Six-degrees-of-freedom simulation model for future multi-megawatt airborne wind energy systems

Dylan Eijkelhof and Roland Schmehl

Renewable Energy, 2022, vol. 196, issue C, 137-150

Abstract: Currently developed airborne wind energy systems have reached sizes of up to several hundred kilowatts. This paper presents the high-level design and a six-degrees-of-freedom model of a future fixed-wing airborne wind energy system operated in pumping cycles. This framework is intended to be used as an open-source reference system. The fixed-wing aircraft has a span of 42.5 m and produces a nominal electrical power of 3 MW. The ground station is modelled as a winch with a rotational degree of freedom describing the reel-in and reel-out motion, constant drum diameter and drive train inertia. A quasi-static approach is used to model the relatively stiff tether. The tether is discretised by 16 segments with variable length to account for reeling. A tracking controller ensures the kite's flight path during the autonomous pumping cycle operation. The controller alternates between crosswind figure-of-eight manoeuvres while reeling out and gliding on an arc-shaped path towards the ground station during retraction. The operational and controller parameters are determined using a CMA-ES evolution algorithm to maximise the average cycle power of a specific kite design at different wind speeds and given operational constraints. The algorithm identifies optimised flight paths for a range of wind speeds up to 30 m s−1 leading to a power curve with a cut-in wind speed of 10 m s−1 at operating altitude.

Keywords: Airborne wind energy; Airborne wind energy systems; Tether model; Reference model; 6 DoF rigid body kite; Airborne wind energy power performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:196:y:2022:i:c:p:137-150

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2022.06.094

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