Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Marine Electricity from High Altitude Wind with Kite (MEHAWK)
EPA Grant Number: SU835355Title: Marine Electricity from High Altitude Wind with Kite (MEHAWK)
Investigators: Zhang, Hong , Bhatia, Krishan , Mitchell, Christopher , Bouniaev, Dan , Lee, Christina , Melson, Brian , Martin, Michael , Summer, Joshua
Institution: Rowan University
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Phase: I
Project Period: August 15, 2012 through August 14, 2013
Project Amount: $10,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2012) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Challenge Area - Air Quality , P3 Awards , Sustainable and Healthy Communities
Objective:
Pollutions from boats or yachts are often overlooked comparing to the pollutions from land vehicles. However, their accumulative effect can be significant. When a boat or a yacht is not moving, many boat operators still keep the engines running in idle to power the utilities. Even some people are aware of the very low efficiency and high emission of an idling internal combustion engine, they may still sacrifice the environment for comfort and convenience. Meanwhile, use of wind turbines or solar panels is almost decorative due to the limited and constrained space available on the deck of a boat or yacht.
In this project, we are developing a technology at an ancient format to provide electric power to a marine vessel. That is, we try to outfit a dynamic kite with a robotic controller and a set of power generating devices to a boat. The kite will be released to the higher altitude to tap stronger wind and charge the batteries while the boat is idling and the engine is shut off. A conceptual illustration is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Concept of a MEHAWK system.
By tapping into the ample wind of higher altitude over the sea, a boat will emit less pollutant due to the stopped engine. The immediate environment surrounding the boat will be healthier to breath. If the technology is widely adopted, the overall air quality of the planet will also be improved. Meanwhile, using kite-based wind power as an auxiliary energy source will make the venture longer, safer, quieter, more productive, and more enjoyable for the people going to open water.
The availability of a secondary power source will enable new designs and developments of the boats and yachts, such as hybrid or even pure electric boats. It will also lower the operating cost of the owners and probably increase the productivity of fishing.
Through developing the kite-based power-generating device, the students became more aware of the importance of sustainability and learned how to protect the planet and environment using their knowledge and expertise. If the project is successful and is eventually commercialized, it will provide millions of boat and yacht owners an opportunity to become more sustainable. It will also educate millions of boat renters and passengers to be more aware of the pollution and appreciate the potential of the sustainable technology.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
In phase I of the project, we developed both the mechanical device (Figure 2) to physically pull the kite and power the generator and a vision-based algorithm (Figure 3) to control the kite to follow a figure-8 pattern. The mechanical system is close to finish at the time of this report and will be ready to put into field test soon. The control algorithm is based on Open-CV. It can recognize the kite in the sky and control a set of motors and pulleys simulating the kite controller. The team is currently working to integrate the two parts together for the eventual goal of the project.
Figure 2: CAD drawing of the device. There are four lines connected to the kite. The two outer lines are control lines tied to the front and side of the kite. They will be pulled by a set of pulling mechanism to change the pose and correspondingly the direction of the flight of the kite. The two inner lines are force lines that are connected to the main body of the kite. They will transmit the majority of the kite force to the ground station. In three line kite designs, the two force lines are merged to one. The weights from the system and the water tank will keep the system staying on the deck of a boat without make structural changes.
Figure 3: (left) Testing the tracking of the kite on the ground. (Right) The trajectory of the kite flying in the sky. It more or less follows a figure-8 pattern. The control algorithm is yet to be tuned to make the flight more smooth and consistent in the gusty wind.
Conclusions:
As we expected, the progress so far is very promising. We will test the kite on the water at April and May as we planned. We expect the final result of the project will make the boat emit less pollution and noise, consume less fuel, and be safer and more enjoyable.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 1 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
Wind energy, alternative energy source, sustainable energy, pollution control;The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.