Lightweight Wind Turbine Construction

Using recycled composite materials like ground up old wind turbine blades as replacements for virgin glass fibers in epoxy resin composites like adhesives. The recycled composite material is combined with the epoxy resin and/or hardener components to prepare curable composites. This allows using recycled materials in adhesives without significant impact on performance compared to virgin fibers. The recycled composite material provides similar mechanical properties and thixotropic behavior compared to virgin fibers.

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Preparing green, environmentally friendly, emission-reducing, and carbon sequestration foamed lightweight soil using serpentine, magnesium oxide, and CO2 as raw materials. The method involves grinding serpentine tailings to replace part of magnesium oxide as cementing material. CO2 foaming is used to prepare the foamed lightweight soil. This allows recycling waste serpentine tailings and utilizing magnesium oxide carbonization, reducing environmental pollution compared to conventional foamed lightweight soil.

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A floating platform for offshore wind turbines that has a lower weight and is easier to manufacture and assemble compared to existing floating wind turbine platforms. The platform is a semi-submersible design with a central column, three radial beams, outer columns, and top beams forming a triangular structure around the central column. This triangular frame provides stability and support for the wind turbine tower. The radial beams connect the outer columns to the central column. The semi-submersible design allows the platform to float on water without fixed foundations. It reduces weight compared to conventional steel or concrete floating platforms. The modular triangular frame allows easier assembly and transportation compared to complex shaped floating platforms.

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Charging stations, charging pods, and facilities for electric vehicles with rotating booms to allow charging of vehicles with different orientations like semi-trucks with trailers. The charging stations have a rotating boom attached to a support member over a beam. The boom can rotate around the beam axis to reach vehicles with different trailer angles. Multiple pods can be positioned on a surface to charge multiple vehicles simultaneously. The pods have rotating booms on separate support members. This allows charging of vehicles with trailers attached in different orientations. The facility has multiple pods arranged to provide charging for a fleet of mixed vehicles.

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A power supply device for electric vehicles like buses and trucks that allows low-wear contacting of charging stations. The device has a rotatable contact head mechanism with multiple rolls that contacts the charging station. This rolling contact instead of sliding allows lower wear compared to conventional fixed contact heads. The rolling mechanism connects to the vehicle roof via rods and enables the vehicle to draw power from charging columns.

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Automated charging system for electric vehicles that allows autonomous vehicles to charge without requiring a human driver to physically connect and disconnect the charging cable. The charging device uses a flexible drag chain assembly that moves the charging cable towards the vehicle connector when commanded. This allows the autonomous vehicle to drive up to the charging station without stopping, and the charging cable is automatically positioned for connection. The drag chain assembly can also retract the cable after charging is complete.

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Charging device for electric vehicles that can automatically connect and disconnect the charging cable from the vehicle without human intervention. The device has a bracket that grips and releases the charging plug from the vehicle connector. This allows autonomous charging of electric vehicles without needing a person to physically connect and disconnect the plug. The bracket can find, catch, grip, and release the plugged-in charging plug from the connector. This enables unattended charging of autonomous vehicles.

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Extreme fast charging (XFC) system for electric vehicles that allows simultaneous charging of multiple EVs at high power rates without grid dependency or significant power loss. The system uses a DC power bus to directly power the charging stations instead of converting from AC. It also has batteries charged from renewable sources and an AC grid backup. The controller selectively connects the primary DC sources and batteries to charge the stations. This enables faster charging compared to grid-dependent systems while reducing power loss from converting between AC and DC multiple times.

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Using fuel cells to provide both power for electric vehicle charging and cooling for the charging cables. The fuel cell generates electricity for charging the vehicle, and uses the heat from the fuel cell reaction to drive a cooling process that cools the charging cables. This leverages the existing fuel cell system to provide a previously unused source of cooling. The fuel cell can be a phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC) where the waste heat is used to generate cooling energy.

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Controlling power transfer among energy storage systems having different parameters by measuring their impedance using customized excitation signals. A charging station converter is controlled to adjust the excitation signal frequency and amplitude for measuring impedance of connected storage systems like vehicle batteries or station batteries. This allows tailoring the excitation signal to match the storage system characteristics for accurate impedance estimation. The customized excitation signals can be generated by the charging station's own power source or internal impedance measurement system. The impedance measurements are used to control charging processes based on the estimated impedance.

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Identifying the location of a short circuit when using vehicle-mounted power storage devices like electric vehicles (EVs) to supply power externally via equipment like chargers or power grids. The method involves monitoring current sensors on both the EV side and the external load side during external power feeding or charging. If a short circuit occurs, by analyzing the sensor readings immediately before the short, it can be determined if the short is in the external equipment or the load. This allows quickly identifying and isolating the shorted component without needing a separate test power supply.

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Vehicle control device that optimizes over-the-air software updates for electric vehicles to prevent excessive charging times when updates are happening during battery charging. The device determines the urgency of an OTA update if it occurs while charging. If the urgency is low, it prevents the update from starting during charging to avoid extending the charging time unnecessarily. This allows selective delay of non-critical updates during charging to avoid longer charging times.

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Control method for charging facilities to enable stable charging of batteries even when the charging facility output voltage is lower than a minimum limit. The method involves transmitting an outputtable current value from the charging facility to the vehicle. The vehicle sets a charging current command based on this value. The charging facility then uses the command to supply charging power to the battery. The outputtable current is set to decrease as the battery voltage drops. This widens the charging range and allows stable charging of low-voltage batteries, even if the facility output voltage is below the minimum limit.

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An add-on mobility apparatus that can be attached to a vehicle to supplement its range without needing a new battery. The add-on has wheels, motors, and a secondary high-voltage battery that can charge the vehicle's primary battery. The charging and driving power are optimized based on the primary and secondary battery states of charge. This allows extending the vehicle's range by selectively using the add-on battery when needed.

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Observer system for passive parameters identification and adaptive control in bidirectional EV charging systems. The system uses a digital twin to estimate changes in passive components like inductance, capacitance, and load. The estimated changes are used to tune the controller gains for optimal response. This allows reliable tracking of reference currents despite variations in passive components. The digital twin-based observer provides accurate and robust estimation of passive parameters for bidirectional EV charging systems.

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Charging system for electric vehicles that allows releasing electrical connection to a trailer-connected battery pack when emergency conditions occur during charging. The system has a releasable connector between the vehicle and trailer batteries, and a charging controller that monitors conditions like impacts, objects detected, battery temperature, etc. If certain emergency conditions are detected during charging, the controller sends a stop signal to the trailer and unlocks the connector. This allows the vehicle to autonomously drive away from the trailer to avoid hazards. The trailer then disconnects power. This prevents charging-related issues like overheating or battery abuse from propagating to the trailer.

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A system to optimize electric vehicle (EV) charging by dynamically allocating charging stations based on vehicle battery size and charge rate. The system involves communication between EVs and charging stations using wireless signals. The EVs transmit their battery level, draw rate, destination, and charge capacity. The stations stack this data against their current status to determine optimal charging assignments. This allows faster, more efficient, and fairer utilization of charging infrastructure by matching EV needs to station capabilities.

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Method for manufacturing composite blades with internal cavities that prevent resonance and vibration issues. The method involves creating a core with a reinforcing structure occupying only a portion of the core volume. The core has a sealing envelope defining the outer surface. A composite skin is formed around the core. The skin can be made by injecting resin into a fiber preform covering the core, or by laying fiber layers around the core. The core shape, reinforcing structure, and sealing envelope are designed to support the blade while minimizing mass. The core can be made in steps or as a single piece using additive manufacturing. This prevents resin creep into the core and prevents voids. The core with encapsulated reinforcing structure is then wrapped in composite material to make the final blade.

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Reducing weight of wind turbine blades while improving stability at the trailing edge. The blade has a lightweight trailing edge structure that uses internal reinforcements instead of adding weight to the skin. The reinforcements have the same cross-section as the hollow trailing edge region. They are inserted between the upper and lower blade shells during manufacturing. This provides internal support to prevent instability and failure of the thin trailing edge. The reinforcements are combined with a fiber fabric and resin-infused during curing to integrate them into the blade.

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High-strength carbon fiber material for wind turbine blades that provides improved strength-to-weight ratio compared to conventional carbon fiber composites. The carbon fiber material for wind turbine blades includes a specific composition of carbon fiber, resin, rubber powder, nanoparticles, and curing agents. The exact parts by weight of each component are: - Carbon fiber: 50-70 parts - Polyolefin resin: 10 parts - Rubber powder: 20-30 parts - Nanoparticles: 5-10 parts - Triethylenetetramine: 3-5 parts - Epoxy resin: 30-50 parts - Curing agent: 30-50 parts The carbon fiber composite for wind turbine blades also includes a specific sequence of steps to prepare the composite

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