Patent ID: 7352076

Claim:
A small wind turbine electricity generation system for generating and providing regulated AC electric power from a wind turbine to a power system grid, comprising: a small wind turbine for producing less than 10 kW of peak electric power, said wind turbine including a rotor having a diameter and vane configuration such that said rotor rotates with a maximum tip speed ratio of less than 3.0 when not loaded; a permanent magnet generator coupled to and driven by said wind turbine that produces generator power with a frequency that varies with the wind speed; a power converter connected to said generator power that converts said generator power to said regulated AC electric power by applying a controlled load to said generator power, said power converter controls said load to said generator such that a) said power converter provides no power to said power system grid in a low wind speed region; b) said power converter provides power with a nonlinear increasing function of the turbine rotational speed in a medium wind speed region and in a high wind speed region; and c) said power converter provides output power by increasing the rotor operating tip speed ratio of said rotor above the operating tip speed ratio of said rotor in said medium wind speed region.