US-20260126029-A1 - Community Wind Turbine Cellular System

US20260126029A1US 20260126029 A1US20260126029 A1US 20260126029A1US-20260126029-A1

Abstract

A community wind turbine cellular system (CWTC system) is disclosed. The CWTC system is configured to provide community-based cellular communication, on a temporary or permanent basis. One or more turbine blades of the CWTC system are configured with an omni-directional radio frequency (RF) antenna suitable for receiving and transmitting mobile communication data to cellular devices. These omni-directional RF antenna have an uninterrupted wired connection that passes from the antenna to an antenna radio within the system's nacelle. More particularly, each RF antenna in a turbine blade is connected, via a wired connection, to a corresponding slip ring within the nacelle of the cellular wind turbine. Each slip ring is connected to the antenna radio via a wired connection. In this manner, each RF antenna maintains a wired connection to the antenna radio, even as the turbine blades are rotating.

Inventors

David Jones

Assignees

MALACHITE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS INCORPORATED

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20251105

Claims (19)

1 . A community wind turbine cellular system comprising, at least: a wind turbine suitably configured to generate electricity by wind power, and further configured to provide cellular communication services to cellular devices of community members, wherein the wind turbine comprises at least: a plurality of turbine blades which rotate around a center axis of a nacelle of the wind turbine under wind power thereby generating electricity, wherein at least a first turbine blade of the plurality of turbine blades incorporates an omni-directional radio frequency (RF) antenna suitable for sending and receiving cellular communications with cellular devices of community members in reception range of the wind turbine; an antenna radio within the nacelle having an electrical connection to the omni-directional RF antenna of the at least first turbine, and configured to send and receive cellular communication data via the omni-directional RF antenna of the at least first turbine blade to provide cellular communication to the community members.
2 . The community wind turbine cellular system of claim 1 , wherein the antenna radio is configured to send and receive cellular communication data via the omni-directional RF antenna within the citizen band radio spectrum (CBRS).
3 . The community wind turbine cellular system of claim 1 , wherein the radio antenna is configured to operate as a neutral host.
4 . The community wind turbine cellular system of claim 1 , wherein the radio antenna is configured to send and receive cellular communication data with a remote network core of a cellular provider, enabling communication between cellular devices of community members and cellular devices outside of communication range of the community wind turbine cellular system.
5 . The community wind turbine cellular system of claim 4 , further comprising: a first microwave antenna mounted on the wind turbine below a lowest extent of the plurality of wind turbine blades; wherein the antenna radio has a communication connection with the first microwave antenna, and wherein the antenna radio sends and receives cellular communication data with the remote network core of a cellular provider via the first microwave antenna.
6 . The community wind turbine cellular system of claim 4 , further comprising: a second microwave antenna mounted on the wind turbine below a lowest extent of the plurality of wind turbine blades; wherein the antenna radio has a communication connection with the second microwave antenna, and wherein the antenna radio sends and receives cellular communication data from a second community wind turbine cellular system; and wherein the antenna radio relays cellular communication data from a second community wind turbine cellular system not directed to the community members to the remote network core of the cellular provider via the first microwave antenna.
7 . The community wind turbine cellular system of claim 4 , wherein the remote network core is a 5G network core.
8 . The community wind turbine cellular system of claim 7 , wherein the radio antenna is configured to include at least a portion of a gNodeB infrastructure to facilitate cellular communication with the 5G network core.
9 . The community wind turbine cellular system of claim 1 , wherein: each turbine blade of the plurality of turbine blades includes an omni-directional RF antenna; the antenna radio has an electrical connection for each omni-directional RF antenna of each turbine blade of the plurality of turbine blades; and the antenna radio is configured to send and receive cellular communication data via any of the plurality of omni-directional RF antennae to provide cellular communication to the community members.
10 . The community wind turbine cellular system of claim 9 , wherein each electrical connection of the radio antenna to an omni-directional RF antenna includes a slip ring within the nacelle that maintains continuous connectivity of the electrical connection of the radio antenna to a corresponding omni-directional RF antenna, irrespective of whether the plurality of turbine blades are rotating around the center axis of the nacelle.
11 . The community wind turbine cellular system of claim 9 , wherein the omni-directional RF antennae are located within a corresponding turbine blade at least three meters from the turbine blade's connection with the nacelle.
12 . The community wind turbine cellular system of claim 1 , further comprising: a plurality of mid-band RF antennae mounted equidistantly around the circumference of the wind turbine above a lowest extent of the turbine blades; and wherein the antenna radio has an electrical connection for each mid-band antenna to send and receive cellular communication data via any of the plurality of mid-band antennae.
13 . The community wind turbine cellular system of claim 1 , wherein the community wind turbine system employs carrier aggregation to provide enhanced cellular service performance for community members.
14 . The community wind turbine cellular system of claim 1 , wherein the community wind turbine system employs network slicing of an RF spectrum in use by the community wind turbine cellular system, such that cellular communications corresponding to a first group of community members is transmitted in a first network slice of the RF spectrum, and cellular communications corresponding to a second group of community members is transmitted in a second network slice of the RF spectrum.
15 . The community wind turbine cellular system of claim 14 , wherein the RF spectrum is the citizen band radio spectrum.
16 . A multi-community wind turbine cellular system, comprising: a first community wind turbine cellular system providing cellular service to members of a first community, wherein the first community wind turbine cellular system operates as a neutral host in providing cellular communication services to the members of the first community, and is configured to send and receive cellular communication data with a network core of a cellular provider or a cellular network; and a second community wind turbine cellular system providing cellular services to members of a second community, wherein: the second community wind turbine cellular system operates as neutral host in providing cellular communication services to members of the second community; at least some members of the second community are outside of cellular communication range with the first community wind turbine cellular system; and the second community wind turbine cellular system is configured to send and receive cellular communication with the network code of the cellular provider via communication with the first community wind turbine cellular system.
17 . The multi-community wind turbine cellular system of claim 16 , wherein the first community wind turbine cellular system is configured to send and receive cellular communication data with the network core via microwave transmissions.
18 . The multi-community wind turbine cellular system of claim 1 , wherein the first community wind turbine cellular system comprises a first microwave antenna mounted on a wind turbine tower of the first community wind turbine cellular system to communicate cellular communication data with the network core, and a second microwave antenna mounted on the wind turbine tower of the first community wind turbine cellular system to communicate cellular communication data with the second community wind turbine cellular system.
19 . The multi-community wind turbine cellular system of claim 18 , wherein the second community wind turbine cellular system comprises a third microwave antenna mounted on a wind turbine tower of the second community wind turbine cellular system to communicate cellular communication data with the network core via microwave transmissions between the third microwave antenna of the second community wind turbine cellular system and the second microwave of the first community wind turbine cellular system.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is related to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/716,476, entitled “Community Wind Turbine Cellular System,” filed Nov. 5, 2024, which is incorporated herein by reference. This application is also related to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/651,895, entitled “Wind Turbine Cellular Tower,” filed May 24, 2024, which is incorporated herein by reference. This application is further related to PCT Patent Application No. PCT/US25/30399, entitled “Wind Turbine Cellular Tower,” filed May 21, 2025, which is incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Cellphone use is ubiquitous in today's society. According to recent surveys and projections, nearly 97% of all adults in the United States have and use a cellphone of some kind. However, in spite of the widespread adoption of cellphones, cellphone users also understand that cellphone service, i.e., the ability to connect to infrastructure that provides cellular intercommunications with others, including voice and data, is an issue. Densely populated areas are less likely to have cellphone service issues. However, rural and remote areas are often poorly served by cellphone service. Hilly and/or mountainous terrain can, and often do, result in cellphone service gaps for an otherwise well-served area. Further, power outages from weather-related events, from natural disasters, even rolling blackouts, will result in at least a temporary loss of cellphone service. Another issue associated with cellphone service is that areas that have some cellphone service can be quickly overwhelmed when an occurrence arises that significantly increases the number of people and services requesting and utilizing the available cellphone services. For cellular carriers, erecting cellphone towers in poorly served areas or eliminating coverages gaps is costly is, quite typically, un-profitable. Moreover, obtaining permits to erect a cellphone tower is a time-consuming, often vexing problem for the various cellphone carriers. Ultimately, almost every cellphone user will, at some time, discover they are currently without cellphone coverage or service as a result of one or more of the above-identified weaknesses. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A community wind turbine cellular system configured to provide cellular coverage in a variety of locations and circumstances, including community-based use, or to provide temporary cell or enhanced cellular coverage, is presented. At least one blade of the community wind turbine of a community wind turbine cellular system, and typically all blades of the community wind turbine, are configured with omni-directional radio frequency (RF) antenna suitable for receiving and transmitting mobile communication data to cellular phones. Each RF antenna has a wired connection that passes from the antenna, through the turbine blade, to a connection within the wind turbine's nacelle. More particularly, each RF antenna is connected, via a wired connection to a slip ring within the nacelle of the cellular wind turbine, configured such that there is one slip ring per RF antenna. Each slip ring is attached to an antenna radio via a wired connection. In this manner and due to the properties and mechanics of slip rings, each RF antenna maintains a wired connection to the antenna radio. The antenna radio is also connected via wired (including optical lines) and/or wireless transmission infrastructure that connects users of the community wind turbine cellular system other cellular carriers or networks. According to aspects of the disclosed subject matter, community wind turbine cellular systems advantageously provide coverage in areas where there is no meaningful cellular coverage. A community wind turbine cellular system provides coverage where high-band carrier-based cellphone coverage is insufficient for the needs of a community. A community wind turbine cellular system can provide coverage during power outages which may result from natural disasters, accidents, rolling blackouts, and the like. Advantageously, a community wind turbine cellular system can be linked with one or more other community wind turbine cellular systems to provide cellphone coverage for multiple poorly serviced areas or communities, such that the intercommunication infrastructure and costs associated with connecting to cellular carriers and/or network can be shared. A community wind turbine cellular system is advantageous to a “green” energy effort: being a wind turbine, a community wind turbine cellular system can generate “renewable” power for its own operations, store power in associated battery panels, as well as generate power to be placed on the grid. A community wind turbine system can be temporarily installed and used when coverage becomes unavailable or insufficient. Advantageously, a community wind turbine cellular system provides a number of community benefits. For example, the community wind turbine cellular system provides a