The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 06, 2011
Filed:
Sep. 10, 2008
Benjamin Potter, Reading, GB;
Ryuichi Nagasaki, Fujisawa, JP;
Mamoru Shiga, Chigasaki, JP;
Moog Japan Ltd., , JP;
Abstract
The present invention provides an improvement for a wind turbine () having at least one blade () mounted on a hub () for controlled rotation about a blade axis (y-y) to vary the pitch of the blade relative to an airstream. The hub is mounted on a nacelle () for rotation about a hub axis (x-x). The wind turbine includes a main pitch control system for selectively controlling the pitch of the blade, and/or a safety pitch control system for overriding the main blade pitch control system and for causing the blade to move toward a feathered position in the event of an overspeed or fault condition. The improvement includes: an energy storage device () mounted on the nacelle and associated with the blade; a pitch-axis controller () mounted on the nacelle and associated with the blade and with the energy storage device; an electro-mechanical actuator () mounted on the hub and associated with the blade; and at least one slip ring () operatively arranged to transmit power and/or data signals between the pitch-axis controller and the electro-mechanical actuator; whereby the mass on the rotating hub may be reduced.