Modeling toolset for airborne wind energy systems

空中风能（AWE）是一种新兴的替代传统风力涡轮机;而不是一个转子坐在塔顶上，风筝或飞机连接到系绳的末端，并在空中飞行的模式。AWE有两种变体，一种是风筝/飞机通过地面上的发电机将系绳拉进和拉出，第二种变体是风筝/飞机上的涡轮机在船上发电并通过导电系绳将电力传输到地面。该项目正在为前一个概念开发建筑设计工具。这些工具是必要的，因为存在非定常风时的系统动力学非常复杂，地面站部件的尺寸直接关系到很好地理解将施加的非定常载荷，以及整个系统的整体操作效率最大化。

Airborne wind energy (AWE) is an emerging alternative to conventional wind turbines; instead of a rotor sitting atop a tower, a kite or plane is attached to the end of a tether and flies a pattern in air. There are two variants of AWE, one with the kite/plane pulling the tether in and out with a generator on the ground, and the second variant with a turbine on the kite/plane generating power on-board and transmitting the power to the ground via a conductive tether. This project is working on building design tools for the former concept. These tools are needed as the system dynamics in the presence of unsteady winds are very complicated, and the sizing of the ground station components directly related to understanding well the unsteady loads that will be imparted, as well as maximizing efficiency of the overall operation of the entire system.