Hi All. Pity; I was hoping the tether could be eliminated. Given the 300V/M gradient of the earth, voltages will be >1MV for the heights being suggested for these kites. Now, one could use a shielded cable and ground the shield, fair enough. But what happens when a storm comes through? The typically small ground currents will reach sufficient intensity to burn the cables, not to mention the potential ( no pun intended ) for a lightning strike. An insulating cable w/ microwave downlink might work here, but that 1MV would be hard to insulate, especially when the tether is wet. A tricky problem. Getting rid of the tether would make this system very attractive.
K. -----Original Message----- From: Robin van Spaandonk [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 5:29 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Energy harvesting kites? In reply to Jed Rothwell's message of Tue, 12 Apr 2005 15:08:47 -0400: Hi, [snip] >I did not enumerate the advantages of these energy harvesting kites. > >Actually, they would not be kites at all, but mobile aircraft. They have to be tethered, or they won't harvest energy. Free flying craft don't stand still in the wind without expending energy, not what you want. Craft that move with the wind experience almost no wind at all. There are minor exceptions to this, but the gist remains valid. Of course, they can be free flying when not harvesting energy. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk All SPAM goes in the trash unread.
