Development of an airborne wind turbine
CONTEXT:
Sky WindPower Corp. has been collaborating with OPTIS to develop a new technology of airborne wind-energy generator. This technology has the potential to generate power at a fraction of current wind energy costs while being easy to deploy, providing a great solution for emergency response scenarios or remote applications.
CHALLENGES
Sky WindPower wishes to evaluate the power output of the wind turbine for various scales, sizes and operating conditions. We need to evaluate the:
- Performance of wings and propellers
- Efficiency of electrical motor/generator
- Structural mass of the system
- Wind velocities as a function of altitude
- Optimal flight trajectory
CONTRIBUTIONS
- Brainstorm and generation of new concepts
- Development of a multidisciplinary design and optimization environment (MDO)
- Parametric geometry (tether, wing, propeller, generators)
- Aerodynamic performance & flight path optimization
- inertial/dynamic effects
- varying velocity
- Electrical power losses
- Design space exploration
- 3D design (CAD) and concept visualization
BENEFITS
- 3 provisional patents filed over a year
- Dedicated engineering team:
- On-demand expertise and analyses
- Custom design tools
- Accessible resources
- Weekly progress updates
- Quick turnaround time
- Detailed references and documentation
