Patent ID: 8313302

Claim:
A wind power unit and a flow field, comprising: a mast positionable to receive a laminar flow along a path having a direction generally transverse to a direction along which the mast has a variable width, the mast including a maximum width measurable in a direction transverse to the laminar flow; a nacelle associated with the mast; a rotor associated with the nacelle; a plurality of rotor blades, at least one rotor blade having a plurality of recesses each having a shape in accord with the shape of a hemisphere, each recess positioned the same distance from all adjacent recesses, to improve flow arranged on the rotor blades approximately in the region between the transition point between laminar and turbulent flow and the final edge of the rotor blade and the shape and configuration of the recesses are designed such that, as the air sweeps past a recess, alternating flow eddies form in the recess that assist with continued laminar flow of the air while also reducing flow resistance along the surface relative to flow in the absence of the recesses, the mast characterized by a transition point along the flow path wherein a flow portion: (i) has predominantly laminar characteristics when travelling toward the transition point; and (ii) is characterized by turbulent flow when travelling away from the transition point, and wherein the transition point is positioned relative to a second point on the mast coinciding with the maximum width such that the flow portion first passes along the second point before passing the transition point.