Modeling, Simulation, and Testing of Surf Kites for Power Generation

Non-powered flight vehicles such as kites can provide a means of transmitting wind energy from higher altitudes to the ground via tethers. At Delft University of Technology, construction and testing of such a high altitude wind machine is ongoing. The concept is called the Laddermill. It generates energy by pulling a line under high tension from...

Modeling of Optimal Power Generation using Multiple Kites

Kite systems have the potential to revolutionize energy generation. Large scale systems are envisioned that can fly autonomously in “power generation” cycles which drive a ground-based generator. In order for such systems to produce power efficiently, good models of the system are required. This paper focuses on the development of optimal open...

Long-Term Laddermill Modeling for Site Selection

Non-powered flight vehicles such as kites can provide a means of transmitting wind energy from higher altitudes to the ground via tethers. At Delft University of Technology, construction and testing of such a high altitude wind machine is ongoing. The concept is called the Laddermill. It generates energy by pulling a line under high tension from...

Optimal Cross-Wind Towing and Power Generation with Tethered Kites

Non-powered flight vehicles such as kites can provide a means of transmitting wind energy from higher altitudes to the ground via tethers. Although there have been many proposals for systems to extract wind energy from higher altitudes, this paper focuses on the use of a light lifting body at the end of a tether to generate useful power. Two...

Flexible Tethered Kite with Moveable Attachment Points, Part II: State and Wind Estimation

Modeling and control of a kite on a variable length flexible inelastic tether

Optimal Trajectories for Tethered Kite Mounted on a Vertical Axis Generator

Tethered kite technology promises the enable the efficient extraction of energy from high altitude winds. One possible concept for converting the wind energy into electricity is to generate useful work at the ground by using a tether. The tether is able to drive a generator in one of two ways: either the tether is wound and unwound, or the...

Flexible Tethered Kite with Moveable Attachment Points, Part I: Dynamics and Control

Tethered kite technology is one potential means of harnessing energy available in high altitude winds. In an efficient and practical system, the kite is required to fly in cyclic patterns that maximize net power produced per cycle. At the same time, the tether length must be controlled to ensure the system does not expend more energy than it...

The Laddermill: Innovative Wind Energy from High Altitudes in Holland and Australia

The Laddermill is a novel concept to harvest electricity from high altitude winds. The concept's operating principle is to drive an electric generator using tethered kites. Several kites are deployed to altitudes of more than 1 km by means of a single cable that is connected to a drum on the groundstation. The upper portion of the cable is...

Climber Motion Optimization for the Tethered Space Elevator

The tethered space elevator could provide a revolutionary means for enabling cheap transportation to geostationary altitude and beyond. Assuming that such a system can be built, one of the dynamic design problems is determining a means of moving the elevator along the tether so as to minimize the residual librational motion of the elevator...