Improvements in Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbines

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Problem: Conventional horizontal-axis wind turbines require a geared transmission which tends to be large heavy prone to failure and leads to losses. Technology: The invention describes two concepts to address the need to avoid the need for gear transmission.-Mount a circular shroud around the turbine-blade tips carrying permanent magnets or iron laminations or possibly conductors. These would pass close to a short stator carried on the main turbine pillar that would generate the electric power. Have a single permanent magnet or high-permeability-iron stack at the end of each blade of a wind turbine. A “stator” would extend in an arc of 60 degrees (for a three-bladed rotor) on two sides of the main turbine column creating a continuous torque on the turbine rotor and generating electric power.

Benefits

1) Make nacelle lighter and smaller by removing gear transmission and moving generator to a location on the main support near ground level 2) Greater reliability because step-up gear transmission is the main cause of turbine downtime 3) Easier to service 4) Lower installation costs 5) Increased efficiency by eliminating gear losses

Date of release