Patent ID: 8178992

Claim:
A wind turbine arrangement, comprising: an axial flux alternator for generating electricity, said alternator comprising: at least one coil disk; magnetic cores with conductive coils arranged on each of said at least one coil disk; at least one magnetic disk arranged adjacent to said at least one coil disk; and magnets arranged on each of said at least one magnetic disk; rolling elements arranged between facing surfaces of said at least one coil disk and said at least one magnetic disk to maintain air gaps between a surface of said magnetic cores on said at least one coil disk and said magnets on said at least one magnetic disk; said alternator generating electricity from relative rotation between said at least one coil disk and said at least one magnetic disk during which said magnetic cores of said at least one coil disk and said magnets of said at least one magnetic disk are brought into and out of magnetic engagement with one another; and at least one wind turbine, at least one of said coil disk or one of said magnetic disk being coupled to said at least one wind turbine to cause, when said wind turbine is exposed to wind, a relative rotation between said at least one coil disk and said at least one magnetic disk; at least one of said at least one coil disk and said at least one magnetic disk comprising: at least two outer layers of a strong material; and at least one inner lightweight layer arranged between said at least two outer layers of strong material.