IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v15y2022i7p2502-d782087.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Electrical Launch Catapult and Landing Decelerator for Fixed-Wing Airborne Wind Energy Systems

Author

Listed:
  • Johannes Alexander Müller

    (Institute of Air Transportation Systems (ILT), Hamburg University of Technology, 21079 Hamburg, Germany
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Mostafa Yasser Mostafa Khalil Elhashash

    (Institute of Air Transportation Systems (ILT), Hamburg University of Technology, 21079 Hamburg, Germany
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Volker Gollnick

    (Institute of Air Transportation Systems (ILT), Hamburg University of Technology, 21079 Hamburg, Germany)

Abstract

This paper presents a (pre)feasibility study of the rail-based ultra-short launch and landing system ElektRail for fixed-wing airborne wind energy systems, such as Ampyx Power. The ElektRail concept promises airborne mass reductions through the elimination of landing gear as well as decreased landing stresses and ground stability requirements, opening possibilities for improved aerodynamics through a single fuselage configuration. Initially designed for operating fixed-wing drones from open fields, the ElektRail concept had to be significantly shortened for application in an airborne wind energy (AWE) context. This shorter size is required due to the much more limited space available at AWE sites, especially on offshore platforms. Hence, a performance enhancement using the integration of a bungee launching and landing system (BLLS) was designed and a system dynamics model for the launch and landing was derived. The results demonstrated the possibility for the ElektRail to be shortened from 140 m to just 19.3 m for use with an optimised tethered aircraft with a mass of 317 kg. A system length below 20 m indicates that an enhanced ElektRail launch and landing concept could be viable for airborne wind energy operations, even with relatively low-tech bungee cord boosters. Linear motor drives with a long stator linear motor actuator could potentially shorten the system length further to just 15 m, as well as provide better control dynamics. An investigation into improved AWE net power outputs due to reduced airborne mass and aerodynamic improvements remains to be conducted.

Suggested Citation

  • Johannes Alexander Müller & Mostafa Yasser Mostafa Khalil Elhashash & Volker Gollnick, 2022. "Electrical Launch Catapult and Landing Decelerator for Fixed-Wing Airborne Wind Energy Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-19, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:7:p:2502-:d:782087
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/7/2502/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/7/2502/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fagiano, L. & Schnez, S., 2017. "On the take-off of airborne wind energy systems based on rigid wings," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 473-488.
    2. Cherubini, Antonello & Papini, Andrea & Vertechy, Rocco & Fontana, Marco, 2015. "Airborne Wind Energy Systems: A review of the technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1461-1476.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Saleem, Arslan & Kim, Man-Hoe, 2020. "Aerodynamic performance optimization of an airfoil-based airborne wind turbine using genetic algorithm," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).
    2. Ali Arshad Uppal & Manuel C. R. M. Fernandes & Sérgio Vinha & Fernando A. C. C. Fontes, 2021. "Cascade Control of the Ground Station Module of an Airborne Wind Energy System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-25, December.
    3. Trevisi, Filippo & McWilliam, Michael & Gaunaa, Mac, 2021. "Configuration optimization and global sensitivity analysis of Ground-Gen and Fly-Gen Airborne Wind Energy Systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 385-402.
    4. André F. C. Pereira & João M. M. Sousa, 2022. "A Review on Crosswind Airborne Wind Energy Systems: Key Factors for a Design Choice," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-40, December.
    5. Saleem, Arslan & Kim, Man-Hoe, 2019. "Performance of buoyant shell horizontal axis wind turbine under fluctuating yaw angles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 79-91.
    6. Sridhar, Surya & Zuber, Mohammad & B., Satish Shenoy & Kumar, Amit & Ng, Eddie Y.K. & Radhakrishnan, Jayakrishnan, 2022. "Aerodynamic comparison of slotted and non-slotted diffuser casings for Diffuser Augmented Wind Turbines (DAWT)," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    7. Trevisi, Filippo & Gaunaa, Mac & McWilliam, Michael, 2020. "Unified engineering models for the performance and cost of Ground-Gen and Fly-Gen crosswind Airborne Wind Energy Systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 893-907.
    8. Ali, Qazi Shahzad & Kim, Man-Hoe, 2022. "Power conversion performance of airborne wind turbine under unsteady loads," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    9. Jochem De Schutter & Rachel Leuthold & Thilo Bronnenmeyer & Elena Malz & Sebastien Gros & Moritz Diehl, 2023. "AWEbox : An Optimal Control Framework for Single- and Multi-Aircraft Airborne Wind Energy Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-32, February.
    10. Mostafa A. Rushdi & Ahmad A. Rushdi & Tarek N. Dief & Amr M. Halawa & Shigeo Yoshida & Roland Schmehl, 2020. "Power Prediction of Airborne Wind Energy Systems Using Multivariate Machine Learning," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-23, May.
    11. Luís Tiago Paiva & Fernando A. C. C. Fontes, 2018. "Optimal Control Algorithms with Adaptive Time-Mesh Refinement for Kite Power Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-17, February.
    12. Malz, E.C. & Koenemann, J. & Sieberling, S. & Gros, S., 2019. "A reference model for airborne wind energy systems for optimization and control," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 1004-1011.
    13. Iván Castro-Fernández & Ricardo Borobia-Moreno & Rauno Cavallaro & Gonzalo Sánchez-Arriaga, 2021. "Three-Dimensional Unsteady Aerodynamic Analysis of a Rigid-Framed Delta Kite Applied to Airborne Wind Energy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-17, December.
    14. Mahdi Ebrahimi Salari & Joseph Coleman & Daniel Toal, 2018. "Power Control of Direct Interconnection Technique for Airborne Wind Energy Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-17, November.
    15. Galym B. Teleuyev & Oksana V. Akulich & Marsel A. Kadyrov & Andrey A. Ponomarev & Elnur L. Hasanov, 2017. "Problems of Legal Regulation for Use and Development of Renewable Energy Sources in the Republic of Kazakhstan," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 7(5), pages 296-301.
    16. Gupta, Sowmya & Rajhans, Chinmay & Duttagupta, Siddhartha P. & Mitra, Mira, 2021. "Hybrid energy design for lighter than air systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 781-794.
    17. Ali, Qazi Shahzad & Kim, Man-Hoe, 2021. "Design and performance analysis of an airborne wind turbine for high-altitude energy harvesting," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    18. Malz, E.C. & Hedenus, F. & Göransson, L. & Verendel, V. & Gros, S., 2020. "Drag-mode airborne wind energy vs. wind turbines: An analysis of power production, variability and geography," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    19. Silke van der Burg & Maarten F. M. Jurg & Flore M. Tadema & Linda M. Kamp & Geerten van de Kaa, 2022. "Dominant Designs for Wings of Airborne Wind Energy Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-11, October.
    20. van der Vlugt, Rolf & Bley, Anna & Noom, Michael & Schmehl, Roland, 2019. "Quasi-steady model of a pumping kite power system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 83-99.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:7:p:2502-:d:782087. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.