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Kite Power
The search for new, clean energy sources has occupied the attention of scientists and politicians for years. One common resource for green energy is the wind. A new twist on this old resource could cause the energy output of wind-power plants to rise dramatically.
Standard wind-power plants rely on fixed support and generally can only reach a height of 200 meters or so. Higher than that, winds tend to be stronger and more persistent.
Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences in Germany have formed a kite-power research group. The group is working to develop kites with inflatable (可充气的) wings connected to electrical gencrators on the ground. The research group's goal is to design a kite that can operate on its own for 24 hours. Research has begun,but many challenges remain,including making the generators more efficient and perfecting the automatic flight control and the structure of the kites.
Meanwhile, in Italy, researchers are working in a similar power generator that relies on kites. When the generator, called KiteGen, senses the wind blowing, kites are released from the ends of poles with high-resistance cables to control their height and angle. These cables are able to move the kites if the system senses incoming objects such as planes, helicopters or even individual birds. The kites themselves are light, tough and able to reach fairly high altitudes. They form a circular shape in the wind, which sets the core of the generator in motion, producing electric current. KiteGen has the potential to be very cost-effective in the long run.
The plant also requires relatively little space, which makes it ideal for cities and means that multiple plants can be set up to provide even more energy.
In the future, it may be an efficient, cost-effective addition to the other sources of energy we use, or even a replacement for some of them.
A. But the challenge is figuring out how to collect the energy from those winds.
B. Kite power has the potential to greatly improve on current wind-power strategies.
C. Wind at these altitudes (海拔高度) is stronger and steadier0 which increases productivity factors of the system to about 60%.
D. Its plan is to build a kite power station using technology that can collectively generate (产生) large amounts of energy.
E. Nevertheless, they successfully demonstrated that their kites could operate automatically at an altitude of up to 700 meters.
F. After the initial cost of designing and setting up the plant, little additional investment will be necessary, apart from standard maintenance.