Patent ID: 7969036

Claim:
An apparatus for generating electric power using wind energy, comprising: a base; a blade unit including an upright rod extending vertically along a pivot axis and having a lower end disposed pivotally in said base, and an upper end, and at least one blade member having a plurality of upright blades connected fixedly to the upright rod such that said blade unit is rotatable relative to said base about the pivot axis so as to convert wind energy into a mechanical rotary power output, each of said blades having opposite first and second side surfaces, said first side surface of each of said blades facing said second side surface of an adjacent one of said blades; a generator disposed in said base and coupled to said lower end of said upright rod of said blade unit to convert the mechanical rotary power output into electric power; and a wind-collecting unit mounted fixedly on said base, and including a plurality of upright plates angularly equidistant and disposed around said blade unit, any two adjacent ones of said upright plates defining an inwardly converging wind-guiding channel therebetween; wherein said upright plates of said wind-collecting unit are shaped so that wind is guided by said upright plates of said wind-collecting unit to blow onto said first side surfaces of said blades of said blade member of said blade unit via said wind-guiding channels in said wind-collecting unit, wherein each of said upright plates of said wind-collecting unit has a first end portion adjacent to said blade unit and extending in a non-radial direction, and a second end portion opposite to said first end portion, and is bent so that an obtuse angle is formed between said first and second end portions; and wherein said first end portion of each of said upright plates of said wind-collecting unit has a thickness that decreases gradually toward said blade unit.