The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently granted a patent to a Swedish company called SeaTwirl that has developed a dynamic floating wind turbine. If this invention is realised, it will blow those in the wind turbine industry away because of how innovative it is. Also learn how patents in general are good metrics of innovation and provide hope for a greener future.
A wind turbine patent is making waves in the industry
The Sea Twirl wind turbines are made with less material, which makes them better suited for areas that are more likely to experience typhoons, hurricanes and cyclones. The trick is that this turbine's blades would become flat and therefore be more immune to high speed winds, SeaTwirl said.
According to Business Insider, conventional wind turbines sometimes can't withstand higher speed winds. Therefore, if this invention does come onto the market, we would be able to build wind turbines in areas with stronger winds, leading to substantial growth in the wind power industry.
Not only is this turbine better prepared to handle wind, but it is also cheaper to make than conventional turbines designed to survive strong winds, Business Insider reports.
Because of climate change, the need for wind power is more pertinent than ever.
"In many places around the world, there is risk of typhoons, cyclones or hurricanes. . . In a future where extreme weather is a more common occurrence, we are very happy with being granted this patent," Gabriel Strängberg, CEO of SeaTwirl said
Patents are indicators of innovation
According to Science Mag, patents are an excellent way to measure innovation. They're a way of seeing where inventors think the most economically viable areas of the market are. After all, trying to patent your invention requires a lot of time and money, so inventors must believe it is a promising enough idea.
The power of patents to lead to innovation should not be underestimated
Science Mag explains that from 2001 to 2009, the clean energy patent playing field was fairly sedate. However, it was not until 2010 that clean energy really picked up. For five years, the number of patents were steadily increasing and were even outdoing all other fields, including pharmaceutical and biotechnology.
The power of patents to lead to innovation should not be underestimated. If you have an invention in mind that you want to protect for up to 20 years, you'll want to file a standard patent application. Otherwise, the innovation patent lasts eight years and has a lower inventive threshold. To find out which patent suits your invention best and to gain expert advice on devising your application, don't hesitate to reach out to Alder IP today.