Kite runners : final report

With energy consumption soaring, and the resulting emissions becoming a serious global environmental problem, we aim to participate in the ongoing research to create an innovative renewable energy system that generates power from high altitude winds. By using a kite system we are able to harness the immense power of high altitude winds that are unreachable by traditional wind turbines. Kites also have the advantage of being low cost, simple to build, modular, and highly mobile. Our system will harness this power by attaching the kite tether to a spool/drum that is connected in-line with a generator. The kite is flown at a high angle of attack (AOA), or in “power mode”, and in a crosswind figure-eight pattern to maximize speed and lift. As the kite is pushed out by the wind the drum is free to rotate and drive the generator until the end of the tether is reached. At this point the kite is “depowered”, or flown at a low AOA, and reeled in by the motor using only a small fraction of the energy generated during the power cycle. This cycle then is repeated continuously generating power. Over the course of the spring semester of 2012 we were able to fully design and build our first prototype of the kite controller that will enable the kite system to fly in the pattern required to generate power. The kite controller itself is made up of DC motors that reel in or out the kite line and was controlled by an onboard micro-controller. This prototype, although not yet autonomous, allowed us to refine our remote control software and improve our mechanical system to better meet our future goals. This semester we moved forward with two primary focuses. Our first was to improve the kite’s autonomous flight capabilities which involved designing and building a tracking apparatus that could provide feedback data in order to control the position of the kite. Our other focus was to begin designing and assembling a ground power generation unit that could be integrated with our existing kite system to generate power.Science, Faculty ofPhysics and Astronomy, Department ofUnreviewedUndergraduat