Flying kites deliver container-sized power generation
spectrum.ieee.org
Flying kites deliver container-sized power generation
1–10 of 175 posts
Re: Flying kites deliver container-sized power generation
#2Gotta be more to it. They blithly say, reeling it in takes a fraction of the energy it generates when it pulls the line out. But that's nonsense on the face of it.
I'm guessing, it changes it's wind profile, maybe going edge-on or closing up, to make it easy to pull down again. Gotta be something.
Re: Flying kites deliver container-sized power generation
#3Gotta be more to it. They blithly say, reeling it in takes a fraction of the energy it generates when it pulls the line out. But that's nonsense on the face of it. I'm guessing, it changes it's wind profile, maybe going edge-on or closing up, to make it easy to pull down again. Gotta be something.
I think the kite might have control surfaces, thus would be able to control lift by changing its angle of attack.
Re: Flying kites deliver container-sized power generation
#4I’m happy to see this idea continues to develop. I was worried its failure was foregone when Google shuttered their moonshot Makani in 2020. It seems like this iteration is simpler.
Re: Flying kites deliver container-sized power generation
#5Gotta be more to it. They blithly say, reeling it in takes a fraction of the energy it generates when it pulls the line out. But that's nonsense on the face of it. I'm guessing, it changes it's wind profile, maybe going edge-on or closing up, to make it easy to pull down again. Gotta be something.
I think the kite might have control surfaces, thus would be able to control lift by changing its angle of attack.
Trailing edge control lines, pretty standard. You let them out and the kite will no longer be able to catch the wind and will float down. Keeping some tension on those lines and wenching it in will keep the kite controllable.
Re: Flying kites deliver container-sized power generation
#6Not to be a HN naysayer, but wasn't this tried already with Makani Power?[1] They even made a documentary about it[2]
Compared to traditional wind turbines, this solution trades an enormous amount of complexity, maintenance, etc for small reductions in material cost. We should be churning out traditional wind turbines for cheap instead.
Re: Flying kites deliver container-sized power generation
#7Not to be a HN naysayer, but wasn't this tried already with Makani Power?[1] They even made a documentary about it[2] Compared to traditional wind turbines, this solution trades an enormous amount of complexity, maintenance, etc for small reductions in material cost. We should be churning out traditional wind turbines for cheap instead. [1] https://x.company/projects/makani/ [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd_hEj…
The article poses a different use case, replacing diesel generators for off-grid power, not hooking into the grid to replace turbines.
Re: Flying kites deliver container-sized power generation
#8Not to be a HN naysayer, but wasn't this tried already with Makani Power?[1] They even made a documentary about it[2] Compared to traditional wind turbines, this solution trades an enormous amount of complexity, maintenance, etc for small reductions in material cost. We should be churning out traditional wind turbines for cheap instead. [1] https://x.company/projects/makani/ [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd_hEj…
This is a very different approach. The google approach is making an airplane fly in circles generating continuous power, this slowly lets a kite out then reels it in generating pulsed power that would need a battery to smooth out. This approach can use pretty standard kite technology which is far cheaper than airplane technology.
Re: Flying kites deliver container-sized power generation
#9Gotta be more to it. They blithly say, reeling it in takes a fraction of the energy it generates when it pulls the line out. But that's nonsense on the face of it. I'm guessing, it changes it's wind profile, maybe going edge-on or closing up, to make it easy to pull down again. Gotta be something.
Brake lines on a traction kite like that can cause the foil to fully de-depower and fall out of the sky. So you can let the wind pull it up, and then let gravity bring it down.
Re: Flying kites deliver container-sized power generation
#10Gotta be more to it. They blithly say, reeling it in takes a fraction of the energy it generates when it pulls the line out. But that's nonsense on the face of it. I'm guessing, it changes it's wind profile, maybe going edge-on or closing up, to make it easy to pull down again. Gotta be something.
Only as much nonsense as rowing a boat without taking the paddle out of the water. In that specific example, you're going to be going in circles, but you will be moving.