A challenging technology for harvesting wind energy at high altitude

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Wind velocity increases exponentially with altitude from the ground. Hence, higher altitude is much better location to extract wind energy since it is proportional to the cube of the velocity. This study aims research and development for harvesting wind energy at high altitude using two types of airbone wind rotors and the energy transfer method using the torsional elastic deformation of polymeric fiber tether ropes. In this study, we constructed two types of airbone wind rotors and measured torque and tension of the tether ropes induced by the wind rotor, and also made a comparison with a model analysis to examine the performance of the wind rotor. The results suggested that the constructed wind rotor has a promising structure for harvesting wind energy at high altitude. We also studied the material properties of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) manufactured with a vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VaRTM) to construct the airbone wind rotors.