SBIR Phase I: AirLoom Investigation -- Modular, Scalable Wind Turbine at 23x Mass Savings

This SBIR Phase I project seeks to reduce the capital cost of wind turbines by an astounding 15x. Its patented, remarkably simple design also reduces transportation, maintenance, and land costs, and provides greater location and altitude flexibility. It uses the same aerodynamics as today's dominant wind technology, the horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT), but with innovations based on recent research into airborne wind energy generation. Multiple, 6-meter airfoils (they look like model airplanes) behave exactly like the outer tips of a conventional wind turbine blade, which is where most of the power is generated in a HAWT. The airfoils run along a rail- as if you captured kites and put them on short leashes - and a linear generator makes the power. The proposed research is based on a proof-of-concept demonstrating that these principles are scientifically sound. If successful, the project would drastically reduce the cost of wind-generated electricity, making it competitive with fossil fuels. It would thus be a completely self-sustaining commercially viable entity, creating jobs and generating tax revenues. By out-competing fossil fuels, it would use market forces to encourage renewable energy development, thus reducing energy-related emissions and improving national health, prosperity, and welfare. The project's light weight, low profile, and easy, flexible set-up may also have military applications that would help secure the national defense. The proposed technology captures energy through translational rather than rotational motion in the tips of the airfoils as they run along a rail tethered by bridles. Its major innovation is a patented bridling system that handles downwind forces (aerodynamic tip-over forces), which are the primary cause of the HAWT's mass and cost. Another major innovation is to run airfoils in an oval rather than a circle. This alters the math behind swept area, the key input for generation capacity. Because the oval's swept area is a function of length and height, rather than radius squared, this project can add capacity in many different ways, escaping the tyranny of building ever-bigger and -taller circles. The first objective is to design, test, build, measure, and refine a 100 kilowatt (kW) alpha device. A meaningful-scale alpha device will demonstrate the project's ability to meet performance, weight, and cost targets, while facilitating decisions about how to build far larger devices, and modeling their costs. The methods and approaches will conquer challenges in five subsystems: structures, aerodynamics, power generation, control, and grid integration. The team, which includes leading experts in both academia and industry, will design subsystem options. It will convene to find the best system-wide design and construct the device, with many refinements along the way.