Electrical Energy Conversion System for an Experimental Pumping Airborne Wind Energy Set-up

摘要

Harvesting wind energy using tethered aeroplanes offers an interesting alternative to traditional wind turbines. By flying crosswind cycles with a tethered aeroplane and reeling out under high tether tension and reeling in under low tether tension, net electrical energy can be generated. This is called the pumping cycle. The scope of this paper is the design and implementation of a complete electrical energy conversion system for a state-of-the-art experimental pumping airborne wind energy test set-up. The paper first describes in more detail the mechanical design of the set-up, from which the requirements of the electrical energy conversion system follow. Topics described are: a drive system (2 motors with converters, active front-end and peripherals), an advanced safety system, a drive control system and an overlaying electrical architecture. The system has been successfully implemented at KU Leuven, Belgium and is currently being used in the university of Freiburg, Germany.