http://energykitesystems.net/KiteEnergyImages/AerialTensionSpreader.jpg 

http://energykitesystems.net/KiteEnergyImages/SeaDepthTensionSpreader.jpg 

FlySurfer power-kite excellence is evident in Enerkite's wings.

EnerKite does not have certain disadvantages that other "reeling" teams do. No military oversight, academic obligations, or high capital-cost/burn-rate errors are holding them back. They will need every advantage in a crowded small-scale AWES market serving a very uncertain customer base. SkySails could blow away the reel-space competition with a larger-scale product.

The major challenge on the horizon is if the KiteLab Group predicted AWE paradigm shift leaves the reeling architecture behind. If so, EnerKite may have the "agile engineering" culture to make the jump.

All the reeling schemes except SkySails seem to lack convincing auto launch and land methods. In common practice, the kite lines are first drawn out downwind and a "kite buddy" (human) does the launch and secures the kite on landing.

Line is wound onto reels two basic ways. A Level-Winder is a shuttling mechanism that winds the line evenly onto the storage reel. Level-winders are common on fishing reels, yet expert fishermen often promptly remove the mechanism so they can manually wind line on, guiding with the thumb. This allows the expert lower drag in paying out line and numerous subtle advantages as the thumb acts as sensor and brake. The key secret is to wind the line on under tension with a high criss-crossing factor. This keeps the line from jamming into itself on the reel under high loads. The fisherman unconsciously increases criss-cross when spooling** on looser line. Level winders are not so flexible.

Note that a load carrying storage reel lowers its "gear ratio" usefully as the kite rises higher into more powerful wind. This is a true CVT, stone-age style. Mechanical advantage can even be varied by playing the line with the thumb on different parts of a barrel shaped line spooling. 

CC BY NC SA

* Line is also sometimes stored loose in a bag or bin. NTS/Fraunhower opted for this method in its early prototype. Handling is simplified, but at a greater risk of a snarl, especially if the loose mass is shaken.

** Lets define spooling as the specific form that line takes wound on a storage reel.

 

 

 

 

In "Powering Agriculture: An Energy Grand Challenge for Development Competition", JohnO has found a potentially ideal opportunity for AWE to incubate small scale agriculture applications. Its worth competing to win, but also smart to try the side-doors for access to funding.

One Competition partner stood out as a potential AWE funding partner; Duke Energy. This private electrical generation holding company is a corporate beast far beyond our current neoliberal Power Utility model (Austin Energy), with enough baseload and peak capacity generation across North, Central, and South America to power twelve New York City sized supercities. Over the years, Duke has been criticized on several counts, but react agilely to resolve conflict, including favoring Cap-and Trade, and generally maintaining a high-profile progressive public persona to cater to their vast client and investor base. This major clout and visibility is why we find them cheek-to-cheek with USAID and Sweden in this "powering-ag" contest.

The side-door method is to reach out to the Duke Energy Board, management, and activist share-holders with an "unsolicited proposal" for Duke to incubate AWE tech as a strategic experiment. The required cost is negligible to such a vast enterprise. Various other large powerful entities have been studied for this role, but few have the electrical market expertise, site networks, and political pressures the world's giant electrical utilities do. A proposal to Duke would serve for approaching other utilities.

Our challenge is to get beyond the fractured AWE small-venture mentality by consolidating into a large global R&D program inclusive of all the best talent (especially academia). This is slowly happening already, but could happen really fast with the right AWES R&D plan and sufficiently large partners-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Energy

If Japanese AWE developments delay too long, i will activate my retired "Japanese Unclesan" in Hawaii (Roel Gorena), an amazing case of a Mexican-American astronomer who turned Japanese (even to his bathtub, in a live-in Japanese antiquities museum of his creation), embraced by them as their own, as a Zen Master even. Sadly, he decades ago ordered me not to "invade" the island nation for booty, as then planned, but we count on him for sage advice, as the time now warrants.

Prediction- Japan will mobilize suddenly and to great effect in AWE, 

daveS

PS The Duke buzz smoked out some eager players who thought it was a done-deal. Everybody note that we are putting value on upfront sweat-equity work, so get moving if you want to be well positioned (all early AWE work counts). Showing late with hat-in-hand is not a favored strategy.

 

Optimal  operation depends on high static tension as a precondition, and so early use is favored rigged from soil anchors and/or surface-based compression beams. As we master these conditions first, the foundation is laid for more dynamic use aloft just as your describe,

daveS

 

 

Link-

http://technicamolodezhi.ru/news/novosti_nauki_i_tehniki/LETI_LETI_ZA_OBLAKA

 

Its not certain if we must constantly assert our CC IP rights to this and every novel idea, but it can't hurt to remind those who follow these discussions. Its looking good for the Standard-Driven World to ultimately respect and value CC IP. We should even be able to entice AWE pooled patent holders to accept CC IP as a common liscensing framework, to simplify the IP can-of-worms.

 

JoeF

 

Fraunthofer is publicly owned (German Federal and State ownership) applied science and engineering "Society" with around 20,000 scientists and engineers, and nearly a hundred Institutes and branch locations.

We now count at least three AWE startups known to have Fraunhofer Society participation- NTS, Enerkite, and Altaeros. 

There is no indication that this is a coordinated strategy by Fraunhofer, but looks more like chance local attractions between players. Altaeros seemingly turned to Fraunhofer USA as a natural effect of being both Boston-based. The German Fraunhofer partners are similarly local plays.

Fraunhofer is now being approached by the broader based AWE players proposing a large globally-coordinated R&D program. The well-regarded engineering powerhouse looks like an ideal fit as the AWE tech validation partner required before major investment can occur.

The Fraunhofer public ownership dynamic entails enhanced accountability and transparency, compared to "stealth venture" culture.

In record time (2hr), we have a positive indication that the Fraunhofer Society would be specifically interested in being a key "3rd party R&D evaluator" for AWE. The Society currently plays a comparable engineering-science consultant role in the solar industry.  3rd-party comparative evaluation will greatly reduce strategic uncertainty in AWE investment.