ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 4 -- United States Patent no. 12,320,324, issued on June 3, was assigned to Southwest Research Institute (San Antonio).
"Modular hydrokinetic turbine system" was invented by Abhay Patil (San Antonio) and Jason Wilkes (Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A modular hydrokinetic turbine system for installation in a water stream. The system is assembled from a number of blade modules and a number of support modules, connected in the direction of the water stream. Each blade module has turbine blades, a rotor shaft portion, and two-piece rotor shaft coupling. The support modules rest on the stream bed and support the blade modules. The rotor shaft couplings ...