Flying Wind Turbine Demonstrator
Cut version of test flight for different angle of attack controllers (not shown in this video). Complete system flight test, with all modes of operation. Flight conducted completely autonomously, only high-level commands (such as "hover now") were given. 00:00 Take-Off 00:11 Trans-In & Figure Eight Flight 00:55 Trans-Out & Landing Kite size: 2.4m wingspan (1:4 scale of 100kW product). Location: Oberbiberg near Munich, Germany Date & time: 21 March 2023, around 1 pm. Name of kite: SN8 "Stiffy" (due to upgraded, stiffer tail) Additional chapter information: * Take-Off. In-between flights the kite is parked on the landing perch on the ground station. Once conditions are suitable the kite goes into hover flight, undocking from the ground station. While in hover, the tether in reeled out from the winch on the ground station. The tether attaches the kite to the ground station mechanically and feeds electricity to the kite during hovering. * Trans-In & Figure Eight Flight. Once the tether is complete reeled out from the winch, the kite accelerates into figure eight flight mode. During figure eight flight, the kite can produce energy, which then reverses the power flow: The onboard propellers (the same that were previously used for hovering) are now used as small wind turbines and produce power aboard the kite. The kite harvests the energy from the wind. During this mode the kite feeds electricity to the ground station and the grid. * Trans-Out & Landing. When the flight has to be terminated, e.g., due to a change in weather conditions such as too low wind, the kite transitions out of figure eight flight and back into hover flight. Then the tether is reeled in and the kite docks at the ground station. Now it is ready to fly again. This approach allows us to harvest the energy from the wind more efficiently than conventional wind turbines, because we only use around 10% of the materials. For more information and explanations, please visit https://www.kitekraft.de. Music credits: Stanley Gurvich - Binary Love (https://artlist.io/song/602/binary-love) #airbornewindenergy #windenergy #wind #airborne #renewableenergy # renewables #energy #flying #flyingwindturbine This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe program under Grant Agreement No. 101084216
