Patent ID: 11881809
Assignee: nan
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  F  Y | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A solar tower installation comprising:
a tower structure;
a vertical support tube extending through and connected to the tower structure;
a base for receiving the bottom end of the vertical support tube; and
a bearing assembly at the base connected to the vertical support tube, and operable to enable the tower to rotate about the base;
two solar frame assemblies, each solar frame assembly including
a plurality of vertically stacked modular solar frames, each solar frame including a panel frame, a solar panel, and an actuator connected between the panel frame and the solar panel, and a load sensor connected to the actuator, wherein the actuator is operative to move the solar panel between a vertical closed position and a non-vertical extended position;

a curved nose portion comprising a plurality of vertically stacked front covers, each front cover including a first end connected to a solar frame in a first one of the two solar frame assemblies and a second end connected to a corresponding solar frame in a second one of the solar frame assemblies; and
a plurality of actuators connected between the solar frame assemblies and the curved nose portion to extend the solar frame assemblies horizontally and close the solar frame assemblies into an airfoil configuration;
a control system;
a sensor system for determining wind and solar conditions;
a motor connected to the base of the vertical support tube;
a clutch connected to the bearing; and
a non-transitory memory containing instructions when executed by the control system causes the control system to perform the steps of:
monitor information from the load sensor connected to the actuator in each of the solar frames; and
in response to determining that at least one of the load sensors indicate a load exceeding a load threshold, initiating an airfoil operation including controlling the actuator in each solar frame to move the solar frame into the vertical closed position, control the actuators connected between the solar frames and curved nose portion into the airfoil configuration, and disengage the clutch to enable the tower structure in the airfoil configuration to move freely, and

wherein the control system is operative to control the clutch to disengage and re-engage and to control the motor to rotate the vertical support tube in response to wind and solar conditions.