Apple has developed a new technique that allows storing of wind energy directly from the wind turbine in the form of heat, which is then used to generate electricity.
In general, this type of technology is used to convert kinetic energy from wind into electricity. A wind turbine is usually fitted with a set of blades and a rotor shaft in order to do harness wind power. Often the shaft is also connected to a system that does grinding of grain or pumping of water, or it is connected to an electric generator that converts energy into electricity.
Wind is of course the driving force behind the principle and it considering the nature of the event, it might fluctuate in speed and consequently affect the production of electricity. This is one of the main reasons why wind power does not contribute in large amount to the grid system.
Apple has discovered a way to mitigate wind variability and stabilize production of electricity from this source. Their technology is a well calculated system that uses a set of rotating blades to convert rational electricity into heat in low-heat-capacity fluid.
This fluid is then converted into working fluid, which contains the transferred heat, used by the system to generate electricity on demand.
The electricity generated with Apple’s system might also reduce the operational cost of back-up power plants that work specifically to balance the offset fluctuations in electricity produced by wind turbines.
In addition, using mechanical elements such as rotation-transmission mechanism, as well as the low-heat-capacity fluid and friction to store energy would also reduce cost of conventional energy storage mechanisms.
Apple has filed their patent FIG 1 application in 2011 by the sole inventor Jean Lee. If the patent is granted, we might have a system that facilitates cost-effective and reliable electricity generation from wind power.
