More than 200 years ago, Benjamin Franklin advanced the research of electricity by flying a kite. Now, a German company is taking a slightly different tack on that old idea by using kites to generate energy.
Nature Technology Systems (NTS) GbH has designed a principle based on the same elements of energy output, speed, and consistency used in wind turbines, according to the company. The result is a method that uses clusters of kites to form an aerial power station 1,000 feet to 2,000 feet in the air that produces energy on the ground.
The system, which NTS is testing in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA in Stuttgart, works like this:
The kites fly at high altitudes, where there are strong winds, on a tether of cables about 2,000 feet in length that's connected to vehicles on the ground, said Joachim Montnacher, an engineer at the IPA, in a press release. Those vehicles are pulled around a circuit on rails, producing kinetic energy that is then turned into electricity by a generator. The vehicles include the control and measuring mechanisms for the energy generated.
One of the test kites being used to create energy according to a method designed by Nature Technology Systems in Germany makes its first flight. The company -- which partnered with Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering -- said the system it created uses the same principles as wind turbines but is more efficient and environmentally friendly. (Source: Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA)
Specifically, the kites generate the energy through buoyancy achieved when a kite flies in high wind speed, according to NTS. Anyone who has ever flown a kite will know that the pull of the kite increases the faster the kite flies. NTS's design of the system allows the kite to surpass a buoyancy of about 110 lb/22 ft. "So when we fly a 20m2 (215 ft) sized kite it will be able to drag and lift up to 1 ton in weight," the company explained on its Website.
NTS insists its kite energy farms are more efficient, economical, and environmentally friendly than wind turbines. Because typical wind turbine rotors max out at a height of about 650 feet, they can't take advantage of winds at higher elevations, which are stronger. "Depending on wind conditions, eight kites with a combined surface area of up to 300 square meters (about 3,200 feet) can equate to 20 conventional 1 megawatt wind turbines, Montnacher said.
The kites also avoid material and financial investment in wind turbine infrastructure, which has more of an impact on the environment.
NTS will continue to test its kite system and will reveal its findings and seek feedback from the energy industry once these tests are complete, the company said.
The Germans aren't the only ones taking to the skies to find new and different ways to use wind and air currents to create alternative sources of energy. The US military recently tested a method to fly aircraft in formation that would promote fuel efficiency by using vortex surfing, a technique similar to what bicycle racers and migrating birds do when they cluster together to draft off each other.
I picture it as a long oval track. The kite tacks back and forth to maintain the proper thrust vector. It's the ends of the oval that make the problem interesting. Maybe, if the oval were narrow but long, as the generator car enters the curve the kite begins to tack, pulling it into the curve. generator car momentum would finish the direction reversal.
Eight kites, flying in formation, tacking back and forth, that would be an interesting sight to see.
They tested it first on a straight track but further testing will be done on a looped track to see how that works out. Eventually control of the kites will be automated by a computer. I'm sure the kites themselves in the air are a sight to see! Seems like a rather beautiful way to generate energy.
Very interesting and definately a more aesthetically pleasing energy source! I wonder what their flight ceiling would be and if its regulated...as a model rocket hobbyist, I have been told of the heightened security after 9-11 to include a more restricted flight ceilings. Since this technology is airborne - I wonder if it has to coordinate with the FAA?
Excellent point, Nancy. Since this is just being tested in Germany right now, it remains to be seen if this method comes stateside. I imagine there would be some concerns with air traaffic as well, depending on locations and how high the system can be built.
It might be very similiar to model rocketry protocol - waivers sometimes have to be filed and approved with the FAA and flight patterns have to meet certain criteria. That would probably be a good way to deal with air traffic. We wouldn't want a model rocket crashing through one of those kites!
Liz, thanks for covering this--what fun, how elegant, and I like the lower environmental impact of the technology. While most wind turbines don't go as high, the one we wrote about here http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=243636 is designed to eventually achieve over 1,000 feet in altitude.
I wonder if they've thought about potential aircraft collisions. In Illinois, where I live, it's very easy to spot wind turbines at night because wind farms typically have synchronized red lights that blink on and off at night. Could they do the same with kites?
I didn't want to say anything from an aviation standpoint, because that's something I'm a little biased on. Since the door's been opened, I think it's outrageously dangerous to have a kite above 1000' AGL. Yes, there are antennas that reach that high with nice, bright beacons, and one can assume that the kite would be as well lit, but the problem with a kite is that you have no way of knowing where the aluminum shredding tether is going to be. There was a story similar to this before, and I likened the tethered, airborne windmill to a WWII era barrage balloon, and certainly, the effect to a passing aircraft would be similar.
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