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Kite runners : final report Emery, Adrien; Lawson, Liam; Reitmeier, Craig
Abstract
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.
Item Metadata
Title |
Kite runners : final report
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Creator | |
Date Issued |
2013-01-07
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Description |
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.
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Genre | |
Type | |
Language |
eng
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Series | |
Date Available |
2013-11-28
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0074493
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URI | |
Affiliation | |
Campus | |
Peer Review Status |
Unreviewed
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Scholarly Level |
Undergraduate
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Rights URI | |
Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Citations and Data
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International