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Rolf van der Vlugt
Delft University of Technology Faculty of Aerospace Engineering Wind Energy Section Kite Power Research Group Kluyverweg 1 2629 HS Delft The Netherlands R.vanderVlugt@tudelft.nl www.kitepower.eu
Validation of a Quasi Steady Kite Power System Model
Rolf van der Vlugt
Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology
The traction force of a kite can be used to drive a cyclic motion that extracts energy from the atmosphere. This pumping kite concept provides a simple yet effective solution for wind energy conversion at a potentially low cost. A quasi steady modelling framework is proposed for estimation of the power extracted from the atmosphere over a full pumping cycle. A trade off is made between modelling accuracy and computation speed such that it is specifically useful for the purpose of optimisation and scaling in economical feasibility studies.
Different modelling methodologies for the estimation of power extracted over a full cycle have been proposed. Yet only few of these methods have been compared to experimental results. Modelling results are compared to experimental data obtained with the TU Delft kite power demonstrator.
It is shown that the theoretical framework corresponds well with the experimental results.
