Tarek Dief Postdoctoral Researcher
Kyushu University
Research Institute for Applied Mechanics Renewable Energy Center (REC)
6-1 Kasugakoen, Kasuga Fukuoka, 816-8580,
Japan
tarek.na3em@riam.kyushu-u.ac.ajp www.riam.kyushu-u.ac.jp/REC
Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) and System Identification
of a Pumping Kite Power System
Tarek N. Dief, Mostafa A. Rushdi, Amr M. Halawa, Shigeo Yoshida Kyushu University
Airborne wind energy (AWE) is an emerging renewable energy technology which uses flying devices that are tethered to the ground. So far AWE has been demon-strated at tens of kilowatts level, a scale much smaller than what would be commercially viable in the utility sec-tor [1]
Figure 1: Kite power system: KCU, and Real Flight Test.
In Kyushu University, we established our kite system with the aim of designing and manufacturing a small-scale prototype to generate a maximum power of 7kW using an inflatable wing with 10 m2surface area [2,3]. The system consists of a kite connected with a Kite Control Unit (KCU) to steer the kite wirelessly and follow a designed path of flight called Figure-of-Eight as depicted in Fig. 1. In the current stage, the KCU is acting as a ground anchor, not flying with the kite.
To obtain autonomous flight for the kite, it is required to design and manufacture a measurement unit for the po-sition and attitude. GPS, IMU, Xbee, and arduino micro-controller were used to manufacture the circuit installed
on the kite during flying. This unit collects the data, kite’s position and attitude, then send them wirelessly to the ground station through the XBEE with sample time of 0.15 second. Several field tests have been performed and the respective data has been analysed for the system’s perfor-mance. The current experiments aim to let the kite per-form as HIL technique; the data of the kite are sent to the ground station and the control action is calculated, then the control signal is sent back again to the KCU to steer the kite during flight.
Finally, the technology used in our project will be de-scribed, and an update on the overall progress of the project will provided. The system is designed to produce 7kW/10 m2. Our largest kite is 10 m2surface area and has a KCU with weight of 3 kg. The key lessons learned in the current project and the planned future work will be de-scribed.
References:
[1] Ahrens, U., Diehl, M., Schmehl, R. (eds) Airborne wind energy. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39965-7
[2] Dief T.N., Fechner U., Schmehl R., Yoshida S., Ismaiel A.M., Ha-lawa A.M.: System identification, fuzzy control and simulation of a kite power system with fixed tether length. Wind Energy Science. 3, pp. 275ś291 (2018). https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-3-275-2018 [3] Dief, T.N., Mostafa A.R., Yoshida, S.: Modeling and Control of Kite Power System. In Grand Renewable Energy proceedings Japan council for Renewable Energy, p. 137. Japan Council for Renewable Energy (2018)
