Conceptual design of airborne wind turbines

Abstract

Airborne wind turbines (AWT) are a novel conceptual approach of enhancing the existing capabilities of capturing wind energy. AWT generate power from winds at altitudes of up to 1500 m, using a tethered structure with on board turbines, through a range of lift production methods. The chosen path for conceptual design was with a lighter than air (LTA) structure combined with a current smallcapacity wind turbine. The chosen design approach was to use airship design principles, once the materials, gas, tether and turbine had either been designed or selected. Development of the design was carried out using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) package, ANSYS CFX, to analyse the aerodynamic characteristics of the structure's shape. The design of AWT is still in the infancy phase and has numerous associated issues, with Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regulations regarding airspace and tethering of balloons, and environmental conditions and impact. Through this research, the intention is to present further AWT designs, which utilise readily available small-capacity wind turbines, paving the way for additional research to be conducted.