SBIR Phase I: AirLoom Investigation -- Modular, Scalable Wind Turbine at 23x Mass Savings

SBIR一期项目旨在将风力涡轮机的资本成本降低15倍。它的专利设计非常简单，也减少了运输、维护和土地成本，并提供了更大的位置和高度灵活性。它使用的空气动力学原理与当今占主导地位的风力技术——水平轴风力涡轮机（HAWT）相同，但它基于最近对空中风力发电的研究进行了创新。多个6米长的机翼（它们看起来像飞机模型）的行为完全像传统风力涡轮机叶片的外尖，这是HAWT产生大部分动力的地方。机翼沿着轨道运行——就好像你抓住风筝，把它们拴在短皮带上——一个线性发电机产生动力。拟议的研究基于概念验证，证明这些原则在科学上是合理的。如果成功，该项目将大大降低风力发电的成本，使其与化石燃料竞争。因此，它将成为一个完全自我维持的商业实体，创造就业机会并产生税收收入。通过与化石燃料竞争，它将利用市场力量鼓励可再生能源的发展，从而减少与能源有关的排放，改善国民健康、繁荣和福利。该项目重量轻、姿态低、设置简单、灵活，也可能有军事应用，有助于确保国防安全。提出的技术捕获能量，通过平移而不是旋转运动的尖端的翼型，因为他们沿着轨道拴着缰绳运行。它的主要创新是一个专利的控制系统，该系统可以处理下风力（空气动力学翻倒力），这是造成HAWT质量和成本的主要原因。另一个主要的创新是在一个椭圆形而不是一个圆形运行翼型。这改变了扫面积背后的数学计算，扫面积是发电能力的关键输入。因为椭圆形的扫面积是长度和高度的函数，而不是半径的平方，这个项目可以通过许多不同的方式增加容量，避免建造越来越大和更高的圆圈的暴政。第一个目标是设计、测试、构建、测量和改进一个100千瓦（kW）的alpha装置。有意义的alpha设备将展示项目满足性能、重量和成本目标的能力，同时促进如何构建更大设备的决策，并对其成本进行建模。这些方法和途径将克服五个子系统的挑战：结构、空气动力学、发电、控制和电网集成。该团队包括学术界和工业界的主要专家，将设计子系统选项。它将召开会议，寻找最佳的全系统设计和构建设备，并在此过程中进行许多改进。

This SBIR Phase I project seeks to reduce the capital cost of wind turbines by an astounding 15x. Its patented, remarkably simple design also reduces transportation, maintenance, and land costs, and provides greater location and altitude flexibility. It uses the same aerodynamics as today's dominant wind technology, the horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT), but with innovations based on recent research into airborne wind energy generation. Multiple, 6-meter airfoils (they look like model airplanes) behave exactly like the outer tips of a conventional wind turbine blade, which is where most of the power is generated in a HAWT. The airfoils run along a rail- as if you captured kites and put them on short leashes - and a linear generator makes the power. The proposed research is based on a proof-of-concept demonstrating that these principles are scientifically sound. If successful, the project would drastically reduce the cost of wind-generated electricity, making it competitive with fossil fuels. It would thus be a completely self-sustaining commercially viable entity, creating jobs and generating tax revenues. By out-competing fossil fuels, it would use market forces to encourage renewable energy development, thus reducing energy-related emissions and improving national health, prosperity, and welfare. The project's light weight, low profile, and easy, flexible set-up may also have military applications that would help secure the national defense.The proposed technology captures energy through translational rather than rotational motion in the tips of the airfoils as they run along a rail tethered by bridles. Its major innovation is a patented bridling system that handles downwind forces (aerodynamic tip-over forces), which are the primary cause of the HAWT's mass and cost. Another major innovation is to run airfoils in an oval rather than a circle. This alters the math behind swept area, the key input for generation capacity. Because the oval's swept area is a function of length and height, rather than radius squared, this project can add capacity in many different ways, escaping the tyranny of building ever-bigger and -taller circles. The first objective is to design, test, build, measure, and refine a 100 kilowatt (kW) alpha device. A meaningful-scale alpha device will demonstrate the project's ability to meet performance, weight, and cost targets, while facilitating decisions about how to build far larger devices, and modeling their costs. The methods and approaches will conquer challenges in five subsystems: structures, aerodynamics, power generation, control, and grid integration. The team, which includes leading experts in both academia and industry, will design subsystem options. It will convene to find the best system-wide design and construct the device, with many refinements along the way.