Wind Power From Kites

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Wind Power From Kites
Professor David J. Olinger Mechanical Engineering
Dept. WPI WPI's Fifth US-Africa Business
Conference
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WPI KITE POWER TEAM

• Professor David J. Olinger
• Dr. Jitendra Goela, Rohm and Haas Company, Woburn
  MA
• Gabe Baldwin, Mike Blouin, Peter Bertoli, Ryan
  Buckley, Chris Colschen, Mike DeCuir, Max Hurgin,
  Ben Isabella, Taylor LaLonde, Erik Lovejoy, Josh
  Rodden, Mike Sangermano, Nick Simone, Nick Urko
• 2006-2008

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Motivation Goals

• Increased access to electricity, water, power in
  developing nations must be provided in a
  sustainable way using renewable energy sources,
  such as wind power
• Develop a new renewable energy technology Wind
  Power from Kites
• Build prototype capable of generating 1KW

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Wind Power from Kites Prototype Converts
up-and-down motion of kite into electricity that
is stored in batteries
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Animation - System Operation
Wind is from Left to Right
Olinger, D.J. Goela, J.S. , Performance
Characteristics of a one-kilowatt scale kite
power system, ASME Paper ES2008-54032, Energy
Sustainability 2008, Jacksonville, FL August 2008.
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Advantages of Kite Power for Developing Nations

• Potentially cheaper than a wind turbine
• More economical in low wind speed regions
• Higher wind speeds at higher altitudes
• Kites can fly faster than the wind apparent
  velocity effect
• More aesthetically pleasing
• environmentally friendly than wind turbines

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Advantages for Developing Nations
Wind Turbines Kites
12,000 Est. 6,000
Visual Pollution Noise Pollution Can Kill Birds Practically Invisible Effectively Silent Less Likely to Kill Birds
Limited to heights of 100 feet Can fly at 500 feet Greater height Higher Wind Speeds More Available Power
500 feet vs. 100 feet 2X POWER! 500 feet vs. 100 feet 2X POWER!
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Field Testing
WPI KITE POWER TEAM STUDENTS
Heifer Internationals Overlook Farm Rutland,
MA Seabrook, NH beaches
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Wiki WPI Kite Power Team
http//www2.me.wpi.edu/wpi-kites Link in agenda
on conference website
Other kite power researchers
WindLift, LLC http//windlift.wordpress.com
/about/ Makani Power, Inc. www.makanipower.com
Jet stream winds
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Conclusions

• Wind Power from Kites is a potential renewable
  energy technology
• WPI Kite Power Team has constructed a working
  kite power prototype
• Many successes! Still work to do!
• Feedback
• Potential use in Africa
• Educational/business linkages