Kite Power Generation Project – Wind Power from Kites

The goal of this project was to study the feasibility of using tethered kites to generate power from the wind. Generating electricity using kites instead of wind turbines may have certain advantages, particularly for developing nations. These include generating power at low cost while eliminating certain environmental problems associated with wind turbines.  Another advantage is that kites can fly at greater heights than wind turbines can operate. Since wind speed increases with height, and available power is proportional to wind speed cubed, the wind power potential is larger for kites. A literature review was conducted of previous studies of kite power systems.  A mechanism was designed to convert the oscillating tether tension caused by the vertical motion of a kite into rotary shaft motion to drive a generator. The mechanism is based on a rocking, balanced beam of 5 meter length attached to a power train and Sprag clutch. The design uses a commercially available sport kite which is 10 meters squared in size. A previously developed MATLAB code was used to model the final system design, and power outputs comparable to small wind turbines were predicted.  

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Wind_Power_Generation_from_Kites.pdf