An air capture turbine comprises a centrifugal fan having a plurality of fan blades and a wall from which the blades extend, and a cowling having an inner wall. The centrifugal fan housed to the inside of the inner wall of the cowling. The centrifugal fan has a ring gear mounted on a lower side thereof, the turbine further comprising at least three energy converters, each including a gear wheel for engaging the ring gear. The weight of the centrifugal fan is supported by the at least three energy converters, and the inner wall of the cowling has a plurality of openings formed therein and closure members for selectively closing one or more of the plurality of openings, the openings providing or ingress and egress of air flowing in the direction of a prevailing wind to and from the centrifugal fan and the closure members protecting fan blades moving towards the direction of the prevailing wind from being engaged by air moving in that direction.

A wind turbine that includes a plurality of turbine blades. Each of the plurality of turbine blades includes a plurality of openings that extend through each of the plurality of turbine blades, the plurality of openings are adapted to be opened or closed, and at least one of the plurality of openings is adapted to be opened to allow air to flow therethrough.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods method of verifying the configuration of an overspeed system for a shaft. The method comprises determining a first rotational speed of a shaft using an overspeed system. The overspeed system comprises a toothed wheel that rotates in relation to the rotational speed of the shaft. The method further comprises determining a second rotational speed of the shaft using a vibration sensing system for monitoring vibration of the shaft. The method further comprises comparing the first rotational speed of the shaft and the second rotational speed of the shaft to verify a configuration of the overspeed system.

A vertical-axis wind turbine apparatus is disclosed. In at least one embodiment, the apparatus provides a substantially vertically-oriented main shaft. A blade assembly is coaxially aligned with and rotatably engaged about the main shaft. The blade assembly provides an at least one blade radially projecting therefrom. A housing is rotatably engaged with the main shaft and configured for selectively encompassing the blade assembly. A first screen is integral with the housing and configured for shielding a return portion of the blade assembly. A second screen is rotatably engaged with the housing and configured for selectively moving between a retracted position, wherein the second screen is positioned substantially adjacent to the first screen such that a catch portion of the blade assembly is exposed, and a deployed position, wherein the second screen is rotated away from the first screen for at least partially shielding the catch portion from the wind.

A method for controlling a wind turbine includes receiving signals representative of oncoming wind speeds approaching at least a portion of a wind turbine, receiving background noise and signals representative of signal-to-noise ratios corresponding to the signals representative of the oncoming wind speeds, determining an availability-and-atmospheric noise in the signals based on one or more of the signal-to-noise ratios, blade positions of blades of the wind turbine, and the yaw position of a nacelle of the wind turbine, determining a wind incoherence noise in the signals due to a change in the oncoming wind speeds while approaching at least the portion of the wind turbine, determining a net measurement noise in the signals based on the background noise, the availability-and-atmospheric noise, and the wind incoherence noise, and controlling the wind turbine based at least on the signals representative of the oncoming wind speeds and the net measurement noise.

An electrical power generating system includes a wind deflecting structure having a contour at a proximal end formed by a plurality of sail segments that in a first position define the contour, a turbine positioned in proximity to a distal end of the wind deflecting structure such that the turbine is driven by wind passing around the wind deflecting structure, and an energy converter coupled to the turbine that converts rotary motion from the turbine into electrical energy, wherein at least one of the plurality of sails is movable between the first position defining a corresponding portion of the contour of the wind deflecting structure and a second position that reduces a wind drag coefficient of the wind deflecting structure.

The present invention relates to a blade pitch control apparatus for a small size wind power generator. More specifically, the present invention relates to a blade pitch control apparatus for a small size wind power generator configured to accomplish continuous generation by continuously maintaining the necessary rotating force of the blade by systematically operating the ball screw, spinner driver, and pitch angle controller when the rotation number of blades exceeds the reference rotation number by over wind speed, so that the blade pitch is automatically controlled. To this end, the present invention comprises a blade combined with an outer circumference surface of a rotator, rotating by wind; a spinner box installed and fixed in the middle of the front surface of the blade; a ball screw formed with speed control wings at one end in a state positioned in the longitudinal direction in the middle of the spinner box and having screws at the other end; a spinner driver screwcombined with the screw of the ball screw, and moving to the front and back when the rotation number of blades exceeds the reference rotation number by over wind speed or when the wind speed decreases; and a pitch angle controller connected between the spinner driver and blade, folding and unfolding the blade according to the movement direction of the spinner driver to control the pitch angle of the blade.

A method for operating a wind turbine is provided. The wind turbine includes a rotor adapted to rotate at an optimal speed. The method includes determining a turbulence parameter; and operating the wind turbine at a speed that is increased by a speed deviation amount as compared to the optimal speed. The speed deviation amount is dependent on the turbulence parameter. A wind turbine (100) having a controller (202) for controlling the wind turbine according to the disclosed method is also provided.

A control arrangement for a variable-speed wind turbine includes a loading analysis module configured to analyse a number of environment values to establish whether the momentary wind turbine loading is lower than a loading threshold when the rotational speed of the aerodynamic rotor has reached its rated value; and a speed boost module configured to determine a speed increment for the rotational speed of the aerodynamic rotor if the wind turbine loading is lower than the loading threshold.

A windmill having a vertical wind turbine is provided. The wind turbine has a housing, a frame, a base, an air system and a sail system. The air system has a compressor, a tank, lines, dampeners and regulators. The sail assembly has a positioner comprised of a shaft assembly and two side assemblies. Each side assembly has arms that are movable relative to each other to adjust the pitch of the first sail relative to the second sail. Adjustment can be made by rotating the two ends of the shaft assembly via rotation of a spiral hex shaft within a spiral hex sleeve. The arms move in relation to the turbine rotational speed to adjust the pitch of the sails. The turbine changes to a closed-fault state (no pitch in sails) if there is an air pressure loss in the air system.