ABSTRACT This paper explores different reel‐out strategies in a simulated environment to improve the power generation capability of Kitemill's KM1 prototype. The KM1 is a rigid‐wing groundgen airborne wind energy system that flies in circular loops during its power production phase. Firstly, we investigate the impact of flight and ground winch control. A major improvement of 47% more power over an existing reel‐out method can be achieved by combining winch control to maintain a constant reel‐out speed, along with using flight control to track a constant angle of attack and zero sideslip. Subsequently, a series of parameter sweeps were conducted to determine the best reel‐out trajectories. The parameter space considered includes wind speed, circle radius and reel‐out speed. Whilst there are many parameter combinations that provide similar power outputs, their effects on other operation metrics are different. For instance, excessively large circles cause a small drop in power generated (relative to the optimal value) and impose significant penalties on structural load, power quality (how much it fluctuates), airspace and ground space usage and flight control. Regarding the reel‐out speed, faster reel‐out provides more power and alleviates structural load at the cost of lower airspeed relative to the wind, which increases the risk of stalling the airframe. The proposed reel‐out strategies are compared with a published optimisation‐based study, which uncovered the importance of pitch control in power production. All analyses were conducted on a high‐fidelity simulator with tether dynamics. The simulator's accuracy was verified against past flight test data.
Nguyên et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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