Messages in AirborneWindEnergy group.                          AWES 23429 to 23479 Page 361 of 440.
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23429 From: dave santos Date: 3/19/2018
Subject: Re: Chasing Clouds for Water Harvesting

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23430 From: andrew@airhes.com Date: 3/19/2018
Subject: Re: Chasing Clouds for Water Harvesting

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23431 From: dave santos Date: 3/20/2018
Subject: Re: Chasing Clouds for Water Harvesting

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23432 From: andrew@airhes.com Date: 3/22/2018
Subject: Re: Chasing Clouds for Water Harvesting

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23433 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/22/2018
Subject: Superconducting Tethers for Kite Systems

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23434 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/22/2018
Subject: Re: Superconducting Tethers for Kite Systems

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23435 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/22/2018
Subject: Re: Chasing Clouds for Water Harvesting

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23436 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/22/2018
Subject: Re: Dabiri's COTS VAWTs

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23437 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/22/2018
Subject: Accelerometers in Kite Systems

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23438 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/22/2018
Subject: LAKSA

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23440 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/22/2018
Subject: OpenAWE

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23441 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/22/2018
Subject: Re: Chasing Clouds for Water Harvesting

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23442 From: dave santos Date: 3/23/2018
Subject: Re: LAKSA

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23443 From: dave santos Date: 3/23/2018
Subject: Re: Superconducting Tethers for Kite Systems

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23444 From: dave santos Date: 3/24/2018
Subject: Re: Accelerometers in Kite Systems

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23445 From: dave santos Date: 3/24/2018
Subject: Trend toward AWE robo-media desert likely will pass...

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23446 From: dave santos Date: 3/24/2018
Subject: Re: Dabiri's COTS VAWTs

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23447 From: dave santos Date: 3/25/2018
Subject: Making Water by Kite in Clear Conditions and Cloud Eater IFO

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23448 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/25/2018
Subject: Re: Making Water by Kite in Clear Conditions and Cloud Eater IFO

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23449 From: Peter A. Sharp Date: 3/25/2018
Subject: Re: Dabiri's COTS VAWTs

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23450 From: dave santos Date: 3/25/2018
Subject: Re: Dabiri's COTS VAWTs

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23451 From: dave santos Date: 3/27/2018
Subject: AB Dome water harvesting

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23452 From: dave santos Date: 3/27/2018
Subject: UVictoria continuing in AWE, new Fraunhofer connection (Markus Somme

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23453 From: Joe Faust Date: 3/27/2018
Subject: Re: UVictoria continuing in AWE, new Fraunhofer connection (Markus S

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23454 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/28/2018
Subject: Re: UVictoria continuing in AWE, new Fraunhofer connection (Markus S

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23455 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/28/2018
Subject: Re: UVictoria continuing in AWE, new Fraunhofer connection (Markus S

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23456 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/28/2018
Subject: AWEification opportunity? Ultralight blades

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23457 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/28/2018
Subject: Tethered Floating Wind Turbines

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23458 From: dave santos Date: 3/28/2018
Subject: Re: AWEification opportunity? Ultralight blades

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23459 From: dave santos Date: 3/28/2018
Subject: Re: UVictoria continuing in AWE, new Fraunhofer connection (Markus S

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23460 From: dave santos Date: 3/28/2018
Subject: Re: Tethered Floating Wind Turbines

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23461 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/30/2018
Subject: Goupil

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23462 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/30/2018
Subject: Re: Goupil

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23463 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/30/2018
Subject: Combined Plant and Controller Design ...

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23464 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/30/2018
Subject: Re: Highest Wind

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23465 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/30/2018
Subject: Re: Highest Wind

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23466 From: gordon_sp Date: 3/30/2018
Subject: TETHERED TURBINE ORIENTATION

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23467 From: gordon_sp Date: 3/30/2018
Subject: Re: TETHERED TURBINE ORIENTATION

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23468 From: gordon_sp Date: 3/30/2018
Subject: Re: TETHERED TURBINE ORIENTATION

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23469 From: benhaiemp Date: 3/31/2018
Subject: Airborne Wind Energy Book published online

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23470 From: dave santos Date: 3/31/2018
Subject: Re: Airborne Wind Energy Book published online

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23471 From: dave santos Date: 3/31/2018
Subject: Re: TETHERED TURBINE ORIENTATION [2 Attachments]

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23472 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 4/2/2018
Subject: Nonlinear DC-link PI Control for Airborne Wind Energy Systems During

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23473 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 4/4/2018
Subject: Kiting sun-shield hat?

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23474 From: dave santos Date: 4/5/2018
Subject: Re: Kiting sun-shield hat?

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23475 From: andrew@airhes.com Date: 4/6/2018
Subject: Re: Kiting sun-shield hat?

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23476 From: dave santos Date: 4/6/2018
Subject: Garner Insights touts Open AWE

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23477 From: dave santos Date: 4/6/2018
Subject: Kiting Extreme Conditions Body-Yurt? Kite-House of the future?

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23478 From: dave santos Date: 4/6/2018
Subject: Ampyx Report

Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23479 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 4/6/2018
Subject: Re: Water Abundance XPRIZE: DEADLINE REMINDER - Team Presentation We



Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23429 From: dave santos Date: 3/19/2018
Subject: Re: Chasing Clouds for Water Harvesting
Calculation and testing both help vett guesswork. Experts still must guess over uncertainty. Here we have to guess about LCOW (levelized cost of water) since in principle the market can deliver water anywhere anytime. Airborne water harvesting must be guessed economic, which is an open question no software model or working prototype has compellingly shown.
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Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23430 From: andrew@airhes.com Date: 3/19/2018
Subject: Re: Chasing Clouds for Water Harvesting
Yes, unfortunately... However, the cost and payback estimation was done for rather typical water price ~$1/m3 (compare with yours). For water scarcity condition the good estimation is ~$20/m3 (by XPrize) - it gives the payback ~ months. Seems, it's difficult to take better, but nobody wants to check...
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23431 From: dave santos Date: 3/20/2018
Subject: Re: Chasing Clouds for Water Harvesting
The problem seems to be how to scale up a kite system to reduce labor per water unit. Automation is not imminent and prototypes only produce sample quantities, at considerable artisanal effort. A romantic nomadic tool is not the same as filling public reserviors. Airborne water needs to beat the treatment of salt or waste water. This is a very complex challenge for either software or experiments to resolve.
--------------------------------------------
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23432 From: andrew@airhes.com Date: 3/22/2018
Subject: Re: Chasing Clouds for Water Harvesting
Yes, of course. But feasibility study shows that a benefit could be also very big - see the example for Malta.
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23433 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/22/2018
Subject: Superconducting Tethers for Kite Systems

Not yet here for us, but perhaps a step in the direction of superconducting AWES tethers:


Wunderkind Material is Both Superconductor and Insulator

March 7, 2018

=========================================================

My note atop the article: 

When this discovery provides a kite-system tether that is superconducting in ambient temperature, then it might be time for a party. The 1.1 degree orientation of two layers of graphene might be holdable while manufacturing super lines for AWES.       kPower, Inc. IP pool for open use when it arrives.

=========================================================
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23434 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/22/2018
Subject: Re: Superconducting Tethers for Kite Systems

At MIT on the matter: HERE.
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23435 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/22/2018
Subject: Re: Chasing Clouds for Water Harvesting

MIT-developed system could provide drinking water even in extremely arid locations.

David L. Chandler | MIT News Office 
March 22, 2018
=============================================================

Mounting such into kite systems?
Such mounting:  kPower, Inc., IP pool. 
=====================================================
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23436 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/22/2018
Subject: Re: Dabiri's COTS VAWTs
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23437 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/22/2018
Subject: Accelerometers in Kite Systems

We had some accelerometer notes in our forum. Control of kited wings in AWES have been a main target for use of accelerometers.    Sample:Here.   

In our large future flow in our forum there will probably be cause to deepen notes on accelerometers in kite systems.  Such notes would be welcome in this topic thread. 

======================================================

Accordingly, a news note: 


21 Mar 2018 | 14:00 GMT

Supersensitive Accelerometer Could Be the Answer to Better Drone Control

Supercapacitor technology could make tiny accelerometers as much as 1 million times more sensitive

By Samuel K. Moor

=====================================================
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23438 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/22/2018
Subject: LAKSA

LAgrangian Kite SimulAtor (LAKSA)

A constraint-free flight simulator package for airborne wind energy systems

March 2018


Gonzalo Sanchez-Arriaga

University Carlos III de Madrid


Alejandro Pastor-Rodríguez

University Carlos III de Madrid


Ricardo Borobia-Moreno

Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria


Roland Schmehl

Delft University of Technology


Their description: 

"The LAgrangian Kite SimulAtor (LAKSA) is a freely available software for the dynamic analysis of tethered vehicles, such as kites and fixed-wing drones, applied to airborne wind energy generation. This software comprises four simulators. The one, two and four-line simulators, which consider flexible but inelastic tethers, are based on minimal coordinate Lagragian formulations and can be used for the analysis of fly and ground generation systems, kite-based traction systems, and kitesurfing applications, respectively. The configuration of the mechanical system in the fourth simulator can be defined by the user, who can select the number of vehicles and the properties of the elastic and flexible tethers linking them. In all the tools, the kites or tethered fixed-wing drones are taken as rigid bodies and the dynamic equations of the tether-bridle-vehicle systems, together with the user-defined and time-dependent control variables, are solved self-consistently. Academic and research analysis can take advantage of the modularity of the simulators and their inputs and outputs interfaces, which follow a common and user-friendly architecture."
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23440 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/22/2018
Subject: OpenAWE

Our OpenAWE may have a cousin


Cousin to OpenAWE:


https://www.openai.com


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenAI


=====================================
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23441 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/22/2018
Subject: Re: Chasing Clouds for Water Harvesting
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23442 From: dave santos Date: 3/23/2018
Subject: Re: LAKSA
TUDelft now looking to Spain for AWES simulation progress, having spent so muchtime and effort to numerically characterize single-kite AWES. In particular, TUD naively turned away from Wubbo's persistent high-count (
"The configuration of the mechanical system in the fourth simulator can be defined by the user, who can select the number of vehicles and the properties of the elastic and flexible tethers linking them."

Simulation remains an AWE "newborn baby", far behind vast empirical experience in kites, but well worth perfecting.
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23443 From: dave santos Date: 3/23/2018
Subject: Re: Superconducting Tethers for Kite Systems
Wonderful revolutionary new material-science POV based on radical simplicity. There is a lot to ponder, from the multi-mode tethers JoeF is suggesting, which might have mixed pumping cycles (phonon-electron), to novel possibly superior megascale kitefarm airborne super-lattice dynamics.

Superconducting theory has long been a mess, but this new pure-carbon model is not. Not only is graphene our best emerging structural polymer, but high-temp electrical superconductance as well? And C is such a ubiquitous element, and the basis of biological life to-boot. A jungle-vine tow-rope is already a (steady-state phonon) superconductor in our curious ship-tow physical superconductance case model.

In our kite materials, string-and-rag, perhaps pumping forces can create transverse-wave "magic angle" cycles, simply by alternating bias forces. One sees powerful aeroelastic-electric capacitance energy packets moving at will through our megascale membrane wing and tether superlattice structures. A lot of Open-AWE_IP-Cloud discovery to work out...
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23444 From: dave santos Date: 3/24/2018
Subject: Re: Accelerometers in Kite Systems
This new accelerometer starts limited to 3-axis primary motion sensing (heave, sway, and surge), omiting 3-axis rotations (pitch, roll, and yaw), although the missing angular motions can be derived from a triangular or 3D sensor array.

The potential advantage in AWE of ever more sensistive accelerometers is to longer maintain knowledge of aerobatic and IFO kiteplane position/motion intertially during GPS, video, and other major multi-sensing interruption. By itself, accelerometer data needs updated reference to calibrated position, since even small accelerometer errors eventually sum to incorrect state estimation.

Slower low-complexity topologically geometrically constrained AWES that hold position passively ("staked out") will not need precise motion data.
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23445 From: dave santos Date: 3/24/2018
Subject: Trend toward AWE robo-media desert likely will pass...
Ten years ago AWE media coverage was rare, but rapidly proliferated. There was a loose balance across coverage of players and concepts, and many top-tier news and engineering reviews. Soon hype promoted by "Major players", especially Magenn, Sky Windpower, KiteGen, Joby, and Makani, crowded out most coverage of the far broader AWE world*, with lazy press-release-based coverage dominating. This is the AWE picture that gained world public attention. KPS and Minesto joined the celebrity club a bit late, but still drew strong attention.

But media boredom slowly took hold as AWE R&D gestated at a snail pace, and public coverage declined. IDTechEx began to gin up buzz with its relentless tech-biz conferences and overpriced shaky report promotion, popping up in cloned tech media outlets, masquerading as quality sources. IDTechEx content itself seemed to be re-jiggered by obscure pretenders. This is the common run of AWE robo-media now. We stopped even reporting the almost daily noise, but here is a sort of rare hybrid of pro-forma business coverage with folks we know (RichardR and RolfL) working the IDTechEx track for revenue potential, no substitute for detailed balanced engineering coverage-

https://www.altenergymag.com/news/2018/03/22/off-grid-breakthroughs-and-challenges/28187/

Based on AWE's solid energy-resource foundations, unstoppable but glacial progress, and short public memory, there should be a strong cyclic return to fresh authentic critical media coverage. Almost any major event could trigger the return of healthy public interest, ranging from a spectacular failure or scandal to some heroic success.

--------
* Academia and a long list of small ventures and experimenters have long been AWE's main community.
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23446 From: dave santos Date: 3/24/2018
Subject: Re: Dabiri's COTS VAWTs
It may well prove that JohnD's biolocomotion research has more relevance for AWE than his surface VAWT wind-farm work. VAWT niche advantages he has identified may duly prove marginal economically on land, and in the sky VAWTs have an inherently lower power-to-mass than comparably-rated HAWTs (which in turn have lower power-to-mass than power kites). By contrast, future megascale low complexity AWES power kites may indeed share many fluid-dynamic principles with simple swimming organisms, both singly, and in school-flock ensembles.
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23447 From: dave santos Date: 3/25/2018
Subject: Making Water by Kite in Clear Conditions and Cloud Eater IFO
Making Water by Kite in Clear Conditions

Fog is a fine source of water if available. Overall, global skies are often clear and humidity is in a normal range. In these conditions fog-nets do not work, but humidity can still be harvested by cold surfaces chilled below the dew point. The sky is strongly thermally stratified- it may be very hot (
If only bringing chill down from high altitude was as simple as blowing cold air down, but to the degree air pressure rises in descending, the air heats, losing much of its chill. One might as well just help push hot air up, like cloud convection does, to make rain or cool downdrafts between convection cells. A more ready method is to chill an airborne mass and bring it down, with cost as a limit condition. Once again wind is supposed as a possible low-cost solution, compared to expensive fueled aviation.

Aluminum-coating on membranes is a likely requirement for clear-air chilling systems operating in sunlight, and also great UV protection.

Cloud-Eater IFOs-

Imagine a large OL single-skin ship-kite deployed in an upwardly convective cloud, in glider mode. Starting unloaded, it would be very floaty, and not descend in the rising cloud fog. As it harvested fog, the kite would gradually load up and naturally become ready to come down and land with its payload of chilled water. This chill could in turn condense further humidity for more water, or meet many other refigeration needs. High-performance fast gliding does not promise to scale economically as a flying fog collector, until vast flocks of cheap small units are perfected.*

The OL is a minimal surface tensile form soft kite, a more extreme geometric abstraction than any wing before, excepting a rigid cantilever flat-plate wing. Its TE margin is the logical place to place fog-netting and gutter network. Collected water would run to the ballast-mass/payload bridle-point.

--------------
* Minimum sink rates are fairly close between the best fast and slow flyers, <1msec.
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23448 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/25/2018
Subject: Re: Making Water by Kite in Clear Conditions and Cloud Eater IFO
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23449 From: Peter A. Sharp Date: 3/25/2018
Subject: Re: Dabiri's COTS VAWTs
"VAWTs have an inherently lower power-to-mass than comparably-rated HAWTs"
That's another myth about VAWT. The truth depends upon what you
choose to compare.
In most cases, a wind turbine includes a tower, and the majority of
a wind turbine's mass is in the tower.
For small-scale, the tower typically weighs more than the rotor, so
the total weight difference between VAWT and HAWT is small. Both towers can
be guyed. HAWT do have less mass in most cases.
But consider the small-scale, single-blade Bird Windmill VAWT. It
has an exceptionally high power-to-mass ratio because it requires so little
material due to the fact that its two, guyed support poles can be so light,
and because the blade is suspended on cords rather than support arms on a
central shaft. Plus, many blades can be suspended between those same two
poles, thus creating an enormous swept area using very little mass. Any
absolutist statement, such as the quote above, can be shown to be false by
citing a single exception.
For large-scale, with comparably-rated H-type cycloturbine VAWT
rotor and a HAWT rotor, at the same height, the reverse statement would
actually be true. That is because large-scale VAWT can use light, guyed
towers, but large-scale HAWT can't. The large-scale HAWT blades would strike
the guy wires. Large-scale HAWT must use fully cantilevered towers which
require great stiffness and therefore much more material. The typical HAWT
tower must also support much more weight because the gearbox and generator
are located at the top of the tower, whereas for most VAWT, they can be
located at the bottom of the tower.
Research indicates that some cycloturbine VAWT will also be a more
efficient than HAWT. And they are better able to handle wind gusts, which
further increases their energy capture relative to HAWT. Furthermore, the
techniques of VAWT rotor tipping to increase the swept area and power, and
counter-rotating pairs of VAWT to increase the power, promise to make VAWT
much more powerful than is even ideally possible for HAWT.
So H-type cycloturbine VAWT, such as the Sharp Cycloturbine, should
have a higher power-to-mass ratio than HAWT, at all scales.
Most statements about VAWT-in-general, such as the quote above, are
likely to be wholly or partially false, or misleading, because VAWT are so
varied. Strangely, most people are confident that they understand VAWT much
better than they actually do. That may be because VAWT look simple. But they
are not.
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23450 From: dave santos Date: 3/25/2018
Subject: Re: Dabiri's COTS VAWTs
Lets not get too far off of Dabiri's work with an old debate over lack of competative VAWT cases in AWES design. Its rather clear that a 2kg power kite can beat anything else flying by power-to-weight (see youtube kite jumping under F=ma).

If it is a gross aerospace "myth" that VAWT are inherently less efficient by mass and cost, there is far less evidence than the preponderance of HAWT theory and practice. Evidence that VAWTs are less powerful than HAWTs by mass includes-

- Helicopter rotors are structurally back-driven HAWT rotors. No comparable VAWT analog structure has ever worked out in flight, no could it emerge on merits.

- No VAWT advocate has succeeded in proving claims of superiority over HAWTs.

- Even Dabiri is stuck with marginal VAWT niches in the shadow of more-scalable HAWTs. Doug is correct that small in-fill HAWTs would likely prevail over Dabiri's choice of in-fill turbine.

- KiteLab and kPower have tested all sorts of HAWT-to-VAWT turbines, including tilted angles. The tested result was always that VAWTs suffer in comparison, by higher mass and drag and/or lower power. In roughest non-dimensional terms, VAWTs are about half as effective as HAWTs by mass, L/D, power, cost, and so on. The rest of the world reports similar results for the last century.

- VAWTs require more structure in proportion to their idle upwind/downwind phases.

- VAWTs have more drag and less power by those inherent idle phases.

- VAWTs must be heavier built to withstand cyclic fatigue of their own self interference of upwind blade wakes on downwind blades.

- The recent Japanese newbie AWES team with its cross-axis prototype got poor results. HAWT AWES developers like Kiwi have done far better, bringing working product to market. This is the predicted first-order result.

- On this Forum, the challenge to PeterS stands to make a "toy" Sharp Cycloturbine to compete with the HAWT flygen on JoeF's possession. The simple ~30gm HAWT foam blade direct drives a bike bottle generator. Its not expected PeterS can conjure up a comparable-by-mass or cost VAWT to drive the same gen. It is expected that he reminds us of his belief that HAWTs are ultimately inferior to his imagined VAWTs.

- PeterS is a gifted prototype engineer. If he could cobble together a toy-scale comparative experiment to prove his contention, his HAWT "myth" claim would be validated. He has not assmbled such a test over decades of making his VAWT claims. Good luck to Peter providing a comparison turbine for JoeF, located near him, to compare by mass, power, and low-cost simplicity with the old KiteLab HAWT.
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23451 From: dave santos Date: 3/27/2018
Subject: AB Dome water harvesting
Alexei Bolonkin is one of AWE's top theorists. One of his Cold War concepts, the city-sized anti-ballistic-missile AB Dome, is closely related to AWE, as a large polymer membrane system occupying lower airspace, subject to many of the same dynamics and uses of kites. kPower elaborated the concept to inflate by ram-air wind and prototyped a self-inflating version that maintains inflation, without fans.

It may be that this mountain sized inflated dome format is workable as a sort of artificial mountain capable of directing moist air upward and creating rain, which can then run down the dome exterior for collection. This solves some of the operational challenges of doing the same thing with kites. In effect, the ram-air dome is far better topologically protected from upset, by enclosing sustaining air-pressure, and therefore could scale better to the mountain-scale proportions needed to replenish major reservoirs.

In past research, looking at satellite imagery, we have noted that coastal fog terrain as modest as 300m high can greatly enhance precip on a windward face. Modern polymer and pending graphene capability suggest practical km scale inflated structures are feasible. It is presumed that a large AB Dome could be deflated and "shrink wrapped" to the surface with enough storm warning. The polymer coated surface could act as a simple rain collector to enhance run-off capture.

Perhaps the biggest conceptual hurdle is to imagine polymer (thin-film) membranes produced at megascale, and relentlessly recycled, compared to thicker longer-life but more expensive polymer structures. One of the open questions in AWE is the economic trade-off between cheap fast payback of membranes v the slower pay-back of rigid wings, with ventures betting on both sides (Skysails bet- "sell more kites").
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23452 From: dave santos Date: 3/27/2018
Subject: UVictoria continuing in AWE, new Fraunhofer connection (Markus Somme
UVicBC showing new momentum, with Markus' PhD AWE thesis imminent. His IWES stint must have been a bit confining, since IWES focuses on wind tower engineering, so Fraunhofer's AWE interest is still unconsolidated, but widely scattered within its global network.

UVictoria Canada
Markus Sommerfeld
PhD candidate

student bio

Markus graduated in 2015 from the Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany and obtained a Dipl.-Ing. degree in Mechanical Engineering and Energy Technology. After having some experience in the field of solar energy and horizontal axis wind turbines, he turned his interest towards airborne wind energy. In order to continue the research he started at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES), he joined IESVic and UVic in September 2015 to pursue his PhD degree in renewable energies.
Under the supervision of Dr. Curran Crawford and the support from the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS), Markus will work on some of the key challenges of Airborne Wind Energy. This technology has the potential to generate energy in remote locations with good wind conditions and provide sustainable, clean energy for communities with no grid connection, which currently mostly rely on costly diesel for power.
In his free time Markus enjoys jogging and other outdoor sports to clear his mind, as well as studying Japanese.

Markus recently presented a seminar on AWE-

https://www.pacificclimate.org/news-and-events/seminars/awesome-potential-airborne-wind-energy%e2%80%99s-opportunities-and-challenges

Hoping next to find webcast archived, thesis, etc.
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23453 From: Joe Faust Date: 3/27/2018
Subject: Re: UVictoria continuing in AWE, new Fraunhofer connection (Markus S
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23454 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/28/2018
Subject: Re: UVictoria continuing in AWE, new Fraunhofer connection (Markus S
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiriQHZMcs0&t=789s

AWESome potential: Airborne wind energy’s opportunities and challenges
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23455 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/28/2018
Subject: Re: UVictoria continuing in AWE, new Fraunhofer connection (Markus S

In talk, one slide's content: 

Markus Sommerfield
===============================
Summary Challenges
2018
Demonstrated Continuous autonomous flight
   Service times
   Robustness
Failsafe - demonstrated safety of flight
Grid compliance and scalability
Reliable power and cost calculation
Reliable resource assessment
Wind and weather conditions (rain, snow, hail, icing, lightning)
Social acceptance
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23456 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/28/2018
Subject: AWEification opportunity? Ultralight blades

How might the progress in blades be AWEified?  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVMgFEJRvWs
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23457 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/28/2018
Subject: Tethered Floating Wind Turbines

Examine the tether and anchoring; examine the floating hulls; examine the wings in the air. Consider AWES extensions in the potentials. 

=====================================================

VideosScotland

=====================================================
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23458 From: dave santos Date: 3/28/2018
Subject: Re: AWEification opportunity? Ultralight blades
400m HAWT diameters on the drawing board? Wow!

Ongoing scaling-up of HAWTs, by creating lighter, stronger, more resilient blades, will impact AWE design by also allowing larger airborne HAWTs. Nevertheless, since AWE is more square-cube mass scale limited than tower-based wind, and increasing wind velocity at higher altitude does not keep up with the runaway energetic cost of keeping ever larger tethered rigid masses aloft, rigid AWE HAWTs must remain smaller (for now).

200m rigid blades will require considerable passive and/or active control to damp aeroelastic divergence in high turbulent winds, but there is little public evidence that current experimental programs are resolving this challenging aspect, therefore, expect some spectacular blade failures to underscore the problem. The AWE "tip-of-the-blade" as aircraft concept increasingly applies to wild HAWT super-blade tip dynamics.

kPower's 2012 kFarm 4m diameter airborne HAWT seems to still be the record-largest in AWE, by adopting the same sort of principles gradually entering conventional HAWT design (segmented spars, fabric surfaces, high flexibility, downwind placement, etc.).
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23459 From: dave santos Date: 3/28/2018
Subject: Re: UVictoria continuing in AWE, new Fraunhofer connection (Markus S
Thanks, JoeF, for locating the webcast, plus insights.

Markus is doing a fine job sharing what he started learning in Germany with his Canadian colleagues, however, its quite striking how Open-AWE insights are being overlooked in the pack of academic and venture-capitalist players. kPower and KiteLabs are not even noted on TUDelft's world map of research, which contains many lesser players. The underlying political rifts over venture capitalism are not the fault of Markus and other fresh researchers. Ironically, with nothing to hide, Open-AWE is the ultimate "stealth-player", as the North EU insiders studiously avoid its presence.

For some examples, Open-AWE long ago identified power-to-mass aloft as the key number, not sweep-ratio; and we understand how battery and other storage means can pair with the IFO flock-of-untethered-UAS concept, since high-performance soaring requires ballast mass anyway. We are conceptually able to apply topological reasoning to megascale AWES arrays based on airborne lattices, and so on. We also hold the autonomous session endurance record [kFarm, 2012, 2 weeks] for an all-modes AWES.

The wonderful development is that UVic in BC Canada is definitely becoming a serious AWE player, its right in Chief Gordon Planes' backyard, just across Puget Sound from Seattle (Gates' Bezos' BEV, Boeing, etc.), and they are aware of the Northern Provinces (First Nations) remote energy quest. Markus' biggest advantage is that he has not hastily picked a venture down-select architecture. BC owes nothing to the Northern EU and US Bay Area venture cartels, and can develop AWE theory in independent directions.

Its a hoot to watch Canadians be Canadians, so polite and earnest, beginning to earn their place in AWE heaven. The question period was not cut off; lasting about as long as the talk itself, a sign of intellectual health. Yes, old newbie questions, but also thinking freshly from first principles. We will see where they go by their own lights, to maybe even soon become real leaders in AWE.
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23460 From: dave santos Date: 3/28/2018
Subject: Re: Tethered Floating Wind Turbines
Proposing hybrid energy from floating platforms- AWES and Wave Power (and/or Tidal). When conditions are too dynamic for AWES flight, let the same surface-gen be driven by waves (or perhaps current), for highest capacity-factor.

Open-AWE_IP-Cloud

-------------
Reminder that AWES Forum IP claims are primarily addressed to future industrial-scale energy, both on legal and moral social-capital grounds. When DIY, community, and/or humanitarian AWE is considered, license is given. High profit is not a core intent in claiming AWE CC IP, instead, what is intended is blocking of wrongful intent, like commercial weaponization of new tech. Therefore, AWES IP (or AirHES IP, if fully released) should not be released unconditionally, but at least maintain, without undue cost, CC IP criteria.
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23461 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/30/2018
Subject: Goupil
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23462 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/30/2018
Subject: Re: Goupil
  • To measure the wind speed in the heights reached Goupil constructed in 1886 an anemometer for dragon ascents.
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23463 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/30/2018
Subject: Combined Plant and Controller Design ...
Combined Plant and Controller Design Using Batch Bayesian Optimization: A Case Study in Airborne Wind Energy Systems
  • March 2018

Paper reach?
Start option: 
or another option
=========================================
Ali Baheri, Joseph Deese,  and Christopher Vermillion
Caution on specific authoring per paper:  yes or no?
========================================
Related:
Context-Dependent Bayesian Optimization in Real-Time Optimal Control: A Case Study in Airborne Wind Energy Systems      
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23464 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/30/2018
Subject: Re: Highest Wind
Dimitri Cherny
https://ideamensch.com/dimitri-cherny/

History:
Founder, Managing Director
Company Name: Highest Wind LLC
Dates Employed: Dec 2008 – Mar 2013  Employment Duration 4 yrs 4 mos
Location: Charleston, South Carolina Area
Highest Wind was developing a unique wind energy system that harvests the winds 1000 feet above the ground to provide cost-effective renewable energy for rural organizations in low-wind locations - half our planet.
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23465 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 3/30/2018
Subject: Re: Highest Wind
Maybe he will get into a position that could forward AWE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG9_6bUs1t0
Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23466 From: gordon_sp Date: 3/30/2018
Subject: TETHERED TURBINE ORIENTATION
Attachments :

    In my proposed device, I am using turbines whose axes are in line with the tether. Since the

    tether angle is not horizontal, the turbines are at an angle to the wind (usually about 45 degrees).

    The efficiency of the turbine is affected by the cosine cubed law which amounts to about 35% at

    45 degrees. This is a substantial performance penalty and therefore we must find methods to

    reorient the turbine(s) to face the wind. Since each turbine is supported by double universal joint,

    this reorientation is possible even though the lifting force of the lifter kite is transferred through

    the shafts of the turbines. In order to reorient the turbines we can use a horizontal paddle vane

    which is attached to a sleeve on the turbine shaft. The force of the wind on this paddle will tend to

    orient the turbine to face the wind.

    If we try to operate the turbines in crosswind mode, then the effective angle of the wind is a

    function of the wind direction and the crosswind direction. We must therefore orient the turbine

    to face the resultant of these two forces. This reorientation can be achieved by placing a vertical

    paddle, attached to a sleeve in front of the turbine. The sideways force on this paddle when it

    moves crosswind will cause the turbine to orient to the direction of the resultant force.
    Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23467 From: gordon_sp Date: 3/30/2018
    Subject: Re: TETHERED TURBINE ORIENTATION

    Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23468 From: gordon_sp Date: 3/30/2018
    Subject: Re: TETHERED TURBINE ORIENTATION
    Attachments
    		   @@attachment@@
    Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23469 From: benhaiemp Date: 3/31/2018
    Subject: Airborne Wind Energy Book published online

    The whole 2018 AWE Book on https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-10-1947-0.

    Chapter 22: Airborne Wind Energy Conversion Using a Rotating Reel System (Pierre Benhaïem and Dr. Roland Schmehl) on https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-10-1947-0_22


    PierreB
    Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23470 From: dave santos Date: 3/31/2018
    Subject: Re: Airborne Wind Energy Book published online
    Thats good news. No doubt there is lots of interesting content. Too bad the knowledge is behind Springer paywall.

    --------------------------------------------
    Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23471 From: dave santos Date: 3/31/2018
    Subject: Re: TETHERED TURBINE ORIENTATION [2 Attachments]
    Universal joints to match turbine to driveshaft angle has long been considered, but no one seems to have tested. A good source of experimental hardware is dust mops with universal joints and plugin alu tubes.

    This concept is workable, to add complexity for higher performance, but driveshafts have scaling law challenges compared to kiteline-driving to harvest 500m high sweetspot of power within allowed airspace.

    One major optimization is each section needs to be stronger than the one above. Its also an issue to somehow best match turbines across the wind gradient.

    Well worth testing.

    --------------------------------------------
    Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23472 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 4/2/2018
    Subject: Nonlinear DC-link PI Control for Airborne Wind Energy Systems During

    Nonlinear DC-link PI Control for Airborne Wind Energy Systems During Pumping Mode

    (full "working copy" of the paper"}

    Authors: 

    Korbinian Schechner, 

    Florian Bauer,

    Christoph M. Hackl

    ================================================
    Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23473 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 4/4/2018
    Subject: Kiting sun-shield hat?

    Member Dan Tracy of Pacific Sky Power has spent a good amount of time in AWE and related outdoor kiting on water and land.    He has been apparently warned about his skin exposure and has the following going: 


    Pacific Sky Power Sun Shield Hat


    This seems to touch part of the AWE-operations safety realm. 

    =================================================
    Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23474 From: dave santos Date: 4/5/2018
    Subject: Re: Kiting sun-shield hat?
    Indeed, the kite world has much to do with hats. Kites and hats simply go together, as outdoor tools. Recall the old Chinese legend that the kite was invented when a farmer noticed a sun hat flying from a fence by its chin string, which contradicts Mo Tzu (Moshi) as legendary inventor (past AWES Forum analysis concluded Moshi's feat was likely inspired by primordial SE Asian antecedents). Modern kite hobbyists are known for odd funny hats, often covered with commemorative pins.

    Peter Lynn marketed a high-dollar custom brand-name Aussie hat, with iconic snap-up side brims. Like Lynn, Dan Tracy is of course a proper "kite-god", and his hat is no incidental object. Dan Tracy's full UV face shield is a general advance in outdoor living. It also serves to cut cold wind, but fogging will be a challenge.

    I have also been worked on kiting and nomadic hats, in long succession. As an old-school Texan, my preferred starting hat is an Alamo Hat (big Mexican Sombero shaped "Western" style), custom wired and starched for wind resistance. I even had a mini-drone perched on the hat band, but removed it as too-much.

    There is a new wide-brim white hard-hat style emerging, in Texas construction at least, complete with tinted window in the fore-brim. The ultimate kite hat will have just such a window for monitoring kites above, without having to crane one's neck up from under a wide brim. A gold or alu coating would be a fantastic IR block. Like AWE, the perfect hat is only emerging in its own sweet time...
    Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23475 From: andrew@airhes.com Date: 4/6/2018
    Subject: Re: Kiting sun-shield hat?
    BTW, about hats...
    some years ago, walking with my dog ​​under the snow and rain against the wind, the idea of ​​a simple addition to the hood of any jacket came to mind. Finally, I made the simplest version on 3 buttons from a usual plastic folder. Obviously, you can use different ways of fastening (buttons, Velcro ... or even just sew tight), different thicknesses and colors of the visor, different visor configurations, including ventilation holes and holes to prevent fogging. The photographs show that in the initial position, this visor is almost hidden inside the hood (both on the back and on the head). In adverse weather conditions, it can either be quickly turned "as is" forward, or deployed around the central button and repositioned to the front position (which can be adjustable, with several slits for side buttons on the visor). You can have a whole set of such visors and a standard mount for them on the hood of any of your jackets. I recommend.
    Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23476 From: dave santos Date: 4/6/2018
    Subject: Garner Insights touts Open AWE
    Delving into AWE "me-too" biz analytics, Garner Insights seems to be drawing on IDTechX AWE report promotion model, with a gloss of their own. This is not of urgent interest, but they have oddly hit on Open AWE as a strategic player, and even single out PierreB personally. The coverage is a mash-up of boiler-plate and cut-and-paste search results. Perhaps there will be a long-term trend to follow in these quasi-robo sources, as AWE continues its glacial advance.

    https://factsweek.com/497302/airborne-wind-energy-equipment-market-size-and-analysis-by-leading-manufacturers-with-its-application-and-forecast-2018-2025/

    http://garnerinsights.com/about-us

    Indeed, the window to Open AWE early investment remains wide open, but you don't need to invest big bucks in any of the dozens of ventures. Its maybe enough to buy a cheap power kite and practice how to make it do productive profitable work. Garner Insights has you covered.
    Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23477 From: dave santos Date: 4/6/2018
    Subject: Kiting Extreme Conditions Body-Yurt? Kite-House of the future?
    Human factors are in fact a crucial engineering issue in Low-Complexity AWE, based on persistent onsite human presence (esp. PIC and VO). Not just sun, but extreme wet, hot, and cold, and even insects, are limiting conditions. Other factors include obstacle avoidance on the field; objects that can interfere with lines.

    We note Dan, Andrew, etc., hacking hats. In the US NW, on the Coast, I have tested all sorts of fishing and yachting wear from my wife's thrift-store (ready source of any sort of consumer COTS component). The yachties have large luxurious foul-weather gear to lounge in Spray and during storms, while the commercial-fishing wardrobe is hard-working, but still comfortable. What's missing are solutions to the most extreme conditions, like far-north winter blizzards or frying hot desert ops. Space-suits, diving-suits, and other extreme-suits, are a rich similarity cases.

    What about an insulated "body-yurt", a sort of mobile semi-architectural shelter. Think of a semi-soft ice fishing hut open to the surface, that you wear, so you can move periodically around the kite field inside it. It could have long insulated gloves used for manipulating kite elements. One should be able to sit inside comfortably for hours, with a good panoramic (and "tiltoramic" up) view, in terrible conditions. There should be powerful lighting for night work, food and drink, multi-instrumentation, tools, etc. A hot version could use a small air conditioner.

    A current practical option is to fly from motor vehicles, and these may prevail, but it would still be fun to explore the endless possibilities of a sort of space suit for kite flying in hostile conditions. Its also pertinent to once again ponder the traditional turreted meteorological kite house. One human-factors model is the ongoing evolution in long-haul trucking such that, one-by-one, the comforts of home have been added to trucks.
    Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23478 From: dave santos Date: 4/6/2018
    Subject: Ampyx Report
    News that the study announced last year is complete (no link yet)-

    http://renews.biz/110716/dutch-float-airborne-study/

    The suspense is whether harsh conditions and higher operating costs offshore are seen as barriers, or merely challenges. Complex bleeding-edge aerospace reliability and cost issues are not much in doubt (unmanned space missions have a 15% failure rate, despite tremendous cost and effort)
    Group: AirborneWindEnergy Message: 23479 From: joe_f_90032 Date: 4/6/2018
    Subject: Re: Water Abundance XPRIZE: DEADLINE REMINDER - Team Presentation We