Wind energy capture device for a system for producing electricity from jetstreams
View Patent ↗A jet stream wind energy capture device including two pair of parallel sail line tracks. Each track pair includes chain support beams; a plurality of rotatable chain gears connected to the support beams of each track; and sail-line chains that ride upon the chain gears. Generator(s) are attached to the gears. At least one sail is attached to the chains whereby the sails move along the tracks in a cyclical downwind and upwind path thereby moving the chains to rotate their chain gears, which in turn provides energy to the generator(s).
1. A wind energy capture device for use in conjunction with a mechanism for securing the wind energy capture device at high altitudes, the device comprising:
a first pair of essentially parallel sail line tracks, each track of said first pair of parallel sail line tracks comprising:
a first sail-line chain support beam operably connected to the mechanism for securing the wind energy capture device at high altitudes;
a plurality of spaced-apart rotatable chain gears rotatably connected to the first sail-line chain support beams of each track; and
a first sail-line chain that rides upon the rotatable chain gears of the first sail-line chain support beams of each track,
a second pair of essentially parallel sail line tracks, each track of said second pair of parallel sail line tracks comprising:
a second sail-line chain support beam operably connected to the mechanism for securing the wind energy capture device at high altitudes;
a plurality of spaced-apart rotatable chain gears rotatably connected to the second sail-line chain support beams of each track; and
a second sail-line chain that rides upon the rotatable chain gears of the second sail-line chain support beams of each track,
at least one generator operably and respectively attached to at least one of said gears; and
at least one sail having a sail frame attached to said first sail-line chain of each track of said first pair of parallel sail line tracks and to said second sail-line chains of each track of said second pair of parallel sail line tracks,
whereby the sails move along said pairs of first and second essentially parallel sail line tracks on said first and second chains in a cyclical downwind and upwind path thereby moving the first and second chains to rotate their respective first and second chain gears, which in turn provides energy to the at least one generator,
wherein the device further comprises a sail line positioning mechanism operably attached to each sail line track and the sail line positioning mechanism is selected from the group consisting of: at least one float; at least one angled sail line lifting member that is angled slightly downward in the downwind direction; at least one airplane wing-like shaped sail line lifting member; and any combinations thereof.
2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first and second tracks are configured so that the sails are generally upright with respect to the wind when moving in the downwind direction and generally parallel with respect to the wind when moving in the upwind direction.
3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the second track is disposed above the first track.
4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the second track surrounds the first track.
5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the sail frame comprises a first sail frame bar and a second sail frame bar.
6. The device of claim 1 , further comprising a wind deflector disposed upwind of said first pair of parallel sail line tracks.
7. The device of claim 1 , further comprising a computer/processor configured to control the speed of the sails.
8. The device of claim 7 , wherein the computer/processor is configured to control the speed of the sails to a speed between about one third to one half of the speed of the wind.