SBIR Phase II: AirLoom Investigation -- Modular, Scalable Wind Turbine at 23x Mass Savings

SBIR 第二阶段：AirLoom 调查——模块化、可扩展的风力涡轮机，质量节省 23 倍

• 批准号: 1738495
• 负责人: Robert Lumley
• 金额: $ 74.99万
• 依托单位: KiteFarms LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-09-15 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1738495&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; II; AirLoom; Investigation

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project stems from a potential reduction in the capital cost of wind turbines by an astounding 15x. The Company's patented, remarkably simple design also reduces transportation, maintenance, and land costs, and provides greater location and altitude flexibility. It uses the same aerodynamics as today's dominant wind technology, the horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT), but with innovations that build on recent research into airborne wind energy generation. Multiple, 6-meter airfoils (they look like model airplanes) behave exactly like the outer tips of a conventional wind turbine blade, which is where most of the power is generated in a HAWT. The airfoils run along a rail- as if one captured kites and put them on short leashes - and a linear generator makes the power. The proposed research is a continuation of SBIR Phase I research and development that had demonstrated that these principles are scientifically sound. If successful, this Phase II project would drastically reduce the cost of wind-generated electricity, making it competitive with fossil fuels. It would thus be a completely self-sustaining commercially viable entity, creating jobs and generating tax revenues. By out-competing fossil fuels, it would use market forces to encourage renewable energy development, thus reducing energy-related emissions and improving national health, prosperity, and welfare. The project's light weight, low profile, and easy, flexible set-up may also have military and emergency applications that would help secure the national defense.The proposed technology captures energy through translational rather than rotational motion in the tips of the airfoils as they run along a rail tethered by bridles. Its major innovation is a patented bridling system that handles downwind forces (aerodynamic tip-over forces), which are the primary cause of the HAWT's mass and cost. Another major innovation is to run airfoils in an oval rather than a circle. This alters the math behind swept area, the key input for generation capacity. Because the oval's swept area is a function of length and height, rather than radius squared, this project can add capacity in many different ways, escaping the tyranny of building ever-bigger and -taller circles. The first objective is to design, test, build, measure, and refine a 100 kilowatt (kW) device. A meaningful-scale second-generation device will demonstrate the project's ability to meet performance, weight, and cost targets, while facilitating decisions about how to build far larger devices, and modeling their costs. The methods and approaches will continue to conquer challenges in five subsystems: structures, aerodynamics, power generation, control, and grid integration. The team, which includes leading experts in both academia and industry, will design subsystem options. It will convene to find the best system-wide design and construct the device, with many refinements along the way.

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）II期项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力源于风力涡轮机的资本成本的潜在降低15倍。该公司获得的专利，非常简单的设计也降低了运输，维护和土地成本，并提供了更大的位置和高度灵活性。它使用与当今的主要风能技术，即水平轴风力涡轮机（HAWT）相同的空气动力学，但创新是基于对机载风能产生的最新研究。多个6米的机翼（看起来像模型飞机）的行为完全像传统的风力涡轮机刀片的外尖，这是大多数功率在HAWT中产生的地方。机翼沿着轨道延伸 - 好像一个捕获的风筝并将其放在短牵引牵引处一样 - 线性发电机会产生力量。拟议的研究是SBIR I期研究与发展的延续，该研究表明这些原理在科学上是合理的。如果成功的话，该II期项目将大大降低风产电的成本，使其与化石燃料具有竞争力。因此，这将是一个完全自我维持的商业可行的实体，创造就业机会并产生税收收入。通过超越化石燃料，它将利用市场力量来鼓励可再生能源开发，从而减少与能源相关的排放并改善国家健康，繁荣和福利。该项目的轻巧，低调且易于灵活的设置也可能具有军事和紧急应用，可以帮助保护国防。拟议的技术通过翻译而非旋转运动捕获能量，而不是旋转的旋转运动，因为它们沿着吹牛的铁轨沿着铁轨延伸。它的主要创新是一种专利的桥梁系统，该系统处理下风力（空气动力的尖端力量），这是霍特质量和成本的主要原因。另一个主要的创新是在椭圆形的而不是圆圈中运行机翼。这改变了扫描区域背后的数学，这是发电能力的关键输入。由于椭圆形的扫掠区域是长度和高度而不是半径平方的函数，因此该项目可以以多种不同的方式增加容量，从而逃脱了构建越来越大的圈子和taller圈的暴政。第一个目标是设计，测试，建造，测量和完善100千瓦（KW）设备。有意义的第二代设备将展示项目满足性能，体重和成本目标的能力，同时促进有关如何构建更大设备以及对成本建模的决策。这些方法和方法将继续在五个子系统中征服挑战：结构，空气动力学，发电，控制和网格整合。该团队包括学术界和行业领域的主要专家，将设计子系统选项。它将召集以找到最佳的全系统设计并构造设备，并在此过程中进行许多改进。