Impact Accelerator Secondment - Kite Power Solutions [£20,343]

Traditional Danish concept wind turbines face many constraints when upscaling in order to access higher wind speeds, such as size, mechanical loading and weight. It is possible that some of these constraints could be circumvented through use of airborne wind energy systems (AWES).
With research into AWES becoming more prominent the topic of launching and landing the system must be analysed in detail. Currently different companies and research groups will have a variety of protocols and procedures regarding their individual systems.
This research focuses on a kite-based system and discusses the problem of the launching and landing policy with regards to the wind speed at operational height. The paper also discusses the use of airborne powered loitering phases and grounded loitering phases. A key consideration when analysing this problem is wind speed measurement uncertainty (including the degree of temporal averaging) and how to integrate this uncertainty into any launch & land policy.
The present research concerns cost-benefit analysis with respect to generated and consumed energy cost functions for each flight phase. It is found that for any given AWES there will be an optimum airborne loiter time after which a system should be landed. This avoids landings due to short-duration low wind periods. Similarly, there will be an optimum grounded loitering time to avoid costs associated with launching in short-duration periods of acceptable wind conditions.
This research will be followed up by further analysis of additional cost functions such as reliability and failure aspects associated with each of the above phases. Further research will also consider the impact of short term forecasting of various accuracy levels on the optimal control policy and performance of AWES.