The Kite Power Group participates in the minor program of the Climate City Campus initiative of TU Delft.

As part of a new minor program the Climate City Campus initiative of TU Delft (www.ccc.tudelft.nl) is looking for students who are interested to participate in the following project:

On-campus kite system as measurement platform

The increasing pressure to develop renewable transportation and energy solutions has lead to a renewed interest in kites. Especially over the last decade, a variety of kite-based concepts for ship propulsion and electricity generation have been proposed with some of these concepts having now reached a status beyond prototype / demonstrator system. For example, the company SkySails has developed a commercially available kite-based propulsion-assist system for cargo vessels which can achieve up to 50% fuel saving. Besides these new and very recent developments, kites had been used intensively during 19th century up to the beginning 20th century as measurement platform for recording atmospheric data and aerial observation.

The objective of this research assignment is to design and implement a small-scale measurement platform which can be deployed on (or nearby) the campus of TU Delft. Using simple and inexpensive materials together with existing hardware, such as the first-generation winch of the TU Delft kite power research group, this platform should be able to deploy various measurement systems, among these a measurement device for wind velocity (magnitude and direction). At this first stage, a kite has to be chosen which is inherently stable, requiring no additional control system or human interaction. One option would be a sled kite depicted in the above image.

Tasks

• Compile requirements for a small-scale on-campus measurement platform
• Evaluate practical constraints such as airspace regulations
• Identify a location where the system can be deployed
• Design of the system based on requirements, constraints and existing hardware
• Implement and test the system Integrate wind measurement device (e.g. to start out use a small on-board Pitot tube)
• Perform measurements

Requirements

• Explorative, pragmatic, hands-on attitude
• Multi-disciplinary skills

Contact

Dr.-Ing. Roland Schmehl
Associate Professor
E: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
T: +31 15 278 5318