| 摘要 |
A generally toric lighter-than-air gas bag-type airfoil (12) is tethered by tethers (14) to the ground at a plurality of angularly widely distributed points at whinches (21) about the periphery of the gas bag. A wind turbine (WT) is mounted at the entrance to the axially central vent (16). The tether lines are entrained about individually operable power winches (21), preferably controlled by a micro-processor (TCS) which takes in wind direction and tether line tension data and operates the winches (21) and inflation gas inlet and outlet valves (40, 28) to orient the wind turbine into the wind for maximum power output. In other embodiments, a plurality of wind turbines (WT) are supported aloft on the same tethered airfoil (112) which is provided with apparatus (124, 130, 132, 134, 126, 140, TCS) for orienting the wind turbines (WT) into the wind. Various ways and devices, see Fig. 2, are described for converting the wind energy into electrical power and for connecting and providing the plural outputs to the same electrical power grid. The principles are applicable whether there are a small number of relatively large wind turbines, a large number of relatively small wind turbines or some of each. |
