It has long been proposed on the AWES Forum that legacy power-plants based on fossil-fuel sources might be converted to kite hybrids in selected cases (where wind, land, and airspace availability are favorable). The idea is particularly compelling where regulatory limits exist on air pollution and/or capital is limited to cover wholly new generation capacity. We learned that the simplest kite-hybrid case is to boost the steam cycle of steam turbines, reducing demand for boiler fuel. Interjecting kite power to increasingly dominant gas turbines is a more complex problem.

Gas turbines operate at an optimal power setting for baseload electrical service. For fining* and peaking supply, arrays of smaller turbines are brought on- and off-line unit-by-unit. A single long shaft typically combines turbine and generator units. A small start-up motor is commonly engaged to spin up a turbine for starting, and there are already hybrid marine systems that mix gas turbine and diesel engine power. Modern applications like these preferably use a synchro-self-shifting (SSS) clutch to engage-disengage smoothly.

The SSS clutch therefore promises to be the missing link to create kite-hybrid power-plants. Its already a standard power interface to the systems we seek to hybridize. Small versions may allow simple kite-hybridization with COTS auxiliary backup generators. There are, of course, still open details to resolve, but the SSS clutch is a valuable tool in the kite-hybrid challenge.

Thanks to Eric Callahan of Dresser-Rand, a gas-turbine field engineer, for the SSS clutch tip to help create kite-hybrids from legacy power-plants. For more info on SSS clutches in auxiliary drive apps-

http://www.sssclutch.com/auxiliarydrives/index.htm?gestarters/index.htm~mainFrame
 

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•  ~ Dave Santos       9Mar2014           Discuss >   AirborneWindEnergy/conversations/messages/11931

Comment and development of this topic will be occurring here also:       
All, send notes, links, drawings, papers, videos, plans, safety-critical findings, and photographs!

• Terms and aspects:  
  •  "Fining" here means to fine-tune a variable supply to a variable load for a constant voltage and "peaking" refers to the total added fraction of wattage above a fixed baseload capacity (to perform fining). The common idea is that multiple small generation units serve to closely match electrical demand (and SSS Clutches will help mix kites in).
• Related links and concepts:  
  • http://www.sssclutch.com/howitworks/100-2SSSPrinciples.pdf   Operating Principles
• Commentary is welcome:
  •