Photovoltaic-Wind Hybrid Turbine System

Registered in the United States in April 2020 under “US 10,612,522 B2”

Author: Anas Al Tarabsheh et.al.

Electrical and Computer Engineering Department,

Abu Dhabi University, 2020

 

Patent in brief:

This work presents a modified photovoltaic-wind hybrid energy system, which combines both Photovoltaic energy and wind energy in a single system as an alternative concept for the conventional PV-wind hybrid systems.  This system can be used as a portable charging station for drones or any other applications. The system was tested in the ADU’s labs and showed promising results. 

 

What makes it different from the existing approaches:

The added values of this design over existing hybrid PV-wind systems are:

• A minimum area will be utilized compared to the existing PV wind hybrid systems.

• Rotating PV modules will be self-cooled (i.e. lower operating temperatures compared to fixed modules), resulting in an enhanced output power.

• There is no need to build a sun tracker since at least two of the rotating PV modules will face the sun at a time.

• The blades reflect back some of the incident sunlight toward the other PV modules resulting in an increase of the PV modules’ output current.

• The chance for dust build-up is less on the top of rotating PV modules.

 

How this invention can be used by end-users:

This invention is perfect for consumers since it utilizes a small area compared to other existing systems. It combines the DC power from PV modules and AC power from wind-turbines using one hybrid charge controller. It is easy to implement and it operates even at low wind speed values. It also prevents the PV modules from overheat, resulting into higher efficiencies.