Transcript Wind Power From Kites Professor David J. Olinger Mechanical Engineering Dept. WPI

Wind Power From Kites
Professor David J. Olinger
Mechanical Engineering Dept.
WPI
WPI's Fifth US-Africa Business Conference
WPI KITE POWER TEAM
 Professor David J. Olinger
 Dr. Jitendra Goela, Rohm and Haas
Company, Woburn MA
 Gabe Baldwin, Mike Blouin, Peter Bertoli, Ryan
Buckley, Chris Colschen, Mike DeCuir, Max Hurgin,
Ben Isabella, Taylor LaLonde, Erik Lovejoy, Josh
Rodden, Mike Sangermano, Nick Simone, Nick Urko
 2006-2008
Motivation & Goals
 Increased access to electricity, water, power in
developing nations must be provided in a sustainable
way using renewable energy sources, such as wind
power
 Develop a new renewable energy technology: Wind
Power from Kites
 Build prototype capable of generating ~1KW
Wind Power from Kites Prototype
Converts up-and-down motion of kite
into electricity that is stored in batteries
Animation - System Operation
Wind is from
Left to Right
Olinger, D.J. & Goela, J.S. , “Performance Characteristics of a onekilowatt scale kite power system, ASME Paper ES2008-54032,
Energy Sustainability 2008, Jacksonville, FL August 2008.
Advantages of Kite Power for
Developing Nations
 Potentially cheaper than a wind turbine
 More economical in low wind speed
regions
 Higher wind speeds at higher altitudes
 Kites can fly “faster than the wind” –
apparent velocity effect
 More aesthetically pleasing &
environmentally friendly than wind
turbines
Advantages for Developing Nations
Field Testing
WPI KITE POWER
TEAM STUDENTS
Heifer International’s Overlook Farm – Rutland, MA
Seabrook, NH beaches
Wiki – WPI Kite Power Team
http://www2.me.wpi.edu/wpi-kites
Link in agenda on conference website
Other kite power researchers:
WindLift, LLC
http://windlift.wordpress.com/about/
Makani Power, Inc. www.makanipower.com
Jet stream winds
Conclusions
 Wind Power from Kites is a potential
renewable energy technology
 WPI Kite Power Team has constructed
a working kite power prototype
Many successes!
Still work to do!
 Feedback :
Potential use in Africa
Educational/business linkages