Patent ID: 8115334

Claim:
A vehicle-based power take-off (PTO) system comprising: an energy storage device configured to supply electrical power; at least one electrical drive system electrically connected to the energy storage device to receive the electrical power, each of the at least one electrical drive systems configured to convert the electrical power to a desired mechanical power; a distribution bus having at least one distribution branch to electrically connect the energy storage device to a respective electrical drive system and distribute the electrical power thereto; an inverter coupled to each distribution branch in the distribution bus, the inverter configured to convert a DC power from the distribution bus into a conditioned AC power for driving a respective electrical drive system; and a PTO shaft mechanically connected to each of the at least one electrical drive systems and driven by the mechanical power to generate a mechanical output, the mechanical output of each PTO shaft being independently controllable; wherein each of the at least one electrical drive systems comprises an electric motor/generator combination configured to controllably drive a respective PTO shaft and to capture and convert mechanical energy from the PTO shaft into an AC power; and wherein the electrical power corresponding to the AC power generated by the electric motor/generator combination resulting from the capture and conversion of mechanical power from a respective PTO shaft is supplied directly to another electric motor/generator combination without first storing the energy in the energy storage device.