Wind powered apparatus

A wind powered apparatus which includes an external wind shielding shroud supported for rotation about a vertical axis; a rotor mounted for rotation about the same axis as the shroud and disposed partially within the shroud; and a stabilizer vane secured to the shroud on the outer side thereof. The shroud includes two halves, each of conical configuration, with the halves oriented in base-abutting relation to each other. Each shroud half includes a plurality of generally triangularly shaped, overlapping vanes having air escape spaces provided between the overlapped edges thereof. The rotor includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced blades, each oriented in a plane containing the axes of rotation of the shroud and rotor, and each defining an opening between its radially inner edge and the axes of rotation of the shroud and rotor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to wind powered generators and similar devices in 
which an impeller or rotor is caused to undergo rotation by the 
impingement of wind thereon. More particularly, the invention relates to 
those types of wind powered devices heretofore known wherein a rotor is 
mounted for rotation about a vertical axis, and is permitted to undergo 
rotation in response to the wind by reason of the partial shielding effect 
of a shroud which covers a part of the rotor and prevents counteractive 
forces from being developed on the motor. 
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art 
A number of devices have heretofore been proposed for permitting power to 
be generated by the impingement of wind on some type of rotative member 
which can respond to the wind by undergoing rotation, and thus developing 
mechanical motion which can be used for the generation of power. Efforts 
to improve the efficiency of devices of this type have recently been 
intensified in view of the diminishing supply of fossil fuels and the 
necessity to scrutinize alternate sources of energy. 
One of the types of wind powered devices which has previously been proposed 
has utilized a rotor element mounted on some type of supporting structure 
to permit the rotor element to undergo rotation about a vertical axis. It 
has been proposed to include, in combination with such rotor element, some 
type of shroud or shielding device which orients itself, upon impingement 
of the wind thereupon, in a position to prevent the wind from impinging 
upon the blades or force-recieving elements of the rotor in a 
counterproductive fashion, i.e., on both that side of the rotor blades 
which will cause the rotor to turn in one direction, as well as upon the 
opposite sides of the blades after the blades have turned through 
180.degree.. 
Devices of the sort which include a rotatable rotor responsive to the wind 
and a shielding or shrouding element which covers a portion of the blades 
of the rotor at some point during the total rotational travel of such 
blades are the windmill structure shown in Henderon U.S. Pat. No. 372,148; 
the shrouded windmill shown in Asperger U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,405; the wind 
impeller in Hings U.S. Pat. No. 2,542,522; the windmill in Wood U.S. Pat. 
No. 343,786; the windmill in McManigal U.S. Pat. No. 1,333,987, and the 
wind powered apparatus shown in Luchuk U.S. Pat. No. 3,970,409. 
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION 
The present invention provides an improved wind powered apparatus which 
more efficiently responds to impingement of the wind thereon, and which, 
as is generally true of some prior art devices, includes a rotor element 
having a plurality of vanes positioned in an annular array, and oriented 
to receive the force imparted thereto by wind impinging on the vanes. 
Further, the wind powered apparatus of the invention includes, in 
conjunction with the rotor, an outer peripheral shroud which is configured 
to block approximately one-half of the vanes of the rotor from the wind as 
the initial leeward side of the vanes is brought around, through rotation 
of the rotor, to a position where, but for the interpostion of the shroud, 
the wind would impinge thereon, and therefore be counteractive with 
respect to the wind impinging upon the vanes when they are disposed 
180.degree. out of phase with their shielded position. The rotor, because 
of the manner in which the shroud is constructed, and also due to the 
configuration of the rotor vanes, utilizes a greater proportion of the 
total force potentially available in the moving air constituted by the 
wind, and thus operates more efficiently than devices of this type 
previously proposed. Broadly described, the three major components of the 
wind powered apparatus of the invention include the external, 
wind-shielding shroud element which is supported for rotation about a 
vertical axis; a rotor mounted for independent rotation about the same 
axis as the shroud and disposed partially within the shroud; and a 
stabilizer vane secured to, and projecting outwardly from, the outer side 
of the shroud. The shroud includes two halves, each of which is of conical 
configuration with the halves oriented with respect to each other so that 
their bases abut each other. Each shroud half includes a plurality of 
generally triangularly shaped, overlapping vanes having air escape spaces 
provided between the overlapped edges thereof. The rotor includes a 
plurality of circumferentially spaced blades, each oriented in a plane 
containing the axes of rotation of the shroud and rotor, and each defining 
an opening between its radially inner edge and the axes of rotation of the 
shroud and rotor. 
An important object of the present invention is to provide an improved wind 
powered apparatus which efficiently converts the energy in moving air to 
mechanical energy. 
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved wind powered 
apparatus which is mechanically strong in its construction and relatively 
economical to fabricate and assemble. 
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as 
the following detailed description of the invention is read in conjunction 
with the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of 
the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION 
Referring initially to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the wind powered apparatus 
of the invention is illustrated therein and includes an air shield or 
shroud designated generally by reference numeral 10, which shroud is 
supported upon a vertically extending shaft 12 for rotation on this shaft 
in a manner hereinafter described. 
The apparatus further includes a rotor designated generally by reference 
numeral 14. The rotor 14 is also mounted for rotation about the vertically 
extending shaft 12. The rotor is keyed to the shaft 12 for rotation 
independently of the shroud 10. The rotor 14 is carried upon a suitable 
lower hub 16 keyed to the shaft 12 which extends at its lower end through 
a suitable journal sleeve 18 into a generator indicated schematically at 
20. Any suitable tower structure or the like can be used for supporting 
the wind powered apparatus at a vertically elevated location where it is 
susceptible to impingement of the wind thereon. 
Referring in greater detail to the construction of the shroud 10, this 
element comprises an external rigid ring or annular member 22 which lies 
in a plane extending substantially normal to the axis of the shaft 12. 
This plane is located substantially midway between an upper bearing or 
journal hub 24 and a lower bearing or journal hub 26. The bearing or 
journal hub 24 is mounted for free rotation upon the shaft 12, as is the 
bearing or journal hub 26, which rests upon the journal sleeve 18. 
The shroud 10 further includes a plurality of structural supporting guy 
wires, which can best be described in pairs. Thus, one pair of guy wires 
is designated in FIG. 1 by reference numerals 28 and 30. It will be 
perceived that the lower, outer ends of each of these wires 28 and 30 are 
anchored or secured by any suitable means to the ring or annular member 
22, and that the upper end portions of the two wires are crossed at a 
location near the journal hub 24 and are secured, as shown in FIG. 6, 
through appropriate eyes or apertures 32 formed around the periphery of 
the journal hub 24. This arrangement of pairs of the guy wires is repeated 
around the entire outer periphery of the upper and lower portions of the 
shroud 10. 
It will be perceived in referring to the drawings that the shroud 10 
includes a conically shaped upper portion and a conically shaped lower 
portion. Effectively, however, the wind reactive portions of this shroud 
10 include two semi-conical portions in base-to-base relation, and this 
configuration will be better understood from the following description. 
Commencing with the guy wires 28 and 30, each pair of guy wires positioned 
for a limited circumferential distance counterclockwise thereof as the 
apparatus is viewed in plan in FIG. 2, has secured between each of the guy 
wire pairs a vane of subsstantially triangular configuration and 
designated by reference numeral 40. It will be noted that the series of 
flaps or vanes 40 which is thus provided includes a sufficient number of 
flaps or vanes to cover 180.degree. of the total conical shape of the 
upper half of the shroud or, stated differently, to permit the series of 
vanes to be terminated at a diametric plane which is coincident with the 
axis of the shaft 12. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, 
eleven of the vanes 40 are illustrated, and thus each triangular flap or 
vane defines an angle of about 16.degree.20'. Each generally triangular 
vane 40 terminates at a location spaced radially outwardly from the shaft 
12, and the vanes collectively define a pair of open spaces at the top and 
bottom of the shroud and surrounding the shaft. 
The guy wires which are symmetrically arrayed around both the upper and 
lower halves of the shroud are also provided on the open (non-vaned) side 
of the shroud, as is clearly illustrated in FIG. 2, and each pair of the 
guy wires is similarly extended and anchored at its opposite ends to the 
annular member 22 and to the respective journal hub 24 or 26. 
In further discussions of the wind powered apparatus of the invention, it 
will be helpful to establish, in reference to the drawings, an orientation 
of the apparatus as there illustrated to the direction of wind impingement 
upon the apparatus. FIG. 1 shows the apparatus oriented in the attitude 
which it would assume if the wind were directed against it from a 
direction extending normal to the paper containing the drawing. FIG. 2 is 
correspondingly illustrative of the apparatus as it would appear in plan 
if the wind were impinging upon the apparatus from a direction coincident 
with the vertical axis of the drawing sheet upon which FIG. 2 appears and 
were blowing from the bottom of the page toward the top. With this 
attitude of the apparatus and the assumed wind direction, the rotor, 
subsequently to be described, would be rotated in a clockwise direction, 
as the apparatus is viewed in FIG. 2, and the shroud 10 would become 
stabilized, upon impingement of the wind thereupon, in the position 
illustrated in FIG. 2. 
Considering, then, the direction of rotation of the rotor to be clockwise 
in FIG. 2, and referring again to the vanes 40 of the shroud, each of 
these vanes carries a trailing flap 42 which extends across and overlaps 
the leading edge of the next adjacent vane in a counterclockwise 
direction. Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the flap 42 secured to the 
trailing edge of each of the vanes 40 is spaced radially outwardly from 
the leading edge of the next adjacent flap to provide an air escape space 
between the flap and the leading edge of the next adjacent vane. This 
relative orientation of adjacent vanes 40 and the flaps 42 secured thereto 
is characteristic of all the vanes and associated flaps. It should be 
pointed out, and will be understood, that each flap 42 can be constructed 
integrally with the respective vane 40 to which it is attached, rather 
than being made a separate element secured to the vane. 
As previously indicated, the rotor 14 is keyed to the shaft 12 for rotation 
with this shaft about its axis, and for rotation independently of the 
shroud 10. The rotor 14 thus includes a central hub 48 drivingly mounted 
on the shaft 12 and having projecting therefrom, a plurality of radially 
extending spokes 50. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, six 
of the spokes 50 are provided and are oriented with respect to each other 
such that adjacent spokes define an angle of 60.degree. therebetween. At 
the outer end of the radially extending spokes 50, the spokes are 
interconnected by suitable wires or rods 52 which project between and 
interconnect the radially outer ends of adjacent pairs of the spokes. 
Secondary stays 54 are also provided and extend between the radially outer 
ends of each spoke pair made up of every other spoke 50 (see FIG. 2). It 
will be apparent that the rods 52, stays 54 and the radially extending 
spokes 50 all occupy a common, substantially horizontal plane which 
extends normal to the axis of the shaft 12. 
As best illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the rotor 14 further includes a 
plurality of wind reactive members such as blades or vanes 56. Although 
each of the blades or vanes 56 may be constructed of various materials, in 
the illustrated embodiment the material is a fabric. The rotor 14, in its 
entirety, is configured as a pair of base-to-base conical members, with 
the upper cone defined by the array of vanes 56 extending upwardly from 
the plane containing the spokes 50, and the lower cone defined by the 
array of lower vanes 56 extending downwardly from the spokes 50. Each of 
the blades 56 lies in a plane which extends through and contains the axis 
of the shaft 12, and each vane is spaced radially outwardly from the shaft 
12 as illustrated in FIG. 4. It will be perceived that the vanes 56 are 
oriented in aligned pairs, with an upper vane aligned in the same plane as 
one of the lower vanes with the vanes in the pair meeting at one of the 
spokes 50. In fact, each vane pair, including an upper vane and a lower 
vane, may be formed as a single element from one unitary piece of material 
with the central portion of the vane joined to the respective spoke 50. 
Each pair of aligned upper and lower vanes 56 is compositely configured as 
a rough or general triangle, with the base of the triangle being defined 
by an arcuate radially inner edge 58. The arcuate radially inner edge 58 
of each vane is curved in a concave configuration so that that space which 
is left open between the radially inner edge of each vane and the central 
shaft 12 is substantially equivalent in area to the total area of the vane 
56 having that radially inner edge. In other words, the total surface area 
of each of the vanes 56 is substantially equivalent to the total open or 
void area existent between the radially inner edge of the vane and the 
shaft 12. 
At its radially outer edge, each of the vanes 56 is secured to a structural 
element, such as a guy wire or rod 60. Each vane 56 also carries at its 
radially outer edge, a turned over fence flap 61 which extends at an angle 
of about 45.degree. to the major plane of the vane to which it is 
attached. The guy wires 60 collectively lie in the peripheral outer 
surface of the conically shaped upper and lower halves of the rotor, and 
each guy wire is anchored or secured at its outer end to the outer end of 
one of the spokes 50, and at its radially inner end to the hub 16 which is 
keyed to the shaft 12 for rotation with the shaft, or to a similar hub 62 
which is provided around the upper end portion of the shaft 12, and 
provides an anchor point for securing the upper radially inner ends of the 
guy wires used to support the radially outer edges of each of the upper 
vanes 56. The hub 48, by fixation to the shaft 12, imparts rotation to the 
shaft which extends through the sleeve 18 into a suitable housing 20 
containing conventional power generating means (not shown) by which the 
rotative motion of the sleeve 66 can be converted to electrical power. 
For the purpose of directionally orienting the shroud 10 with respect to 
the wind direction, a stabilizer flap or vane, designated generally by 
reference numeral 70, is provided. The stabilizer vane 70 is of generally 
triangular configuration and is secured to the outer side of the lower 
portion of the shroud 10 at a location so that it extends in the vertical 
plane which contains the aligned edges of the vanes 40 which are adjacent 
the closed portion of the shroud 10. 
USE AND OPERATION 
In operatively placing the wind powered apparatus of the invention, it is 
erected upon a suitable supporting structure in a position to intercept 
the prevailing winds in the place where it is to be employed. The shaft 12 
which is drivingly connected to the rotor 14 is connected to a suitable 
generating device, such as that schematically indicated at 20 in the 
drawings. 
With the wind powered apparatus positioned at an elevated location in the 
path of wind flow, the stabilizer flap or vane 70, by reason of the 
impingement of the wind thereupon, moves to a position in which it is 
feathered and offers the least resistance to wind flow. In moving to this 
position, it carries with it the air shield or shroud 10 which is 
supported upon the vertically extending shaft 12 for free rotation. When 
the stabilizer vane 70 is moved to a feathered position, the shroud 10 is 
moved to a position where the plane defining the axial boundary of the 
semi-conically shaped vane arrays of the upper portion and lower portions 
of the shroud is aligned with the direction of wind flow. Stated 
differently, the plane which extends across and includes the limiting 
edges of the bounding vanes included in the upper portion and lower 
portion of the shroud passes through the rotational axis defined by the 
shaft 12. In this position, the shroud 10 protects and shields one-half of 
the rotor from impingement by the wind, and causes the force of the wind 
to be exerted only upon one-half of the rotor or, stated differently, to 
act upon the rotor blades or vanes 56 only over 180.degree. of the total 
rotor dimension. 
As the wind impinges upon the blades or vanes 56 of the rotor 14, the rotor 
is driven in rotation about the rotational axis defined by the shaft 12 
and, in undergoing rotation, causes rotation of the shaft 12 so that the 
generator 20 can be driven to generate an electrical current. 
As the rotor 14 undergoes rotation as a result of impingement of the wind 
upon the vanes or blades 56 thereof, the effect of the vane movement is to 
pull air in through the top and bottom portions of the wind powered 
apparatus, or stated differently, to draw wind in along the upper and 
lower portions of the shaft 12, and inwardly toward the central portion of 
the apparatus. This draft effect tending to move the wind in this 
direction is in part caused by the vacuum pulled by the moving vane, and 
in part by the flow of air outwardly through the air slots provided 
adjacent the overlapping trailing edge of each of the shroud vanes 40 
where this trailing edge overlaps the leading edge of the next adjacent 
shroud vane 40. I have found that a very workable arrangement is to 
provide an overlap at this point of approximately 1/10th of the total 
shroud vane width, with a space between the leading vane and the trailing 
vane approximately equivalent to the overlap of the vanes. 
The movement of the air drawn in through the top and bottom of the wind 
powered apparatus appears to create an eddy current moving clockwise 
around the axis of the shaft 12 which aids the rotation of the rotor vanes 
as a result of an effective reduction in the static air load which 
otherwise would oppose rotation of the rotor blades. The eddy currents 
developed around the shaft 12 also appear to aid in the direction of the 
total air contained between the shroud and the rotor out through the air 
slots formed between the vanes of the shroud, and in this way to aid in 
the stabilization of the shroud in its desired rotor shielding position. 
Hunting of the shroud is thus prevented due to overreaction of the 
stabilizer vane 70. 
I have found that the double conical shape of the rotor and its associated 
shroud appears to present the best aspect ratio for use in this type of 
wind powered apparatus, i.e., the type which contemplates the use of 
vertical axes of rotation characterizing a rotor partially shielded by a 
surrounding shroud. 
A further important aspect of the construction of my wind powered apparatus 
is the provision of rotor vanes which occlude only approximately 50 
percent of the total areal space between the guy wires supporting the 
outer boundary edges of these vanes and the central rotational axis of the 
rotor. Moreover, the shroud very greatly increases the efficiency of the 
wind powered apparatus as contrasted with a non-shrouded apparatus, with 
such increase in efficiency being an effective tripling thereof by my 
measurements and observations. 
The turned over rotor blade edges in which the relatively short leading 
edge lip is oriented at about 45.degree. with respect to the main plane of 
each rotor blade also substantially enhances the efficiency of the device, 
and experiments have confirmed the superiority of this structure over 
monoplanar rotor blades lacking the turned over leading edge. 
Although various embodiments of the rotor utilized can be employed, I 
prefer the six-bladed rotor illustrated in the drawings, although rotors 
having more or fewer blades can be used. 
It should further be noted that the slotted vane construction of the 
shroud, in conjunction with the orientation with the stabilizer vane 70 
with respect to the shroud, enables the stabilizer vane to initially 
deflect wind to the air passageways formed between vanes of the shroud, 
and from thence on to the rotor blades 56 in a direction such that the 
rotor will be caused to undergo start-up rotation, even while the 
stabilizer vane is shifting toward its feathered position for the purpose 
of bringing the shroud to its effective operating position. 
Experiments which I have conducted indicate that the wind powered apparatus 
of the invention has an efficiency such that 51.12 percent of the 
theoretical usable power available in the wind is recovered by the device 
and converted into mechanical energy in the rotation of the shaft 12. 
Although a preferred embodiment of the invention has been herein described 
in order to illustrate the principles constituting the foundation for the 
invention, it will be understood that various changes and innovations in 
structure, and relative orientation of structure, can be effected without 
departure from these principles. Such changes and modifications to the 
illustrated embodiment are therefore deemed to be circumscribed by the 
spirit and scope of the invention except as the same may be necessarily 
limited by the appended claims or reasonable equivalents thereof.