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:
Jan. 01, 2013
Filed:
Jun. 25, 2009
Yaru Najem Mendez Hernandez, Munich, DE;
Robert Roesner, Unterfoehring, DE;
Yaru Najem Mendez Hernandez, Munich, DE;
Robert Roesner, Unterfoehring, DE;
General Electric Company, Niskayuna, NY (US);
Abstract
A lightning protection system for a wind turbine blade or aircraft wing includes a glass-reinforced fiber or carbon-reinforced wind turbine blade or aircraft wing having a tip region, a suction side, a pressure side, a leading edge and a trailing edge. A substantially planar sheet of conductive or semi-conductive material is disposed internal to the blade tip region or wing tip region and between the suction side and pressure side. The sheet operates during a lightning discharge to form an electric field control mechanism causing the lightning discharge to attach to the tip region. The sheet is in electrical communication or galvanic connection with a conductive or semi-conductive path such that the electric field control mechanism and the path together operate to protect the wind turbine blade or aircraft wing from damage caused by the lightning strike in the tip region of the wind turbine blade or aircraft wing by controlling an electric field in the tip region caused by the lightning strike.