See Inside An airborne wind turbine turns sea breezes into electricity
ROTOR POWER: These rotors serve as both turbines and propellers. Each of the four rotors on the Wing 7 contains a permanent magnet that spins in the breeze to generate electricity. Those electrons travel back to the earth via a tether that connects the kite to land or to a floating platform. AUTOPILOT: An onboard computer housed just behind the nose cone makes adjustments to allow the Wing 7 to generate the most power in flight. Carbon fiber throughout the kite makes it light but strong: the 120-pound device can pull more than three tons. ?It can pull your car away,? says Makani Power's Corwin Hardham.
The powerful thrust of ocean-spawned winds can zip a kite surfer across the sea's surface at up to 55 miles per hour. Engineers are now trying to harvest the power in that wind to generate electricity. The Wing 7 airborne wind turbine pictured here is a prototype of a leading contender for the job. The autonomous, lightweight device is tethered to land or to a floating platform; when wind speeds pick up, four rotors fly it up above 820 feet in a circle perpendicular to the wind. As the air rushes across the carbon-fiber wing, the rotors generate electricity by spinning permanent magnets. ?The rotors are both propellers and turbines,? notes mechanical engineer Corwin Hardham, CEO and co-founder of Makani Power, which created the Wing 7. An onboard computer makes constant adjustments.
The idea of generating power with kites, to avoid the fickleness of winds closer to the earth, is centuries old; modern iterations?including schemes for harvesting energy by flying into jet streams?date back to at least the 1970s. Makani intends to meet that challenge by designing its kite to work over the ocean, where the wind blows fairly constantly, and to cover a wide expanse of sky in its circular flight. Even relatively light winds that fail to stir traditional turbines can speed the light, tethered aircraft at more than 100 miles per hour and allow it to generate power.
This article was originally published with the title Kinetic Kite.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)
David Biello is an associate editor at Scientific American.
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=7a2092cea4c289aae8ae37c34b914e98
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