Abstract
Kites can be used to harvest wind energy with substantially lower material and environmental footprints and a higher capacity factor than conventional wind turbines. In this paper, we present measurement data from seven individual tow tests with the kite system developed by Kyushu University. This system was designed for 7 kW traction power and comprises an inflatable wing of 6 m2 surface area with a suspended kite control unit that is towed on a relatively short tether of 0.4 m by a truck driving at constant speed along a straight runway. To produce a controlled relative flow environment, the experiment was conducted only when the background wind speed was negligible. We recorded the time-series of 11 different sensor values acquired on the kite, the control unit and the truck. The measured data can be used to assess the effects of the towing speed, the flight mode and the lengths of the control lines on the tether force.
Highlights
Because the harvesting altitude can be continuously adjusted to the wind resource, the capacity factor of such airborne wind energy (AWE) systems can be higher [4]
The tether is reeled off a drum-generator module to convert the pulling force into electrical energy
An in situ measurement technique for the aerodynamic performance of a kite with a suspended control unit during wind energy harvesting in pumping cycles was proposed in [18], using a Pitot tube and two orthogonal flow vanes mounted in the bridle line system between the wing and control unit
Summary
Compared to conventional tower-based wind turbines, kites can be used to harvest wind energy at higher altitudes with substantially lower material and environmental footprints [1,2,3]. A tow test setup with a measurement rig mounted on a trailer was used in [12] to quantify the aerodynamic characteristics of a 3 m2 kite flying manually-controlled maneuvers. A similar configuration is described in [13] and extended in [14] by a control strategy to fly automatic figure-of-eight maneuvers while towing This test rig was used for tow tests of a rigid-wing aircraft mounted on a rigid frame [15]. An in situ measurement technique for the aerodynamic performance of a kite with a suspended control unit during wind energy harvesting in pumping cycles was proposed in [18], using a Pitot tube and two orthogonal flow vanes mounted in the bridle line system between the wing and control unit.
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