Project Readiness Package Rev 7/22/11 ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION: Project Name (tentative): Airborne Wind Energy: Plane Design Project Number, if known: P15462 Preferred Start/End Quarter in Senior Design: Fall 2014-Spring 2015 Faculty Champion: (technical mentor: supports proposal development, anticipated technical mentor during project execution; may also be Sponsor) Name Dept. Email Phone Mario Gomes ME mwgeme@rit .edu 475-21 48 For assistance identifying a Champion: B. Debartolo (ME), G. Slack (EE), J. Kaemmerlen (ISE), R. Melton (CE) Other Support, if known: (faculty or others willing to provide expertise in areas outside the domain of the Faculty Champion) Name Dept. Email Phone Project “Guide” if known: Ed Hanzlik (if amenable) Primary Customer, if known (name, phone, email): (actual or representative user of project output; articulates needs/requirements) Mario Gomes, 585 475 2148, [email protected]Sponsor(s): (provider(s) of financial support) Name/Organization Contact Info. Type & Amount of Support Committed MSD $500 Page 1 of 9
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Project Readiness Package Rev 7/22/11
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION:
Project Name (tentative): Airborne Wind Energy: Plane Design Project Number, if known: P15462
Preferred Start/End Quarter in Senior Design: Fall 2014-Spring 2015
Faculty Champion: (technical mentor: supports proposal development, anticipated technical mentor during project execution; may also be Sponsor)
Name Dept. Email PhoneMario Gomes ME mwgeme@rit .edu 475-21 48
For assistance identifying a Champion: B. Debartolo (ME), G. Slack (EE), J. Kaemmerlen (ISE), R. Melton (CE)
Other Support, if known: (faculty or others willing to provide expertise in areas outside the domain of the Faculty Champion)
Name Dept. Email Phone
Project “Guide” if known: Ed Hanzlik (if amenable)
Primary Customer, if known (name, phone, email): (actual or representative user of project output; articulates needs/requirements)
The goal of this project is design, build, and test a powered/controlled glider specifically for use as an airborne wind energy system. These systems are currently in development by several companies all over the world. However, each company has a different design and nobody knows the “best” way to design these systems. These airborne wind energy systems have the ability to harness winds at higher altitudes than conventional wind turbines and use less material to do so. Thus these new systems can produce electric energy at a fraction of the cost of conventional wind turbines, and can be located in places currently classified as “poor” wind sites. The system you will be creating will look very similar to the system in development by Ampyx Power shown in Figure 1.
There are two main methods for transmitting the power generated at the kite or glider to the ground. One method uses small turbines mounted on the kite itself to generate electric power onboard the kite (see Figure 3b). Then this electric power is transmitted to the ground using an electrically conductive tether. A second method transmits power mechanically to the ground through the tether (see Figure 3A). Mechanical transmission of power is done using a “pumping” motion the kite or glider. The pumping motion consists of two phases, a power phase where line is let off the drum when the tether tension is high, and a retraction phase where line is taken up by the drum when the tether tension is low. Although some power is required during the retraction phase is has been shown that this can be less than the amount of power generated during the power phase.
The main goal of this project is to recreate, at a small-scale, a human controlled, tethered glider system. Eventually we would like to use this as a testbed for design changes to a pumping energy production system. However, as a first step, we need a plane that can achieve sustained, tethered, circular flight and be robust enough to survive the learning process to achieve that flight.
In order to validate and/or improve the performance predictions of our computer simulations we need to accurately measure the motion of various parts of the system. To simplify these measurements, the main measurement requirement is the tether tension and angle at the base-station. Although we know the tether flexes during the motion, for short tethers this flexing is minimal and can be used in the future as part of a more complete sensor package to achieve automatic control of the system.
Figure 1: Diagram showing swept areas of a conventional horizontal axis wind turbine(HAWT) and an tethered airfoil system.
Figure 2(A&B): Two systems showing mechanical transmission of power to the ground and electrical transmission to the ground. Image taken from [Donnelly 2013]
Figure 1: Diagram showing swept areas of a conventional horizontal axis wind turbine(HAWT) and an tethered airfoil system.
Project Readiness Package Rev 7/22/11
Figure 5: Senior Design base station that will be used for this project.
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Figure 3: Three axis load cell system created by Lansdorp et al.Image taken from [Lansdorp 2007].
Figure 4: Three axis load cell allowing for variable tether length created by Chris Donnelley. Image taken from [Donnelly 2013].
Project Readiness Package Rev 7/22/11
DETAILED PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Customer Needs: (1:most important, 3:least important) Customer Need #
Importance Description
CN1 1 Tethered glider system (with electric prop assist for launching) that demonstrates at least 3 minutes of continuous circular flight path with taunt tether.
CN2 3 Clean appearanceCN3 1 Human controlled planeCN4 2 No special flight skill requiredCN5 1 Use existing base station designCN6 1 Tether tension is measured and recorded during flightsCN7 1 Tether direction is measured and recorded during flightsCN8 1 Videos with accompanying data files of all flight tests (even ones that
don’t work)CN9 1 Able to survive crashes with minor repairs (short downtime)CN10 1 Replaceable parts
Project Readiness Package Rev 7/22/11
Initial Thoughts:The customer will provide a working base station which is capable of measuring the tether tension and direction. This system is from a previous senior design team. We recommend EPP foam for the construction of the wings and tail of the plane with a push propeller behind and above the main wing. The previous senior design team was able to complete 3-5 loops maximum before losing too much altitude and crashing. We think we need to roll the aircraft during flight to maintain altitude. This rolling will likely require ailerons and onboard feedback control since, from previous experience the system moves too quickly for a human operator to roll the plane accordingly.
Constraints: Use existing base-station provided by the customer
Project Deliverables: Expected output, what will be “delivered” – be as specific and thorough as possible.
Complete Set of Technical Information:
o Documented set of experimental results for 30 trials with 3min. of looping along with video and accompanying dataset (file naming scheme must be easily understandable)
o MFG and Assembly documentation: on how to fabricate the prototype
Project Deliverables:-working prototype able to demonstrate continued looping of 3min. or longer- set of annotated videos showing successful flight with associated data
-(1) <2 minute video explaining project to general public
-(1) video operation guide to running device and changing parameters
- complete sets of raw data (time, angles, loads) for all trials showing data as functions of time along with accompanying video of trial.
- well-written operation/maintenance manual (device operation, data collection, algorithm modification, etc.) [hardcopy and pdf]
-Team will present a summary report on assigned and assimilated benchmarking activities sometime during weeks 3-5. Successful completion of this project requires a solid understanding of rigid body dynamics, machine design, kinematics, and basic control. Student will acquire this knowledge via lecture, reading, observation, and experimentation.
-Team will conduct (2) Project Reviews during MSD 1. A system level review will be held sometime during weeks 4-6. A detailed design review will be held sometime during weeks 7-9.
-Team will conduct a final week 11 review with their Guide.
-Team members will supply Peer Evaluations at the end of weeks 3, 6, 9 per guide's direction.
-Budget Estimate: $500
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-Intellectual Property (IP) considerations: All videos, data, and simulation code should be posted on the private section of edge until article publication occurs.
Other Information: Describe potential benefits and liabilities, known project risks, etc.
Continuation Project Information, if appropriate: Include prior project(s) information, and how prior project(s) relate to the proposed project.
STUDENT STAFFING:
Anticipated Staffing Levels by Discipline:
Discipline How Many? Anticipated Skills Needed
ME 5
ME1: Aeronautical Engineer: responsible for determining aerodyanamic loading on the glider and for possible modifications to improve performanceME2: Structural engineer: responsible for structural design/modifications of glider to resist applied loads without failing or exceeding desired deformationME3: Controls engineer: responsible for control algorithm developmentME4: Design Engineer: responsible for data collection and sensor selection and calibration.ME5: Simulation Engineer: responsible for simulation analysis to determine loading and predict performance of the system.
OTHER RESOURCES ANTICIPATED:
Category Description Resource Available?
Faculty Mario Gomes
Environment MSD Design Center/ Gomes' Energy in Motion Lab
EE Senior Design lab
Machine Shop & Brinkman lab
Equipment Existing working load cell basestation (GomesLab)
Materials
Project Readiness Package Rev 7/22/11
Other Initial 2D computational model
Graduate student Matt Douglas is available for technical consults (He is working on simulating as similar kite system and was the pilot for the previous senior deign teams tethered plane system.)
