As the discussion goes on about how to deal with the inconsistent nature of wind-generated electricity, one independent inventor has another solution.  He uses the windmill to pump hydraulic fluid and pressurize a storage tank.  The pressurized fluid is then used to drive a generator.  In this way, consistent power levels can be derived from the storage tank - whereas consistent power can hardly be expected when the wind directly turns a generator.

This concept seems similar to the age-old idea of using solar panels or a windmill to pump water to an elevated water tank, and then slowly utilizing the potential energy of the elevated water to generate power. Surprisingly, then, this inventor received a pretty broad patent.  If you look at the very brief first claim, this patent really seems to cover the concept itself.  In a developed field, such as this one, patents usually result from nuances.  Having a patent issue that actually covers significant ground is a rarity.

Apparently, the windmill driven, hydraulic pressurizing concept was first patented by this inventor in February 2007 in U.S. Patent No. 7,183,664.

The Patent that issued today modifies his existing patent by using sails (as in a sailboat) to drive the hydraulic pump.

Download U.S. Patent No. 7,436,086

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 at 10:26 am and is filed under Energy Patent of Today. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.