Wind Harvest Awarded Patent for Collapsible Rotor, Enabling Faster, Safer, Lower-Cost VAWT Deployment

DAVIS, Calif. — Sept. 15, 2025 — Wind Harvest today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has granted U.S. Patent No. 12,410,769, titled “Collapsible Rotor Assembly of a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine,” issued on September 9, 2025. The invention allows a vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) rotor to fold into compact bundles for standard trucking and then rapidly unfold and lock into place at the project site—reducing crane time, site footprint, and handling risk while accelerating installation.

Traditional large horizontal-axis wind turbines require huge components, specialized transport, and complex high-angle lifts. Wind Harvest’s collapsible rotor takes a different path: rotor blades and arms are hinged and pinned (including at the arm-to-mast interface) so the pre-assembled components can be shipped as dense, bundled modules and then theoretically “swing-out, pin, and torque-to-spec” on site—precision origami in steel and aluminum.

“This patent and its companion patents are about unlocking speed and safety in the field,” said Kevin Wolf, CEO of Wind Harvest. “By pre-assemblying a full-scale VAWT rotor that can bundle into standard loads onto a flatbed truck and then unfold at the installation site, this patent can cut crane hours, shrink laydown areas, and streamline steps from assembly to commissioning. For customers installing dozens or hundreds of Wind Harvesters in the turbulent mid-level winds below tall turbines, this is an ingenious way to bring costs down and schedules forward.”

The collapsible-rotor patent is part of a three-patent family covering assemble/transport/install innovations for VAWTs, including methods for assembling and bundling the rotor assembly for transport and installing the rotor on the drive shaft that has been pre-placed in the tower. 

“Our engineering goals are simple: maintain structural integrity while making the turbines easier and less expensive to make, assemble, transport, install and maintain,” said Ola Ajala, Principal Engineer at Wind Harvest. “Our two hinge and pin patents covering the blade-to-arm and arm-to-mast connections have the potential to allow future Wind Harvester models to make it easier to install in the field cutting time aloft and crane use.”

New wind farms can face constrained access, tight laydown space, and high labor costs. By enabling standard-truck transport and rapid, low-risk assembly and installations, Wind Harvest’s collapsible rotor patents advance the company’s mission to deliver utility-grade VAWTs and engineered large scale installations in wind farm understories—complementing existing tall-turbine fleets and opening new sites where conventional machines struggle.

About Wind Harvest

Wind Harvest designs and commercializes vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) engineered to harness turbulent mid-level winds in the understories of existing wind farms and other constrained locations. With multiple patented technologies spanning rotor architecture, masts, and installation methods, Wind Harvest’s solutions aim to expand wind energy production while reducing installed cost and site risk.  Learn more at windharvest.com.

Patent Reference: U.S. Patent No. 12,410,769 — Collapsible Rotor Assembly of a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (issued Sept. 9, 2025).

Media Contact: windharvest@windharvest.com

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release may contain forward-looking statements regarding product performance, costs, schedules, and market adoption. Actual results may differ due to risks and uncertainties in manufacturing, certification, financing, permitting, supply chains, and field conditions. Wind Harvest undertakes no obligation to update these statements.