Apple has been dominating the consumer electronics market with its iPhone and iPad for several years now. The California based firms knows that its leading position can only be sustained if its keeps innovating and looking at solving olde problems in new ways. That is why observers keep track of the Patents filings coming out of Apple to see where the company is planning to go in the future with its products and services. The latest Apple patent filing to be revealed patent shows the company going off into a completely new direction. Apple Insider has unveiled that the makers of the Mac computer filed an application for an “On-demand generation of electricity from stored wind energy” in June 2011.
What this means is that Apple is developing a wind turbine that will convert the energy generated by blades rotating from the wind into heat which is stored until it is needed later. This differs from current methods which directly convert wind into electricity while the Apple patent proposes the energy be stored as heat to be used to create electricity at a later time.
“The variable nature of wind may interfere with on-demand generation of electricity from wind energy. For example, fluctuations in wind speed may hamper the adequate production of electricity from wind power during periods of peak demand, or conversely, may produce excess electrical power during periods of low demand. In turn, such variability may limit the ability to incorporate large amounts of wind power into a grid system. For example, other power stations (e.g., coal, natural gas, hydroelectric, nuclear) may be required to offset variations in electricity generated from wind power and maintain reliable electric service in an electrical grid…Hence, what is needed is a mechanism for mitigating variability and/or intermittency associated with the production of electricity from wind energy.”
If Apple is successful at storing wind energy as heat in a cheap and reliable manner the company will have removed an obstacle that has prevented many consumers from adopting renewable energy as part of their power generation mix. Another benefit for Apple will be that it can use the system to power its energy hungry data center which house many of the company’s services like iCloud.
Source: Fast Company Exist
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