KiweeOne Kite Wind Turbine

[izentrop]

More efficient and less expensive than their big terrestrial sisters, flying wind turbines represent a future perspective for energy. Raised using a cable at altitudes oscillating between 300 and 10.000 m, these prototypes can generate large amounts of electricity. Commercial exploitation will mark an important step in the future of renewable energies. The start-up Enerkite (Brandenburg) has specialized in this area and has developed sophisticated technologies. What looks like kites for kids, are actually generators. https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/polit ... ns-le-ciel

Cement factories and steel mills are among the largest energy consumers in the industrial sector. Wind turbines are losing ecological points because of their colossal foundations and gigantic steel masts, even before they could count their first kWh. That's why EnerKite is embarking on a new path, far from the dinosaurs of wind technology, to adopt tailor-made solutions that focus on the most important components for energy exploitation. wind turbine. A steerable kite transmits wind energy to a generator through a cable, while a fully automatic control keeps the useful part, ie the kite, at high altitude, where the power of the wind is the best, thus ensuring high efficiency. FAULHABER's training here contributes to the control of the kite and its rapid reaction in the event of a gust. https://www.faulhaber.com/fr/marches/co ... s-volants/

Finally to recharge are portable and much more on the beach, a portable kit with a small 100 W wind turbine whose introductory price seems competitive https://objectifaquitaine.latribune.fr/ ... 85954.html

And in participatory project https://fr.ulule.com/kiweeone/

[Exnihiloest]

The idea is not new, I saw it pass several years ago, and it remained sterile.
It poses many problems. For example, it is illusory to believe that the kite will stay in the air during the anticyclonic periods (especially at altitudes of less than 1000m). The fallout will be even more difficult to manage than stopping wind turbines on the ground. Then the cables must be as light as possible so that the bazaar holds in the air, so either the power must be low or the high voltage to reduce the current, which requires embedded electronics for processing. There is the problem of too strong winds ...
I do not feel this techno at all, except as a temporary mobile means in maritime area or more or less desert.

[izentrop]

Yes indeed, the project Enerkite seems well in standby for years.

high voltages to reduce current, which requires embedded electronics for transformation

Not necessarily, we see that there is 2 son for the project KiweeOne, between the kite and the reel. It can be a single-phase generator that delivers a high alternating voltage rectified and reprocessed by the module on the ground.
It is a niche product that may find its interest in isolated places in addition to or no solar panels.
A tinkered hoverboard engine would be perfect for this type of application.

[Grelinette]

Hi,
This subject of wind turbines returns regularly but we do not see them yet.

There are some technical points on this type of wind turbine that I do not understand.
First of all it is necessary to specify what it is:

1- Is a classic wind turbine, so that turns, and that is hoisted at high altitude with a kite to have a stronger and more regular wind.
While we do without a mast but it remains to recover the energy produced by a long (double) cable that carries the energy of the kite to the ground.

2- Is a real kite, so a wing attached to a cable, and that floats with the wind at a high altitude.
In this case, I have trouble understanding the principle because, even if the wind at altitude is stronger and more regular, it is a force that does not generate work. The force of the wind that pulls up and kites the kite is offset by the strength of the kite's ground attachment via its cable. It is as if, proportionately, I pulled up on a rope that is tied to the ground.
It is possibly the variations of the wind force at altitude which can make it possible to recover energy, but these variations have the same disadvantages as for the wind turbines on the ground, namely the irregularity and the unpredictability of the wind.

If I understand correctly, there is also the principle of kite movement that can be moved in the sky to generate work, but we do not eliminate the disadvantages inherent in wind power, and to generate a displacement of the kite also requires energy ...

[Exnihiloest]

...
2- Is a real kite, so a wing attached to a cable, and that floats with the wind at a high altitude.
In this case, I have trouble understanding the principle because, even if the wind at altitude is stronger and more regular, it is a force that does not generate work.

I understand it as a classic wind turbine (with blades), as in the video but there the "kite" is hard:

[Grelinette]

Thank you Exnihiloest for this very interesting video.
Actually in this video it is about conventional wind turbines (here a line of propellers) which rotate with the wind of altitude, which implies that there is all a wiring of transport of the current to the ground.

When I see, on the one hand, the important structure for taking off the kite, or more glider, and on the other hand the uncertain movements in the sky of the system, especially the dive to the ground, I tell myself that the technology is quite random!
There must be some crashes and with the cost of the structure to take off, it is not sure that this system is more economical than conventional wind turbines.

That said, I also saw a video where it's a real kite and it's from the pulling force applied to the cable that the energy is created on the ground with a system that winds up the cable then the unfolds depending on the wind.

It seems to me that we talked about econology. (Christophe, maybe you can find this post? ...).

[izentrop]

1- Is a classic wind turbine, so that turns, and that is hoisted at high altitude with a kite to have a stronger and more regular wind.
While we do without a mast but it remains to recover the energy produced by a long (double) cable that carries the energy of the kite to the ground.

This is the case of KiweeOne.

2- Is a real kite, so a wing attached to a cable, and that floats with the wind at a high altitude.
In this case, I have trouble understanding the principle because, even if the wind at altitude is stronger and more regular, it is a force that does not generate work. The force of the wind that pulls up and kites the kite is offset by the strength of the kite's ground attachment via its cable. It is as if, proportionately, I pulled up on a rope that is tied to the ground.
It is possibly the variations of the wind force at altitude which can make it possible to recover energy, but these variations have the same disadvantages as for the wind turbines on the ground, namely the irregularity and the unpredictability of the wind.

It's the EnerKite. It produces energy during the ascent phase, then it goes down in dive and rewind by consuming very little energy to start up energy-producing climb. Production is intermittent.

I do not know if it is allowed in France to go up to 300 m, or it requires a special authorization and it requires a visible aircraft signaling?

This subject of wind turbines returns regularly

I had checked and did not find a title mentioning it.

[Christophe]

We talked about it here in 2009: energies-renewable / kite-wind turbine-t7394.html # p122151

In the same family (and probably better but more expensive) there is the moored glider: energies-renewable / Makani-power-the-wind turbine-glider-flying-t13214.html

[Christophe]

I do not know if it is allowed in France to go up to 300 m, or it requires a special authorization and it requires a visible aircraft signaling?

The rather "random" occupation of airspace is the main concern of all these projects: the cable is almost invisible for an airplane, glider or microlight ... all the more dangerous therefore the higher it is!

Because unlike EDF cables, it is constantly moving! "Reports" above should not change much for the DGAC: when it concerns air safety, randomness is not allowed ... but a few tens of m is acceptable I presume: as long as it remains under the minimum flight heights (150m for an ULM in the open countryside)

The KiweeOne project is interesting only to make extra electricity, a few dozen Watts at most, so for campers or hikers ... or in a fun educational way for education!

A flexible solar panel will do much better, for much cheaper and without any risk of aerial or bothering assembly disassembly ...

Positive point: he has already collected 10 000 € on the requested 25 000 €, proof that the French finally have a little money (too much) ...

[izentrop]

I see that you changed the title and I realize that I was wrong for the operation.
We see in fact on another video that the generator is not behind the wind turbine but on the bottom coil.
The transmission is actually mechanical, by a corner of a reel on a coil behind the wind turbine and a wire that acts as a belt between 2 pulleys.