Wind power patents: Siemens Gamesa | Enercon | Sinoma | SenseWind

The following patents were processed in the period 2-8 January:

The US Patent and Trademark Office published SenseWind’s patent application for a wind turbine tower. The company uses robotics to “self-install” turbines. 

Asia Pacific

The State Intellectual Property Office of China released Huadian Engineering’s patent application for an offshore wind foundation structure.

It comprises a main pile, an auxiliary pile and a cable-stayed part connecting the two piles.

The company claims it “can bear loads generated by a large-capacity wind generating set in a deep sea area, the steel consumption of the single-pile foundation is reduced, the building and construction equipment cost is reduced and installation is convenient”.

The Shanghai Investigation Design and Research Institute submitted a patent application to the same patent office for a workboat to hoist offshore wind turbine blades. 

Siemens Gamesa applied for two Chinese patents: one for preventing a blade from striking a wind turbine tower and the other for a method of accurately determining the angular position of a wind turbine nacelle.

Wobben Properties – which owns Enercon’s patents – submitted a patent application for a stator for a wind turbine with shaped coils and a method of producing the stator.

The Nanjing Institute of Technology sought a patent for a strategy of micro-siting an offshore wind farm based on a wake flow model.

Its strategy consists of “collecting and statistically analysing the long-term wind speed and wind direction data of a target region, and constructing a corresponding probability density function model”, according to an abstract released by the State Intellectual Property Office of China. The institute would then use these data to establish a mathematical model of the wake flow effect.

“The method can provide theoretical support and an optimization strategy for micro-siting of the wind power plant,” the institute claimed.

Fudan University sought a patent for a method of recovering waste wind turbine blades to obtain reinforced fibres and adhesive.

Its method includes applying “a hydrothermal pretreatment coupling oxidative degradation technology”, so that “organic components of the waste wind turbine blade are subjected to oxidative degradation, and then reinforced fibers are separated out”, according to an abstract released by the patent office.

“The reinforced fibers can be effectively recycled, the influence on the mechanical properties of the reinforced fibers is small, and the retention rate of the tensile strength of the recycled glass fibers reaches up to 90% or above,” the university claimed.

The patent office announced that Chongqing University applied for a patent for a lattice-type pre-stressed concrete steel joint and wind turbine tower.

“The steel consumption is reduced, the construction cost is reduced, and powerful support is provided for efficient, economical and safe tower construction,” the university claimed.

Sinoma submitted a patent application for a wind turbine blade and beam structure.

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