By Dave Santos on July 29, 2019

27990Re: [AWES] Re: SUPERTURBINEŽ


It depends on if there is onsite security, and whether any particular tether is especially critical. The falling hardware would be more hazardous than soft kites falling, and must not drag.

An onsite PilotInCommand and/or VisualObserver (PIC VO) will help, but needs a few MW capacity to meet market rates for kWhr.

Anyway, whoever tries this should be the most careful to identify and resolve all failure modes.

On ‎Monday‎, ‎July‎ ‎29‎, ‎2019‎ ‎10‎:‎42‎:‎52‎ ‎AM‎ ‎CDT, gordon_sp

 

Dave,

You said: “Could anyone with a ax walk around and cut your tethers? Then what happens, does a shaft of blades drag for miles?”

I would consider that a 5 tether system is much safer than any of the other AWE systems proposed.  If one of the tethers are severed, then the system can be programmed to automatically retract before the vandal can successfully cut the other four tethers.  Perhaps the blades can be designed so that they slip off the hub if reverse forces of dragging are imposed on them.