초록 ▼

The invention provides an environmentally friendly renewable energy harvesting system for harvesting wind energy on a frozen surface, as in cold weather climatic regions associated with higher latitudes or higher altitudes, with snow or ice surfaces. A plurality of ski, skate or runner supported win

The invention provides an environmentally friendly renewable energy harvesting system for harvesting wind energy on a frozen surface, as in cold weather climatic regions associated with higher latitudes or higher altitudes, with snow or ice surfaces. A plurality of ski, skate or runner supported wings or sails are connected together to form a wind energy harvesting system, and capture wind energy by appropriate setting of wing or sail angles of attack so as to drive a cyclic motion that in turn can drive energy capture means such as electric generator means. The invention thus provides a wind energy harvesting system which is supported by a frozen surface, which includes fluid-foil means for interfacing with an air current such as a wind and which includes energy harvesting means utilizing periodic motion of the fluid-foil means for capturing wind energy and converting it into usable energy in a desired form such as electricity. The present invention is intended to provide devices, methods and systems for harvesting renewable energy which can be efficient and cost-effective for small-scale, medium-scale and large-scale applications, to provide real and substantial benefits to meet local energy needs while also more broadly serving humanity and our global environment.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. A wind energy harvesting system, comprising: plural fluid-foil means for contacting proximate flow fields of an air current when said air current exists and carries wind energy in the form of fluid-dynamic kinetic energy; control system means for controlling time-variable ori

What is claimed is: 1. A wind energy harvesting system, comprising: plural fluid-foil means for contacting proximate flow fields of an air current when said air current exists and carries wind energy in the form of fluid-dynamic kinetic energy; control system means for controlling time-variable orientations of said fluid-foil means relative to said proximate flow fields of said air current when said air current exists and carries wind energy in the form of fluid-dynamic kinetic energy; support runner means for slidably engaging a frozen surface and for contributing to supporting said fluid-foil means substantially above said frozen surface; connecting means for connecting said plural fluid-foil means in a sequential arrangement, including connecting members that connect adjacently-located fluid-foil means in said sequential arrangement; position-keeping means for maintaining said wind energy harvesting system substantially within a desired geographic envelope; and energy harvesting means including said control system means, for converting a portion of said fluid-dynamic kinetic energy into net work on said fluid-foil means over the course of a cycle of substantially periodic motion of said fluid-foil means, by utilizing time-variable fluid-dynamic pressure distributions and resulting forces acting on said fluid-foil means at said time-variable orientations to contribute to driving said substantially periodic motion when said air current exists and carries wind energy in the form of fluid-dynamic kinetic energy; said energy harvesting means further including energy conversion means for converting at least some of said net work into energy in a desired form for at least one of transmission, storage, processing and use. 2. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 1, wherein said frozen surface comprises at least one of a snow surface, an ice surface, a frozen surface supported directly upon a ground surface, a frozen surface floating above a liquid water layer, a frozen slush surface, and a frozen water surface; wherein said frozen water surface comprises a frozen surface of at least one of an ocean, a sea, an inlet, a bay, a gulf, a sound, a strait, a channel, a passage, an arm, a reach, a harbor, a port, an estuary, a lake, a reservoir, a pond, a pool, a river, a stream, a brook, a creek, a canal, a bog, a swamp, a slough, a marsh, a glacier, an ice shelf, an ice sheet, an ice cap, an ice field and a snow field. 3. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 1, wherein said support runner means comprise at least one of a ski, a snowboard, a sled, a skate, a runner, an inflatable tube, a pontoon, and a hull with runners, for slidably engaging said frozen surface and for permitting low friction translational sliding motion upon said frozen surface. 4. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 1, wherein said support runner means further comprises track fostering means for fostering desired lateral tracking of said support runner means upon said frozen surface, which track fostering means comprises at least one of an edge, a groove, a serrated surface, a blade, a keel and a rudder. 5. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 1, further comprising at least one of a connecting structure and a suspension element which suspension element comprises at least one of a spring element and a damper element, in the support path between said support runner means and said fluid-foil means. 6. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 1, wherein said air current comprises at least one of a wind, a gust, a mass flow of air, a volume flow of air, and a fluid-dynamic air movement induced by meteorological effects including but not limited to pressure differential effects; and wherein said fluid-foil means comprise at least one of a wing, a sail and a geometrically shaped aerodynamic member. 7. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 6, wherein said geometrically shaped aerodynamic member includes at least one of a substantially rigid airfoil member, a semirigid airfoil member, a flexible sail member, a multi-element aerodynamic member, a hybrid aerodynamic member, a morphing shape aerodynamic member, a flap, a blown flap, a slat, a control surface, a tab, a natural laminar flow airfoil, a hybrid laminar flow airfoil, an airfoil having a surface with riblets, and an inflatable airfoil member, wherein said inflatable airfoil member is inflated with at least one of air and a lifting gas comprising at least one of helium gas, hydrogen gas, and hot gas such as hot air. 8. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 1, wherein said control system means for controlling time-variable orientations of said fluid-foil means, comprises (i) sensor means for sensing the flow direction of said air current, (ii) computational processor means with at least one computational algorithm for generating a control command as a function of said flow direction, (iii) at least one powered actuator means for executing the control command, and (iv) at least one signal transmission means for transmitting a signal containing said control command from said computational processor means to said powered actuator means. 9. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 8, wherein said computational algorithm comprises orientation command generation means for generating time-variable orientation commands for each of said plural fluid-foil means as a function of at least one of said flow direction and time-varying location of at least one of said plural fluid-foil means, which time-variable orientation commands if properly executed by the at least one powered actuator means, would result in time-variable orientations of said plural fluid-foil means that tend to substantially maximize said net work on said fluid-foil means over the course of a cycle of substantially periodic motion of said fluid-foil means, through time-variable fluid-dynamic pressure distributions that tend to substantially maximize resulting forces acting on said fluid-foil means to drive said substantially periodic motion when said air current exists and carries wind energy in the form of fluid-dynamic kinetic energy. 10. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 9, wherein said control system means for controlling time-variable orientations of said fluid-foil means, includes means for controlling at least one of said control surface, tab, flap, blown flap, slat, and morphing shape aerodynamic member. 11. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 1, wherein said connecting members include at least one of a fluid-foil base member, beam structural element, tubular structural element, plate structural element, truss structural element, connecting structural element, connecting rod element, inflated structural elements, connecting cable element and connecting tension member. 12. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 11, wherein said connecting means includes a substantially closed-loop cable linking fluid-foil base members supporting all of said plural fluid-foil means in a closed-loop sequential arrangement with closed periphery topology; wherein the closed-loop cable loops around at least two rotatable pulleys; and wherein said position-keeping means for maintaining said wind energy harvesting system substantially within a desired geographic envelope includes means for anchoring hubs of said pulleys in at least one of said frozen surface and a ground surface beneath said frozen surface. 13. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 12, wherein two specific pulleys of the at least two rotatable pulleys, are disposed such that a line connecting their respective centers of rotation is aligned within plus or minus 40 degrees from a line perpendicular to a time averaged prevailing flow direction of the air current. 14. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 13, further comprising at least one of (a) an additional specific downstream pulley of the at least two ground supported rotatable pulleys, which additional specific downstream pulley is located downstream or a positive distance along said time averaged prevailing flow direction, relative to either of the two specific pulleys; and (b) an additional specific upstream pulley of the at least two ground supported rotatable pulleys, which additional specific upstream pulley is located upstream or a negative distance along said time averaged prevailing flow direction, relative to either of the two specific pulleys. 15. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 12, wherein said closed-loop cable and the plurality of fluid-foil base members together move with the cycle of substantially periodic motion of said fluid-foil means, around the at least two rotatable pulleys; and wherein the energy harvesting means utilizes transfer of some net work from said plurality of fluid-foil members, through tension in the closed-loop cable, to rotational work on at least one rotatable pulley; and wherein the energy conversion means comprises generator means for converting said rotational work to energy in a desired form here comprising electrical energy. 16. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 1, further comprising at least one of means for storing energy, means for transmitting energy, means for processing energy and means for conditioning energy. 17. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 1, wherein each of the plural fluid-foil means is supported by a movable frame; wherein said movable frame is supported at least in part by said support runner means; and wherein each of said plural fluid-foil means is movable relative to its corresponding movable frame. 18. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 1, wherein said position-keeping means for maintaining said wind energy harvesting system substantially within a desired geographic envelope comprises use of a nonrotating hub anchored in at least one of said frozen surface and a ground surface beneath said frozen surface, and a rotatable structure surrounding said hub, said rotatable structure including a plurality of radial members serving towards connecting said plurality of fluid-foil means to said hub. 19. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 18, wherein said energy conversion means comprises generator means for generating electrical power from the rotation of said rotatable structure around said nonrotating hub. 20. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 1, further comprising means for utilizing at least some portion of said energy in a desired form from said energy conversion means, to run pump means for pumping liquid water to create at least one of ice and artificial snow for deposition on said frozen surface. 21. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 1, wherein said frozen surface is floating above a liquid water layer, wherein said support runner means comprise buoyant support runner means, and wherein in the event of a warm temperature period occurring when said frozen surface becomes one of substantially or fully melted, said buoyant support runner means float in said liquid water layer and said wind energy harvesting system can still operate. 22. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 1, further comprising means for transporting said wind energy harvesting system to its desired geographic envelope by towing it supported by said support runner means sliding on said frozen surface. 23. A wind energy harvesting system, comprising: plural fluid-foil means for contacting proximate flow fields of an air current when said air current exists and carries wind energy in the form of fluid-dynamic kinetic energy; control system means for controlling time-variable orientations of said fluid-foil means relative to said proximate flow fields of said air current when said air current exists and carries wind energy in the form of fluid-dynamic kinetic energy; support runner means comprising at least one of a ski, a snowboard, a sled, a skate, a runner, an inflatable tube, a pontoon, and a hull with runners, for slidably engaging a frozen surface comprising at least one of a snow surface, an ice surface and a frozen water surface, and for contributing to supporting said fluid-foil means substantially above said frozen surface; connecting means for connecting said plural fluid-foil means in a sequential arrangement, including connecting members that connect adjacently-located fluid-foil means in said sequential arrangement; position-keeping means for maintaining said wind energy harvesting system substantially within a desired geographic envelope; and energy harvesting means including said control system means, for converting a portion of said fluid-dynamic kinetic energy into net work on said fluid-foil means over the course of a cycle of substantially periodic motion of said fluid-foil means, by utilizing time-variable fluid-dynamic pressure distributions and resulting forces acting on said fluid-foil means at said time-variable orientations to contribute to driving said substantially periodic motion when said air current exists and carries wind energy in the form of fluid-dynamic kinetic energy; said energy harvesting means further including energy conversion means for converting at least some of said net work into energy in a desired form for at least one of transmission, storage, processing and use. 24. A wind energy harvesting system, comprising: plural fluid-foil means for contacting proximate flow fields of an air current when said air current exists and carries wind energy in the form of fluid-dynamic kinetic energy; control system means for controlling time-variable orientations of said fluid-foil means relative to said proximate flow fields of said air current when said air current exists and carries wind energy in the form of fluid-dynamic kinetic energy; plural support runner means for slidably engaging a frozen surface and for contributing to supporting said plural fluid-foil means substantially above said frozen surface; connecting means for connecting said plural fluid-foil means in a sequential arrangement of closed periphery topology, including connecting members that connect adjacently-located fluid-foil means in said sequential arrangement; position-keeping means for maintaining said wind energy harvesting system substantially within a desired geographic envelope; and energy harvesting means including said control system means, for converting a portion of said fluid-dynamic kinetic energy into net work on said fluid-foil means over the course of a cycle of substantially periodic motion of said fluid-foil means, by utilizing time-variable fluid-dynamic pressure distributions and resulting forces acting on said fluid-foil means at said time-variable orientations to contribute to driving said substantially periodic motion when said air current exists and carries wind energy in the form of fluid-dynamic kinetic energy; said energy harvesting means further including energy conversion means for converting at least some of said net work into energy in a desired form for at least one of transmission, storage, processing and use; wherein said energy conversion means includes a rotating member driven to rotational motion by said motion of said fluid-foil means, which rotating member is rotatable around a nonrotating hub member substantially anchored to at least one of said frozen surface and a ground surface beneath said frozen surface, and which energy conversion means further includes generator means for generating electrical power from the rotational motion of said rotating member relative to said nonrotating hub. 25. The wind energy harvesting system of claim 24, wherein the presence of said frozen surface serves as friction-reducing means for reducing frictional forces that act to oppose movement of said plural support runner means and the corresponding plural fluid-foil means, relative to an alternate condition wherein said frozen surface is absent.