Wind Tunnel Testing of Tethered Inflatable Wings

What is it about?

Kite-like high-altitude aerial platforms provide a large number of applications from airborne wind energy generation, to weather monitoring, etc. However, they require lightweight and durable wings which result in complications in estimating the performance of the system. We provide for the first time formalized experimental data for such a tethered kite constructed from an inflatable wing and show that it is possible to passively tailor the wing to achieve the desired aerodynamic performance.

Featured Image