MEET THE MAKANI ENERGY KITE

Back in 2013 Google purchased a company called Makani, creators of the Energy Kite. Their goal is to make wind energy pricing competitive with fossil fuels, and they believe a new approach is needed. The Energy Kite is a new type of wind turbine, designed to generate more energy using 90% less materials. “Makani’s energy kite uses the same aerodynamic principles as a conventional wind turbine, but replaces tons of steel with lightweight electronics, advanced materials, and smart software.”

How does it work?

The kite is launched from a ground station using the rotors as helicopter blades until it reaches 800ft above ground. Once airborne, the system generates power by flying in large circles up high where the wind is stronger and more consistent. Rotors mounted on the kite wings drive generators that produce electricity. A strong conductive tether acts like the string of a kite and also carries energy back to the grid. The kite’s flight path is guided by a flight computer, which uses GPS and sensors to make thousands of calculations and adjustments in strong and steady winds.

Advantages over conventional wind turbines

• Generates 50% more power from 90% less materials.
• Able to reach stronger, more consistent winds.
• Can be used in areas not suitable for conventional turbines.
• Safer and easier to maintain on the ground; no need for cranes or helicopters.

What do you think?

• Sam
  Fantastic! Good to see corporations doing positive things, they have the money and power, if they want to be for the people this is the way!
• Dipak Jairath
  great idea – in fact it’s the concept that’s so good and one wishes the team good luck for this.
• Dr_StrangeKill
  Saw this coming from a mile away. Back in 2011, I attempted to patent a similar machine. My concept was a blimp rather than a kite, which could potentially minimize the power input required to get the machine at an appropriate altitude. By using leak-proof materials: http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2008/09/cu-physicists-create-worlds-thinnest-balloon, it’s conceivable that with only a single input of sufficient helium, a blimp holding an electric generator could remain airborne for months or even years on end with minimal effort. At an altitude of only a few hundred feet above sea level, there are CONSTANT windspeeds that match or exceed our greatest recorded values for conventional wind turbines (which only work when the wind is actually blowing at slightly above sea level). Also, because both of our concepts are airborne, and because windspeeds only a few hundred feet up are exceptionally high worldwide, these machines could potentially generate electricity in remote areas inaccessible to conventional power sources, or even in the middle of the ocean!
  • http://21stcenturysocialcritic.blogspot.com.es Fernando Leanme
    Better plan on using hydrogen. Helium isn’t available in the volumes you need for massive deployment.
• Manojb Gowda
  A great idea developers!
  I want to add more to your idea, Can you add a radio control circuit for your kite? so that you can have a better control over it.
  Good luck for your project.
• Murad Rahimov
  What do I think?? I would fund this if I had the money

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THE KYMOGEN WAVE ENERGY GENERATOR

Mechanical Engineer David Hartmann and Craftsman Jason Ballash have designed a new wave power technology called the KymoGen, which has the potential to produce clean, low-cost energy using the constant power of waves. Key to the design is its simplicity. A portable 8’x8′ platform is tethered to a mooring on the sea floor. Inside the floating platform, the tether is connected to a drive system which spins a flywheel as the waves rise and fall, providing constant power between waves. The generated electricity can then either be stored, or connected directly to existing power grids.

Weighing in at an estimated 800 lbs, the KymoGen can output 2 hp in as little as 12 inch waves and 8hp in 4 foot waves. Larger KymoGens could generate substantially more in rougher waters. The estimated average output per day is 25 to 100 kilowatt hours. It will be constructed of high strength Marine Composites, and the platform can accommodate wind or solar technologies to increase the energy output.

The name KymoGen comes from the word Generator combined with Kymopoleia “the wave walker” the greek goddess of waves. A Kickstarter campaign will be launched in March 2015 (see video below). Plans are to have the first units produced in May 2015, with large scale manufacturing by September 2015. We’ll be sure to post updates as the project gets underway. In the meantime you can find more info and contact information at KymoGen.com

Estimated production timeline:

Watch the video:

UPDATE: The Kickstarter Campaign has now been launched.

We think this looks very promising. What do you think? Leave your comments below…

• Chris Landry
  If I invest or “pledge”, what will be the return on my money? Giving money to a business without getting some back would be insane.
  • AENews
    They haven’t started the kickstarter campaign yet, but when they do your investment returns should be listed in the right hand column. I will update this article as soon as that is set up!
  • Kymo Gen
    The kickstarter project is to build the prototype, and to prove the concept to the world. While we will offer tokens of appreciation for supporters, that will not be the sole reason for their support. The supporters will be the true driving force behind this project. These are the people who will make the project succeed. Our supporters will be the people who understand that green energy is our future.
• c.w.braun
  Hallo David and Jason very interesting. I am a building engineer interested in alternative energy and ad present developed totally self energy supporting homes on the island Curacao surrounded by sea. I could get a beach location to develop your system. When reflecting about your system there are some questions for me about the work ability of the design above. If you are interested to get in contact with me feel free to send a mail to cw.braun@abc-projects.com. For more info http://www.abc-home-energy.com
• John
  This is an interesting piece on hydro-energy, working in the UK energy sector I am constantly looking into new measures to keep up to date with up coming research. However when I reached the stage outlining the production time line right at the end ‘Kymogen is adopted globally, Changing the world’ is a bit of a wild assumption to make from the outset an put me off the idea right there and then.
  • Kymo Gen
    John,
    Thank you for the feedback. When we compete the prototype, and start production of these units, we will have advanced the world further in clean energy. Any progress made in this field, no matter how small, changes the world.There are many people working to create wave energy. All of these efforts work towards the same goal. The response so far to this project have been amazing.
• Matt Congedi
  I am a Mechanical Engineering Student studying in Adelaide, South Australia and have found your research very interesting. I am currently writing a paper on the Sustainability of Adelaide, the best of these papers will be submitted to local council and believe your ideas and research could hold the key to this sustainable energy model. I Would love to know more about how such a technology would be linked to a power grid and what infrastructure would be required to do so!
• Pedro Elescamoso
  we need a like buttom

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THE HYDROBEE: USB POWER FROM NATURE

We just received an email from a company called Hydrobee, asking us to vote for them as Autodesk’s inventor of the Year. Having never heard of this we checked it out… what a neat invention! This soda-can sized device generates electricity for USB devices when you’re off the grid. It can generate power using flowing water, a hand crank, small wind turbine, solar power, pedal power, kinetic energy and more.

The hydrobee doesn’t directly charge devices, instead it charges six internal AA batteries which can then be used to charge your devices. Genius. Hopefully this company gets the funding they need to start producing soon, as this could be very helpful to people in remote and impoverished areas. They’ve definitely got our vote!

Watch the video:

Photos:

What do you think of this invention?

• James Van Damme
  Electricity and water is always a bad combination. If you’re at home, better to plug into the grid, not your water faucet.
  • Val G
    Uh, no. Electricity and water is usually only a bad combination when badly designed products or idiots are involved.
• Cletus E Okeke
  Good day sir

  How are you today, I am Mr Cletus Okeke, I have been dreaming to meet someone like you who delight on inventing something new, therefore, I just want to inform you that I am from a country with 350million population, and we have a biggest challenges of electricity power, our country has no permanent electricity as a result of that all the citizen of the country started using alternative mean of getting power, such as generator, sola energy,

  for that reason I started researching any other means of getting power or any technology can supply power more than sola or generator, remember generator consume petrol or diesel because of that people of my country find it very difficult to manage it,

  however, I will be happy to inquire from you if there is any technology or machine you can discover for me that will give energy to people of my country, I prefer a private energy supply to family, I mean the one someone can walk into the market to buy and use in his or her home,

  please get back to me very urgent
  Cletus
  +2347038504644

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POSSIBLE DUAL ROTOR TECHNOLOGY FOR WIND TURBINES

Iowa State Aerospace Engineers Anupam Sharma and Hui Hu are exploring the possibility of adding a smaller, secondary rotor to wind turbines. The engineers studied the base of existing turbines and found two major problems. First, they are big round structural pieces that don’t harvest any wind energy because they are not shaped like an airfoil. Second, the large base of the blades actually disrupt the wind, causing a wake behind them which reduces the energy harvesting capacity of any downwind turbines. Hu says that a turbine in the slipstream of another “can lose 8 to 40 percent of its energy production, depending on conditions.”

Their solution? Add a second, smaller rotor. “To try to solve these problems, we put a small rotor on the turbine,” Hu said. “And we found that with two rotors on the same tower, you get more energy.” Lab tests and computer simulations found the extra blades and increase the energy harvest by up to 18 percent. “These are fairly mature technologies we’re talking about – a 10 to 20 percent increase is a large change,” Sharma said.

Using a one-year, $116,000 grant from the Iowa Energy Center, the pair is currently using wind tunnels and computer simulations to study the dual rotor idea and measure power outputs and wind loads. The questions they hope to answer are: How is the wake distributed? Where are the whirling vortices? How could the wake be manipulated to pull down air and recharge the wind load?

They plan to use the research results to find the best aerodynamic design for a dual-rotor turbine. The goal is to find out where the second rotor should be located, how big it should be, what kind of airfoil it should have, and if it should rotate in the same direction or in the opposite direction.

The above image (courtesy of Anupam Sharma) shows air flowing through a dual-rotor turbine. Read more details about the research over at the Iowa State website.

What do you think? Could a second rotor make wind turbines more efficient? Leave your comments below…

• K_A_J
  Tveksam om det om det ökar verkningsgraden i samma takt som kostnadsökningen?
  • dcard88
    I agree. lol
• Installing windwheels with dou
  Installing
  windwheels with double rotor is the wrong way in the development of wind
  energy. The study of modular windwheels and test them for 4 years vetropoligone
  VIESH showed that the effectiveness of efficiency increases by 5-8%. The tests
  were conducted in a wind tunnel and field conditions for 3 years from 2009-2013
  g vetropoligone Istra, Moscow Region team of scientists led by wind power
  Dorzhiev Sergei

  Currently,
  the team headed by S.S. Dorjiev offered, manufacture and test the wind wheel
  with the efficiency of 400-500%, in contrast to windwheels double rotor. If
  you want can be contacted by DSS.61@mail.ru
• Jason
  more torque can the hull handle it
• K
  I have been around walls or buildings that channel airflow. Why can’t we make a wind tunnel to compress the airflow into a steady stream then put turbines into the stream we want? I see scientists battling with inconsistent wind but why can’t we conform the wind first then stick a turbine into that wind stream?
  • Matthias
    The answer is pretty simple – the combination of the needed structure and a resulting smaller wind turbine is more expensive than the current concept of a bigger free flow wind turbine. It has been studied in various places, but if you want a literature starter, try the excellent book “Innovation in wind turbine design” by Jamieson.

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