WO2015198348A1

WO2015198348A1 - Solar tree

Info

Publication number: WO2015198348A1
Application number: PCT/IN2015/000264
Authority: WO
Inventors: Prakash Tarun KUMAR
Original assignee: Kumar Prakash Tarun
Priority date: 2014-06-26
Filing date: 2015-06-25
Publication date: 2015-12-30

Abstract

An apparatus designed for generating electrical power. This apparatus consists of solar panels having high quality of solar cells, with high efficiency for generating electricity from solar energy; a small cylindrical wind turbine at top for generating electricity from wind energy; a transparent pole to support solar panels and wind turbine; a charging dock placed on the supporting base for public to use electricity to charge their electronic gadgets and a square base at bottom to support the entire machinery. The solar panels are circular in shape with reducing radius from bottom to top in form of an inverted cone having ability to rotate themselves according to the sunlight falling on them; and placed at different vertical distances along the supporting pole. This apparatus generates higher amount of electricity for same unit of solar panels per area.

Description

Solar Tree

Field of Invention:

This invention relates to an apparatus design that combines the use of solar and wind electricity generating technologies to generate maximum amount of electricity_by utilizing limited space.

Prior Art:

The demand for renewable electricity has increased manifolds during the last few decades due to decrease in non-renewable energy sources and increasing environmental effect associated with renewable energy sources. Solar and Wind Energy generating technologies have been Used for small and large

scale for decades, but the costs associated with them are high; which presents a big hurdle for utilizing them to generate electricity especially on a small scale. Although solar panels can be used on rooftops and free grounds to generate electricity, but generally they generate less electricity and are also less efficient. Wind-turbines cannot be used for small scale as they are very large and have to be constructed at hundreds of feet from ground to capture wind and generate electricity and small wind-turbines generate very less electricity. That's why wind-turbines are not a viable option to generate electricity on small scale like in a city. Few solar tree designs have come up in the past but they are not widely used, as they generate less electricity and do not utilize the space completely available to generate electricity.

Objective of Invention:

The primary objective of the invention is to increase the output of electricity generated from per unit area of solar panels and produce it at a lower cost.

Another objective of the invention is to utilize the maximum amount of sunlight falling on the apparatus by devising a mechanism to change the angle of solar panels accordirig to the sunlight and in the form of an inverted cone reducing its radius from the base so that the upper panels do not produce shadow on the lower panels.

Further objective of the invention is to include a small wind turbine at top for generating electricity as an additional electricity generating unit at lesser cost.

Summary:

This invention relates to increase the output of electricity generated from solar panels from per unit area of solar panels. Since the output of electricity generated from current solar panels design is less per unit area, I have designed a solar tree to increase the output. This apparatus relates to utilize the angle of the sunlight falling on the place to maximize the output via allowing more time of light to fall on the panels. As the energy production from solar panels and wind turbines is not cheap, thereby their wide-use is limited; but this invention combines both of them to generate electricity at lesser cost with higher output from same machinery in a more efficient way. This apparatus can produce electricity at cheap cost for public and can provide electricity for street lights and public hoardings by establishing solar tree in public places like parks, parking places in between the road dividers.

Brief Description of the Drawings:

The present invention has been described with the following figures to understand its working and the machinery involved in it.

The five sheets completely illustrate the model of the invention.

Sheet 1 shows the side view of the apparatus.

Sheet 2 shows the how the invention will look in tilted view.

Sheet 3 shows the top view which is directly above the apparatus.

Sheet 4 shows the side and front view of wind turbine attached at top of apparatus.

Sheet 5 shows the side, and titled view of the charging dock; and side and front view of the motor attached to solar disks.

Detailed Description of the Invention:

01 On the global front, creating the use of solar energy seems to be one of the best options available. The change in the climatic conditions all over the world is a serious threat to our planet which is causing a lot of problems. The emission levels of carbon dioxide that we generate by the constant use of fossil fuel are literally killing our planet. Depleting non-renewable energy sources has turned us to the use of renewable energy. The usage of solar energy will provide us with a clean environment, a life where we will not have to constantly worry about the ever so reducing resources to provide us with the basic comforts of our life. In the last decades, there has lot of development in field of solar energy and with advancement of technology, solar energy will be used in each and every home and become common source of energy. So I thought to work in the field of solar energy and develop more efficient technology. 02 Though there have been lot of developments in field of solar technology, but their wide spread use is limited especially on small- scales like homes and inside city. Same goes with wind turbines as they are large and have to be constructed outside the city and small wind turbines single handedly are less viable option. After going through various designs and technology

developments, I decided to combine the wind and solar energy and design such an apparatus that it is becomes a highly viable option to be used on small scale. Most of the designs are using the space available to them in less efficient way. I thought of constructing of solar panels one above another to use space available in more efficient way. I saw few designs of solar tree, but still they generate less amount of electricity. So I thought to design a whole new solar tree which generates high amount of electricity by utilizing the space available to them efficiently and generate more electricity from same amount of solar panel area. I thought of placing a small wind turbine to it so that it could generate additional amount of electricity while utilizing the space available at top of solar tree.

03 This invention has circular solar panels disk reducing its radius from base to top with ability to change angle according to the sunlight so to maximize the output; including a small wind turbine at top, all attached to a vertical transparent pole material so not to shadow the panels, enables us to generate higher amount of electricity at low cost. This invention will be positioned in large solar field or in public places for generation of electricity. Also there will be a charging stand available for public to use electricity to charge their electronic gadgets. The electricity generated from public solar trees will be send to street lights and public hoardings.

04 Also the radius of solar panels and the number of panels on one tree will vary from 4-8 panels with varying radius from 3metres - 30cm depending on the area where it will be used. So these two variables are defined in this invention. For area with higher sunlight fewer panels could be used and for area with lesser sunlight more panels could be used. The motors to rotate the panels will be placed in the pole. Also the solar cells in top panels will be placed at some distance to ensure sufficient light fall on lower panels; whereas in lower panels, the solar cells will completely cover the panels. In Sheet 1, Fig. 1 shows the side view of the solar tree.

In Fig.l, no. l shows the supporting base on which the solar tree would stand. It would contain all the wires, cables and necessary equipment to run the solar tree and generate energy from solar panels and wind turbine. It is flat square box made of metal and wood. Also it will carry a computer chip to change the angle of rotors and other purposes like recording amount of electricity generated. It will comprise of big batteries to store the electricity generated.

No.2 represents the supporting rods on which the base will be placed. It will be dug into ground. Each base will have 4 supporting rods at each corner made of metal.

No.3 represents the cable pipe present at the center beneath the pole of the tree, to carry the cables either for charging dock or to street lights.

No.4 represents the cables coming out of the solar tree.

No.5 is the pole of the charging dock to support it.

No.6 represents the charging dock having three plugs carrying electricity generated from the solar tree for the use of the public to charge their electronic device, when placed in public places like parks, parking spaces and roads dividers. Electricity generated from it can also be used to power street lights and public hoardings.

No.7 in sheet 1 represents the pole which will support the solar panels and the wind turbine. This pole will be made of transparent material so as not to over shadow the solar panels which will ensure maximum amount of electricity generated. This pole will carry necessary wirings also. Also it will have the motors to rotate the solar panels at specific angle like two-three degree less than angle of sunlight falling on that place to maximize the output of the electricity. It will include photo detectors so that it analyzes the angle of the sunlight falling on it and send the necessary details to computer chip which will order motors to change the angle. No. 8 represents the small motor attached to solar panels which will rotate the solar panels according to the sunlight. This motor will be powered by electricity generated from the solar tree itself. Since it requires very minimal electricity to run we can be sure we can generate enough energy for our use.

No.9 represents the solar panels disks which are in circular in shape reducing its radius from bottom to top in form of a conical tree. This ensures maximum amount of sunlight fall on all panels and we generate higher energy. Also the solar cells in top panels will be placed at some distance to ensure sufficient light fall on lower panels; whereas in lower panels, the solar cells will completely cover the panels.

No.10 represents the support for the wind turbine carrying wires from turbine to the base.

No .11 represents the side view of the wind turbine on top of the tdfe to capture the wind energy which gets wasted. It will consist of induction motors to convert the rotation of blades into electrical energy and send it to the supporting base.

In Sheet 2, no .12 represents the placement of the solar cells on the circular disks placed at a spacing distance.

Here, how the solar tree will look is shown. The figure 2, shows how the wind turbine is constructed and connected to pole. It also shows the placement of charging dock near the solar tree. The solar tree will be placed at the center of supporting base.

In Sheet 3, figure 3, represents the top view of the solar tree where we see the increasing radius of the solar panels. No.9 represents the solar disks. Sheet 4 shows the wind turbine for capturing the wind energy.

Figure 4 represents the front view of the wind turbine whereas figure 5 represents the side view of the wind turbine.

No. 10 shows the support for the wind turbine. It is the pipe which will connect the wind turbine to the support pole and carry the necessary wiring.

No.l 1 shows the cylindrical box which will consist of induction motor to generate electrical energy.

No.13 shows the blades in half-'U' shaped attached to the cylinder to capture the wind energy. These are higher in number which increases the amount of wind energy captured as it increases the drag to wind thus increasing the force on the wind turbine making them move faster and generating higher amount of electricity than normal same sized wind turbine.

Sheet 5, shows the charging dock and motor attached to the solar disks.

Figure 8 represents the side view of solar disks and figure 10 represents the side view of solar disks.

No.8 show the motor which will be placed inside the pole to rotate the solar panels at specific angles. The motors will be attached to both sides of the panels so to move them easier. They will be connected to computer chips at supporting base from where it will get signals to change the angles.

No. 16 shows the rods on which the solar disks will be connected.

Figure 6 and figure 7 represents the side view of charging dock.

No.14 represents the place for the public to keep their electronic gadgets while charging through the dock.

No.15 shows the plugs which will be present at the charging dock in three nos. providing the public electricity to charge. Figure 8 represents the titled view of charging dock.

No.5 shows the support structure which will support the charging dock and •carry necessary wiring.

No.6 represents the charging dock. Here we can see the space available for the public to keep their charge their electronic gadgets. It also illustrates the three plugs where people can connect the electronic gadgets.

Claims

Claims:

1. An apparatus designed for generating electrical power; consisting of solar panels for generating electricity from solar energy, placing them at different vertical distances along the vertical supporting pole; a small cylindrical wind turblne^"at ^"top for generating electricity from wind energy; a vertical transparent pole to support solar panels and wind turbine ; a charging dock placed on the supporting base for public to use electricity to charge their electronic gadgets and a square base at bottom to support the entire machinery.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 have solar panels circular in shape with reducing radius from bottom to top in a conical form having ability to rotate themselves according to the sunlight falling on them; placed at different vertical distances along the supporting pole; and comprising of high quality of solar cells, and having high-efficiency.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 comprises of motors attached to each circular solar panel disk to change its angle and generally having angle of two-three degree less than angle of sunlight falling on that place so to generate maximum amount of electricity from the sunlight.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 comprises of number of solar cells reducing from bottom to top so as not to over shadow the lower panels; which is bottom disks having solar panels covering them full and upper panels having solar panels placed at significant distance so as to allow sunlight fall on lower panels.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 consists of solar panel disks from four to eight in numbers and its radius ranging from thirty centimeters to three meters depending on the amount of sunlight falling on that area where it will be used.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 consists of a supporting pole which is made of transparent material so as not to over shadow the solar panels; which will support the panels, wind turbine and the motors placed inside it.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 comprises a.square base which is constructed to support the tree, charging dock, wiring and other essential equipment required for generating electricity and to convert it in suitable transmission form for use.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 includes a charging dock on the square base for the use of public so they could charge their electronic gadgets via electricity generated from the solar tree; with solar tree when placed in public spaces.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising of a single wind turbine for generating electricity from wind energy; in form of a cylinder consisting of large number of blades in half-'U' shaped attached to the cylinder to capture wind; having motor placed inside it to convert wind energy into electricity and placed vertical on the top of apparatus attached to vertical pole via steel rod.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 comprises of the solar disks; support pole is in conical shape; with turbine attached at top; and support base at bottom.