Aerostat for electrical power generation: concept feasibility
Aerostat for electrical power generation: concept feasibility
The current paper examines the feasibility of using a high altitude tethered aerostat as a platform for producing a substantial quantity of electric energy and transmitting it to Earth using the mooring cable.
Based on realistic values for the relevant engineering parameters that describe the technical properties of the materials and subsystems, a static analysis of the aerostat in its deployed configuration has been carried out. The results of the computations, although of a preliminary nature, demonstrate that the concept is technically feasible. There are, nevertheless, issues to be addressed to improve the performance. However none of these issues is deemed to negate the technical feasibility of this concept. A test case is investigated in terms of preliminary sizing of the aerostat, including mooring cable and solar cell coverage, and it shows the capability to deliver power to the ground in excess of 95 kW. A brief assessment of the cost has also been carried out to investigate the potential gains offered by this system to produce solar electric energy.
solar energy, aerostat, renewable energy, blimp
29-39
Aglietti, G.S.
e44d0dd4-0f71-4399-93d2-b802365cfb9e
Markvart, T.
f21e82ec-4e3b-4485-9f27-ffc0102fdf1c
Tatnall, A.R.
2c9224b6-4faa-4bfd-9026-84e37fa6bdf3
Walker, S.J.
f28a342f-9755-48fd-94ea-09e44ac4dbf5
2008
Aglietti, G.S.
e44d0dd4-0f71-4399-93d2-b802365cfb9e
Markvart, T.
f21e82ec-4e3b-4485-9f27-ffc0102fdf1c
Tatnall, A.R.
2c9224b6-4faa-4bfd-9026-84e37fa6bdf3
Walker, S.J.
f28a342f-9755-48fd-94ea-09e44ac4dbf5
Aglietti, G.S., Markvart, T., Tatnall, A.R. and Walker, S.J.
(2008)
Aerostat for electrical power generation: concept feasibility.
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, 222 (1), .
(doi:10.1243/09544100JAERO258).
Abstract
The current paper examines the feasibility of using a high altitude tethered aerostat as a platform for producing a substantial quantity of electric energy and transmitting it to Earth using the mooring cable.
Based on realistic values for the relevant engineering parameters that describe the technical properties of the materials and subsystems, a static analysis of the aerostat in its deployed configuration has been carried out. The results of the computations, although of a preliminary nature, demonstrate that the concept is technically feasible. There are, nevertheless, issues to be addressed to improve the performance. However none of these issues is deemed to negate the technical feasibility of this concept. A test case is investigated in terms of preliminary sizing of the aerostat, including mooring cable and solar cell coverage, and it shows the capability to deliver power to the ground in excess of 95 kW. A brief assessment of the cost has also been carried out to investigate the potential gains offered by this system to produce solar electric energy.
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
Published date: 2008
Keywords:
solar energy, aerostat, renewable energy, blimp
Organisations:
Aeronautics, Astronautics & Comp. Eng, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, Astronautics Group
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 64984
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/64984
ISSN: 2041-3025
PURE UUID: 8a162bdd-e871-424f-a2d3-aeb5026753be
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 19 Feb 2009
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 12:04
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
G.S. Aglietti
Author:
S.J. Walker
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics