Abstract:
A self-adjusting blade for wind turbine generator or windmill will change width of blades according to wind speed to optimize efficiency. The windmill comprises a brace, rib tubes, cylinders, cylinder holders, hose holders, non-movable shells, and movable shells. The movable shells and rib tubes are organized like extendable antennas of portable radios. The movable shells are moved and held by cylinders. There are sets of hose holder for hoses and wires for cylinders. A micro-controller controls cylinders to move the movable shells according wind speed.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
       [0001]    Present large wind turbine generator blades are designed slim to protect blades against maximum wind speed. However, most of the times, wind speed is not maximal. Present equipments fail to collect as much wind energy as they supposedly to collect with wider blades. 
         [0000]    Prior art: Holland, Jr. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,013) “Self-adjusting wind power machine”. 
       OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The object of the present invention is to improve the efficiency of wind turbine generators or windmills, especially large ones, by increasing blade width when wind speed decreases. Another object is to protect blades by decreasing blade width when wind speed increases. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         [0003]      FIG. 1  shows a blade before extension.  31  and  39  are movable shells of stage three.  110  is non-movable shell.  0  is horizontal axle, around which blades are turning. 
           [0004]      FIG. 2  shows the blade when stage one has extended. 
           [0005]      FIG. 3  shows the blade when stage one and stage two have extended.  11  and  19  are movable shells of stage one. 
           [0006]      FIG. 4  shows the blade when three stages have extended.  21  and  29  are movable shells of stage two. 
           [0007]      FIG. 5  shows the structure inside the blade surface.  1  is the brace.  2  is a rib tube.  14  is a cylinder for movable shell  11  of stage one.  4  is a cylinder holder.  5  is a cylinder holder.  6  is a rib tube.  7  is a cylinders.  8  is a cylinder holder.  9  is a cylinder holder.  109  is a hose holder secured to the brace.  2 ,  14 ,  4 ,  5 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8 ,  9 , and  109  belong to the top section.  99  is a torque sensor.  100  is a micro-controller.  200  is a hydraulic pump. 
           [0008]      FIG. 6  shows the non-movable shell  10  with a magnified top portion. 
           [0009]      FIG. 7  show the top portion of the non-movable shell  110  and movable shells  31 ,  21 ,  11 ,  39 ,  29 , and  19 . The arrows show the directions where each movable shell should go when the blade is assembled.  109 ,  111 ,  121 ,  119 ,  129 , and  139  are hose holders. 
           [0010]      FIG. 8  is a cross section at rib tube  2 , cut at plane a-a on  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 5 . It can be seen the blade surface of top section is formed by non-movable shell  110 , movable shell  11  of stage one, movable shell  21  of stage two, movable shell  31  of stage three, movable shell  19  of stage one, movable shell  29  of stage two, and movable shell  39  of stage three. Rib tubes  2 ,  12 ,  22 , and  32  form a set of rib tube.  32  is a rib tube (a pipe with a hole of zero diameter) secured to the movable shell  31 . Rib tube  32  goes into the hole of rib tube  22 . The right end of rib tube  22  is secured to movable shell  21 . Rib tube  22  goes into the hole of rib tube  12 . The right end of rib tube  12  is secured to movable shell  11 . Rib tube  12  goes into the hole of the rib tube  2 . Rib tube  2  is secured to brace  1 .  201 ,  202 , and  203  are position sensors for movable shells  11 ,  21 , and  31  respectively. 
           [0011]      FIG. 9  is a cross section at cylinder holder  5 , cut at plane d-d on  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 5 . Cylinder  44  is secured to movable shell  21 . Cylinder  44  goes into cylinder holder  15 . The cylinder holder  15  goes into the cylinder holder  5 . The right end of cylinder holder  15  is secured to movable shell  11 .  15  and  5  are one set of cylinder holder. The cylinder holder  5  is secured to brace  1 . The right end of rod  40  is secured to movable shell  31 . There is a hole  103  going through rod  40  and piston  80  as a path for compressed liquid.  93  is an entrance for the path.  80  is the piston of the cylinder  44 .  94  is an entrance for compressed liquid going to the right side of the piston. 
           [0012]      FIG. 10  is a cross section at cylinder holder  4 , cut at plane c-c on  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 5 . Cylinder  24  is secured to movable shell  11 . Cylinder  24  goes into the cylinder holder  4 . Cylinder holder  4  is secured to the brace  1 . The right end of rod  20  is secured to movable shell  21 . There is a hole  102  going through the rod  20  and piston  70  as a path for compressed liquid.  92  is the entrance of the path.  70  is the piston.  95  is an entrance for compressed liquid going to the right side of the piston. 
           [0013]      FIG. 11  is a cross section at cylinder  14 , cut at plane b-b on  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 5 . Cylinder  14  is secured to brace  1 .  10  is the rod of the cylinder  14 . The right end of the rod  10  is secured to the movable shell  1 .  101  is a hole going through rod  10  and piston  60  as a path of compressed liquid  91  is the entrance of the path.  60  is the piston of the cylinder  14 .  96  is an entrance for compressed liquid going to the right side of the piston. 
           [0014]      FIG. 12  is a cross section at a set of hose holders, cut at plane e-e on  FIG. 1. 141  is a coil spring. The right end of coil spring  141  is secured to movable shell  31 . The left end of coil spring  141  is secured to brace  1 .  140  is a bunch of hoses and wires.  109 ,  131 ,  121 , and  111  are hose holders.  109  is secured to the brace  1 .  131  is secured to movable shell  31 . 121  is secured to movable shell  21 .  111  is secured to movable shell  11 .=&gt; 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0015]    There are three stages of movable shells in this embodiment There are eight sections of the blade from top down. It can be seen in  FIG. 1  to  FIG. 5  that there are eight groups of similar structures of each section. Here only the top section is explained. Structure of left side of a section is similar to structure of right side of the section. Only the structure of right side of the top section is explained. 
         [0016]    There is a brace for support of the blade. There are many sets of rib tubes to support the shells. Any long things with a cavity from one end all the way to the other end, for example square tubes and a pipe, are considered as tubes. In a set of rib tubes, one rib tube goes into the other rib tube of previous stage (a rib tube closer to the brace), like an extendable antenna for a potable radio. Sets of rib tube are extendable. Sets of rib tube support movable shells against wind torque so that movable shells will not be bent. Each rib tube is secured to a movable shell (see  FIG. 8 ). The shape of a movable shell is like a container with one open side. In this embodiment the shape is like square bucket (see movable shells in  FIG. 7 ). When the blade is compressed, a movable shell goes into another movable shell of next stage. A set of movable shell can have a compressed form, like containers in shipping. When a movable shell extends, it leaves the movable shells inside of it. When a movable shell extends, the rib tube that secured to the movable shell slides half way out of another rib tube. When stage one extends, movable shell  11  moves to the right, while non-movable shell  110  stays. And rib tube  12  slides half way out of rib tube  2 . When stage two extends, movable shell  21  leaves shell  11  that was inside of it. And rib tube  22  slides half way out of rib tube  12 . When stage three extends, movable shell  31  slides to the right, while movable shell  21  stays. And rib tube  32  slides half way out of rib tube  22 . When a blade extends one stage, the rib tube for the stage slides only about half way out of other rib tube of previous stage so that the rib tube can get support from the previous stage against wind torque. There are some position sensors to measure actual position of each movable shell relative to the shell of previous stage, or to the non-movable shell if there is no previous stage. The position sensors may be magnetic sensors. Some magnets will be embedded along a rib tube so that the position sensors can detect them. The result data of measurement will be a feedback to the micro-controller. The position control is closed-loop. Means for moving movable shells is cylinders. Each movable shell is moved by at least one cylinder. In  FIG. 9 , it can be seen that rob  40  of cylinder  44  will move shell  31  to the right, away from movable shell  21 , when stage three extends. Cylinder  44  will pull the movable shell  31  back when the blade compresses. It can be seen that cylinders are long. The far right position of the piston  80  is near the center of cylinder holder  15  so that the rod  40  with piston  80  can also provide some resistance to wind torque. When a movable shell has been moved to a required position, all the valves for the cylinder will be closed to keep the movable shell in the position. It can be seen in  FIG. 10 , cylinder  24  will move movable shell  21  away from movable shell  11  by rod  20 . Cylinder  24  can pull movable shell  21  back to movable shell  11 . In  FIG. 11 , it can be seen that cylinder  14  is responsible for pushing and pulling movable shell  11  back and forth. A real blade can have as many stages of movable shell as long as the blade is stable. A blade can have as many sections of movable shell as they are needed. Each movable shell can have as many sets of rib tube and cylinders as it needs them. Each movable shell has a set of hose holder.=&gt; Look at  FIG. 12 . There is a hose in the bunch  140  comes from the hydraulic pump  200  to the entrance  93 . The shape of hose holder is like a square tube or pipe. The hose holders limit the path for the coil spring going from the brace to movable shell  31 . The coil spring m the hoses and wires extend evenly in the space inside the extending set of hose holder. The coil spring makes sure that the hoses and wires compress evenly into the smaller space inside the compressing set of hose holder. The coil spring also protects the hoses and wires from wearing out by the inner surface of hose holders. Movable shells  21  and  11  have their own sets of hose holder (not shown). The hose holder set for movable shell  21  holds two hoses. One of the hoses goes to entrance  92  of cylinder  24 . The other goes to entrance  94  of cylinder  44 . The hose holder set for movable shell  11  holds two hoses. One of the hoses goes from pump  200  to entrance  91  of cylinder  14 . The other of the hoses goes from pump  200  to entrance  95  of cylinder  24 . There is a hose corning from pump  200  to entrance  96 . This hose does not go through any hose holder. A microprocessor in the microcontroller calculates the best blade size and the best positions of each shell. A microprocessor receives data from the position sensors and data of wind speed and torque at critical spots. The micro-controller controls the cylinders by valves to change the position of movable shells. One micro controller controls all blades for a wind turbine generator and makes sure the wind turbine generator is balanced. The microcontroller has a radio that can communicate with a radio on the ground. The radio on the ground sends commands that can override the commands from the microprocessor. In case the microprocessor malfunctions, the radio on the ground will directly control the valves and move the movable shells.