Glasgow-based Kite Power Systems has tested out two designs for an energy kite system at Imperial College London’s National Wind Tunnel facility.
The company completed load modelling tests on both a three metre squared soft fabric model and a rigid aerofoil design in order to test the effects of drag on both systems.
Kite Power Systems chief executive David Ainsworth said it was “invaluable to our increased understanding of the behaviour of our components”.
He added that the “the learning has substantially steered our technology direction and ensures that we are on course for commercialisation by 2025”.
The units were tested in an 18-metre wind tunnel at the university as part of an Innovate UK funded research project.
Professor Mike Graham, who led the imperial team, said the study “helped inform the choice of materials that will be used” in Kite Power System’s future versions of the unit.
The system works by tethering a specially designed kite to a spool via cables.
As the kite moves in a figure-of-eight pattern in winds of up to 80-metres per second, the pull on the cable turns the spool and the motion of the drum is harnessed to generate electricity.