing kinetic energy for conversion to mechanical energy for use in power generation. The Vortexis consists of a vertical axis wind turbine for electrical power generation comprising:

A base member having a stator section and a rotor section, which the stator section has been formed from a plurality of geometrically shaped fixed stator blades, and with each individual stator blade having a leading edge and a trailing edge with an upper surface shaped convexly from blade’s leading edge to blade’s trailing edge. In addition, the upper surface is constructed and arranged to accelerate a fluid flow, where each stator blade has a lower surface shaped concavely from the blade’s leading edge to the blade’s trailing edge. The aggregate is constructed and arranged to contact a fluid flow, resulting in a rotor section formed from a plurality of rotor blades coupled to the draft shaft of a generator, where each rotor blade has a leading edge and a trailing edge with an upper surface shaped convexly from the leading edge to the trailing edge, and where each rotor blade has a lower surface shaped concavely from the leading edge to the trailing edge, and lastly, where each rotor blade is constructed and arranged to rotate about the vertical axis of the stator blade. ^[4]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vortexis.

• "Vertical axis wind turbine - Wind Power Systems, LLC". freepatentsonline.com. Retrieved 2015-10-28. 
• "WIND TURBINE APPARATUS - VIA VERDE LIMITED". freepatentsonline.com. Retrieved 2015-10-28. 
• "WIND TURBINE APPARATUS - Design Licensing International Pty Ltd". freepatentsonline.com. Retrieved 2015-10-28. 

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