Estimation of power in high altitude freely suspended wind turbine

Abstract

Conventional wind turbines are restricted in its use due to certain limitations and challenges in its position. To use wind turbine efficiently and economically, it is required to overcome space requirements, noise, variation in air current and set up cost. This study attempts to design and fabricate suspended wind turbine to overcome the above stated hurdles. In this current work, the blades and the alternator are placed in the helium balloon housing which is suspended in the air and supported to the ground with tether. A tether made of conductive material is to transmit the generated power from the airborne housing to the ground base. Blades are made of aluminium and it ensures low rotational inertia. The proposed suspended wind mill in this study is able to generate power output which is comparatively cheaper than conventional wind turbines and also work will be able to cater the needs of electric power to remote areas and farms. Entire setup is modelled in 3D software Creo and the simulation is carried out using ANSYS software.