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Your Motivation - Why Kite Turbines Matter

A project log for Energy Independence While Travelling

Bring your own clean power. Pack a Kite Turbine in your EV

roddy-rags-readRoddy "Rags" Read 04/28/2022 at 20:580 Comments

This is why - We all want a future with Abundant Clean Energy 

Kite Turbine power is scalable using lightweight tensile networks.

Higher altitude wind is more energy dense and these kite turbines are very light in embodied CO2e   So if we can make these turbines reliable (already mechanically autonomous)   They could change the game on cheap and clean energy farming. 

So

How to make an energy independent electric vehicle with a Kite Turbine.

More Detailed Instructions

  1. Make a Lifting Kite
  2. Make a Kite Turbine
  3. Make a Ground Station 
  4. Put it all in your car
  5. Park up (best on a windy hill)
  6. Fly the Kite Turbine
  7. Use it to charge the EV battery

First though We're going to talk about your motivation (Is that something actors do?)

Motivation Instructions

Build a Kite Turbine

Simple as that. It's fun, It's got power comes out. Not only that ... You might be doing a really good thing.

We build Kite Turbines because the world needs clean affordable energy.

We all know wind turbines are amazing right.

Yes - but no. They're so heavy they can't scale. 

Wind power is not yet as amazing as it's going to become.

Looking down on wind turbines from an airplane, you realise, they are tiny compared to the airspace they could be extracting from, and that airspace has more powerful and consistent wind away from the surface.

A Network of kites high above a wind turbine farm
A Network of kites high above a wind turbine farm

Here's why Wind turbines aren't as high as kites yet.  They're seriously heavy. See this IRENA graphic. 

Wind turbine towers are massive rigid steel structures. Strong enough to resist the cantilever bending, head mass loading and generation torque. These towers have to follow cubic mass scaling (To the power of ~2.63) 

Onshore, the tower is fixed to a huge concrete foundation to prevent it toppling over. 

A road has to be built up a hill. Giant blades have to be made so that the tips (the efficient part) can sweep further at high speed.

This is not an efficient design yet. Material is not aligned with the force. 

Like a suspension bridge, Kite Turbines use efficient design to align the loads (blade aerodynamic forces) with efficient tensioned lines.

Kite Turbines don't need the tower, the foundation, or the road.

Even most of the blade is cut from a Kite Turbine. These blades only fly the outermost ring. The most efficient part.

Generic Kite Turbine design
Generic 3 layer x 5 blade rotors Kite Turbine design, Let's say ~ 10kW

The power to weight ratio of standard wind turbines is dreadful, which means it takes them longer to pay back the carbon equivalent emissions embodied in their manufacture.  Endurance E3120 50kW = power-to-weight ratio of only 0.02kW/kg (And that's a good one it's only wee)

Kite Turbines Power-to-Weight tested 1kW/kg (Airborne) 0.2kW/kg (total)

You've seen how basic our Kite Turbines were... We are quite certain we can increase this to >2kW/kg (airborne)  >.8kW/kg (total)

When I walk up to a wind farm, Standing right up underneath a giant wind turbine, I look at the stairs leading to the tower access door. I estimate the mass of just the handrail (not the balusters) is the same mass as an entire >3kW Kite Turbine. 

That 3kW is a magic number... Your modern kettle is up to 3kW.  3kW is ~ the average (24/7) power demand of a UK home. It's also the speed your domestic plug will charge an EV car. And this Kite turbine fits in the back of your car ... oh

Here's the thing, this could be BIG

We suspect kite turbines are going to be very scalable

Eventually with more research - The forces in a network of network turbines should look something like this

And we're going to assess how offshore capable they are.

There are further positive effects of designing wind turbines (Kite Turbines) this way. The modular blade elements can all be swapped out very quickly on the ground (no crane or rope access experts needed) 

Here's how we reckon Kite Turbines can reduce the cost of energy to <5p/kWh

Improvements in Financing include

Improvements in Capital Investment Include

Improvement in Annual Energy Production Include

Improvement in Operating Expense Include

In a similar way

Here's how we reckon Kite Turbines can reduce the embodied carbon emissions of wind energy to <1gCO2e/kWh

Improved Construction effects include

Improved Lifetime and end of life effects include

Improved energy supply through generation period effects include

Improved self efficiency through generation period effects include

They're really good eh?

That's all the motivation you need... Get Building

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