Hiroki T Endo
Niihama National College of Technology (Niihama Kosen)
Department of Mechanical Engineering 7-1 Yakumo Niihama Ehime
Japan
[email protected] www.niihama-nct.ac.jp
Report on Research and Development of Airborne
Wind Power Generation at Niihama Kosen
Hiroki T Endo
Niihama National College of Technology (Niihama Kosen)/Habataki Lab We have studied two types of airborne wind power
gen-eration.
Firstly, the Fly-Gen system for fixed-point meteorological observations in the Antarctic. The Japan Antarctic Re-search Expedition has observed the Antarctic weather us-ing kites for several years. However, power supply and kite payloads have caused problems during these obser-vations. Jointly with the National Institute of Antarctic Research of Japan we began research to address this. We developed a payload adjustment technology for kite trains. Legal restrictions on research using the Aviation Act including aircrafts, kites and drones in Japan restricts research on airborne wind power generation compared with other countries. Nevertheless, highly durable prod-ucts can be supplied for generators and various other components.
Secondly we produced the design for a pumping kite ground station. The power generation used in the exper-iment was a high rotation type generator. Therefore, a centrifugal force variable flywheel was installed. We de-veloped a mathematical representation that predicts the generated power. Using the rotational motion of the gen-erator and flywheel, the tension in the kite tether, the speed of the kite and the generator settings we were able to predict the generated power. The simulation results agree with the experimental values.
Top: Fly-Gen Experiment, Bottom: Pumping-motion Ground-Gen Experiment
References:
[1] Hitoki, Endo.: Experimental Study on Design and Operation of Ground System for Airborne Wind Power Generation. Wind Energy 42(4), (2019, Japanese Language only)