CNT COMPOSITE BASED
TETHERS FOR FLYING
ELECTRIC GENERATORS (AN
APPROACH)
G.UDAYA KUMAR (III
MECHANICAL)
Ponnaiyah Ramajayam College of
Engineering and Technology
Vallam, Thanjavur- 613 403
Email: udaykumar824@gmail.com
Mob: 9597057220
ABSTRACT:
Flying electric generators (FEGs) are
designed to harness kinetic energy in the
powerful, persistent high altitude winds.
At 15,000 feet (4600 m) and above,
tethered rotorcraft, with four or more
rotors mounted on each unit, could give
individual rated outputs of up to 40 MW.
These aircraft would be highly
controllable and could be flown in
arrays, making them a large-scale source
of reliable wind power. It is anticipated
that large-scale units would make low
cost electricity available for grid supply.
Tethered rotorcraft, with four or more
rotors in each unit, could harness the
powerful, persistent jet streams, and
should be able to compete effectively
with all other energy production
methods. One of the challenges to be
faced in this design is the stability of the
tether which is to be used. At one side it
should be strong enough to hold the FEG
in its position and at the same time it
should not be rigid like a rod and should
be flexible. It should also satisfy the
condition of electrical conductivity to
bring the generated power to the ground.
All these conditions together can be
satisfied by the application of carbon
nanotube (CNT) based tethers. So in this
paper an approach has been given to use
CNT based tethers for these FEGs. The
extreme strength of CNT coupled with
its flexibility can proved to be a real gear
up for making the concept of FEGs real
and feasible. All the technological
details regarding the working
mechanism of this system along with its
control, cost and performance details has
been discussed. Also the information on
the carbon nanotubes, its effective
synthesis and properties has been
included. Along with these details
another approach of making this system
a hybrid one also has been given. This
can be done by incorporating solar
panels on the surface of this system to
harness solar energy, which is also (like
wind) available in plenty in nature, and
thus can increase the net power output.
Key words: FEGs – rotors – tether –
space elevator - CNT – composites –
GPS – ACTS - hybrid – solar power.
INTRODUCTION:
Two major jet streams, the Sub-Tropical
Jet and the Polar Front Jet exist in both
Earth hemispheres. These enormous
energy streams are formed by the
combination of tropical region sunlight
falling and Earth rotation. This wind
resource is invariably available wherever
the sun shines and the Earth rotates.
These winds are available in northern
India, China, Japan, Africa, the
Mediterranean, and elsewhere.
According to the Stanford University
atmospheric scientists Cristina Archer
and Mark Jacobson, the energy that
could be generated from winds blowing
over land at an altitude of 80 meters
would be 72 trillion watts. . A few miles
up, a turbine blade could generate up to
250 times the energy of the same blade
near the ground. Various systems have
been examined to capture this energy,
and these include tethered balloons,
tethered fixed winged craft, tether
climbing and descending kites, and
rotorcraft. Our preferred option is a
tethered rotorcraft, where conventional
rotors generate power and
simultaneously produce sufficient lift to
keep the system aloft. More recent
developments have produced a World energy starved countries
quadruple rotor arrangement.
Commercialization of the quad-rotor
technology could significantly contribute
to greenhouse gas reductions. Generators
at altitude also avoid community
concern associated with ground-based
wind turbine appearance and noise. Bird
strike problems are also less. However,
tethered generators would need to be
placed in dedicated airspace, which
would restrict other aircraft. Arrays of
tethered generators would not be flown
near population centers unless and until
operating experience assured the safety
of such a configuration.
When operating as a power source, two,
four, or more rotors are inclined at an
adjustable angle to the on-coming wind,
generally a 40 angle. The wind on the
inclined rotors generates lift, gyroplane-
style, and forces rotation, which
generates electricity, windmill-style.
Electricity is conducted down the tether
to a ground station. The craft
simultaneously generates lift and
electricity. However, it can also function
as an elementary powered helicopter
with ground-supplied electrical energy,
and with the generators then functioning
as motors. The craft can thus ascend or
descend from altitude as an elementary,
tethered helicopter. During any lull
periods aloft, power may be supplied to
maintain altitude, or to land on a small
ground base. A ground winch to reel the
tether could be used to retrieve the craft
in an emergency. Most wind farms on
the ground only operate at their peak
capacity 19-35% of the time. A distinct
advantage could also come from
portability and mobility. They could be
moved around to locations that need
them. Simpler and less costly solutions
could be the solution for many Third
ORIGIN OF THE IDEA: THE
SPACE ELEVATOR
The origin of the idea is from the
amazing concept of space elevator. At
present it’s an imaginative concept only.
This concept is the base of this paper as
far as the use of CNT based tethers is
considered. The simplest explanation of
the space elevator concept is that it is a
cable with one end attached to the
Earth’s surface and the other end in
space beyond geosynchronous orbit. The
competing forces of gravity at the lower
end and outward centrifugal acceleration
at the farther end keep the cable under
tension and stationary over a single
position on Earth. This cable, once
deployed, can be ascended by
mechanical means to Earth orbit.

The fig explains the root idea behind the
concept of space elevator. The idea of a
space elevator was not realistically
viable until after 1991 when carbon
nanotubes were discovered. Some years
ago the space elevator was science
fiction. Because of NIAC funding, the
space elevator is now a viable system
that is well on its way to becoming
reality. The return on the $570k NIAC
investment could eventually become
trillions of dollars annually and provide
an energy-starved world with clean
unlimited power, dramatically improved
communications, new resources, new
worlds to live on and the ability to
understand our planet and the solar
system around us at a level impossible
with conventional rocket.
With the discovery of carbon nanotubes
and the developments of the previous
decades the space elevator could now be
considered. Here in this paper, the future
of space elevator concept is not
discussed but the idea of the carbon
nanotube based tethers has been
proposed to make the concept of flying
electric generators a real and feasible
one. This may definitely lead to the
relief of future generations from their
reliability on non renewable energy
sources for power requirements. If these
tethers are thought to be the reliable one
for the space elevator then they can
really fulfill the needs of the flying
electric generators.
DESCRIPTION OF THE
PREFERRED ENERGY
CONVERSION SYSTEM
The currently proposed new tethered
craft consists of four identical rotors
mounted in an airframe which flies in
the powerful and persistent winds.
Turbines constructed of aircraft
materials would feature four 130-foot-
diameter rotors and weigh in at 45,000
pounds. The tether’s insulated aluminum
conductors bring power to ground, and
are wound with strong Kevlar-family
cords. The conductor weight is a critical
compromise between power loss and
heat generation. We propose employing
aluminum conductors with tether
transmission voltages of 15 kV and
higher, because they are light weight for
the energy transmitted.
Transmission is at high voltage, which
means that small diameter, light,
conductors may be used. The electrical
losses which do occur, while not sought,
do result in warming the tether, which is
desirable. To minimize total per kWh
system cost and reduce tether costs, the
design allows higher per meter losses
and higher conductor heating than does
traditional utility power transmission.
Depending on flight altitude, electrical
losses between the tether and the
converted power’s insertion into the
commercial grid are expected to be as
much as 20%. The flying electric
generator units (FEGs) envisioned for
commercial power production have a
rated capacity in the 3 to 30 MW range.
When operating as an electrical power
source, four or more rotors are inclined
at an adjustable, controllable angle to the
on-coming wind. In general the rotors
have their open faces at an angle of up to
50  t o this wind. This disk incidence is
reduced in various wind conditions to
hold the power output at the rated value
without exceeding the design tether load.
Rotorcraft can also function as an
elementary powered helicopter. The
projected capacity for flying electric
generators is far higher than for the best
ground-based wind turbine sites because
of the persistent winds at high altitudes.
Fig. above shows the four-rotor
assembly with four identical rotors
arranged, two forward, and two aft. The
plan-form of the rotor centerlines is
approximately square. Adjacent rotors
rotate in opposite directions; diagonally
opposite rotors rotate in the same
direction. Flying electric generators have
a great, inherent advantage over
equivalent ground-based facilities in
their ability to reduce gust loads. This is
due to tether cable flexibility, both as
built-in elasticity and as changeable
shape (drape) under gust conditions.
This flexibility very significantly
alleviates gust loads and torques applied
to the rotors, gearboxes, etc. This means
that gust loads in flying units are
reduced by more than an order of
magnitude compared to ground-based
turbine gust loads.
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM DETAILS
Flying electric generators need to ascend
and remain aloft for short periods on
grid-sourced energy. In low-wind
conditions, only a small proportion of
output rating as grid sourced energy is
required to raise or maintain the craft
aloft. Voltages at the terminals of both
the generator/motor and at the grid
interface need to be kept within designed
tolerances and/or be adjusted by timely
voltage regulation. Flying electric
generators at altitude will have a
relatively high availability, around 80%.
Conventional ground-based wind energy
systems harvest only about 30%
availability. Flying electric generators, in
single units of 20 MW or more, can
achieve about 80% availability with
suitable sitting at land or sea locations.
These generators at altitude involve
power transmission over lengths of
between 4 and 8 km. Flying
generator/tether voltages between 11 kV
and 25 kV ac could be used on units of
30 MW at the most extreme altitudes.
The jet-stream location can drift north
and south, so seasonal mobility from one
prepared site to another could be a
feature of flying generators’ grid
utilization and optimization. This could
be advantageous in seasonal
summer/winter demand-side
management through peak-matching
generator placement or relocations. This
would include matching seasonal peaks
for rural industries, such as grape
processing, cotton harvesting, and
irrigation to urban air-conditioning etc.
Generator and tether performance
depend on a good lightning storm
detection system. Surge protection
schemes and hardening of the control
systems are also under examination.
FLIGHT CONTROL USING GPS
AND GYRO DATA
Very accurate control is needed to
precisely maintain a desired position in
the sky. GPS technology is to be used to
assure that the rotorcraft stays within a
few feet both horizontally and vertically
of where it is commanded to be at high
altitude. This is very important to assure
that FEGs will stay separated enough not
only to avoid collision, but also to avoid
interfering with each other's efficient
access to the available wind energy, a
problem known as "wind shadowing".
GPS with gyroscopes is an ideal way to
provide the reference data necessary to
provide this control. Although generally
used for positioning and navigation, GPS
can also be used for platform attitude
determination and control. If three or
more GPS receivers and antennas are
mounted on a platform, such as an FEG,
the GPS carrier phase data can be used
to directly estimate the roll, pitch, and
heading of the platform in real-time at a
rate of 1-20 Hz.
COST AND PERFORMANCE
PROJECTIONS AT THE LARGE
SCALE
The tethered rotorcraft is inherently
scalable in size and output from small
prototype configurations of below 240
kW, through commercially viable
systems with competitive costs of
energy, in the range of 3 MW to 30 MW
per craft. Larger sizes are more
economical and may utilize more than
four rotors to maintain economy and
manageability of materials. All taken
together the initial capital costs come to
$71,200,000 per 100 MW.
TETHERS
A tether is a cord that anchors
something movable to a reference point
which may be fixed or moving. There
are a number of applications for tethers:
balloons, kites, tethered wind-energy
conversion systems, anchors, tethered
water-flow energy conversion systems
etc.
CARBON NANOTUBES (CNT) AND
COMPOSITES
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are
allotropes of carbon with a cylindrical
nanostructure. Nanotubes have been
constructed with length-to-diameter ratio
of up to 132,000,000:1, which is
significantly larger than any other
material. Nanotubes are categorized as
single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) and
multi-walled nanotubes (MWNTs).
These cylindrical carbon molecules have
novel properties that make them
potentially useful in many applications.
They exhibit extraordinary strength and
unique electrical properties, and are
efficient thermal conductors. Carbon
nanotubes are the strongest and stiffest
materials yet discovered in terms of
tensile strength and elastic modulus
respectively. This strength results from
the covalent sp² bonds formed between
the individual carbon atoms. The bulk
modulus of compressed SWNTs was
462–546 GPA, surpassing the value of
420 GPa for diamond.
The carbon nanotubes are expected to
have high stiffness and axial strength as
a result of the carbon–carbon sp2
bonding32. The practical application of
the nanotubes requires the study of the
elastic response, the inelastic behavior
and buckling, yield strength and fracture.
Efforts have been applied to the
experimental and theoretical
investigation of these properties.
Nanotubes are the stiffest known fiber,
with a measured Young's modulus of 1.4
TPa. They have an expected elongation
to failure of 20-30%, which combined
with the stiffness, projects to a tensile
strength well above 100 GPa (possibly
higher), by far the highest known. For
comparison, the Young's modulus of
high-strength steel is around 200 GPa,
and its tensile strength is 1-2 GPa.
Individual SWNTs are significantly
stronger than steel. Calculated values for
tensile strengths of SWNTs are ~ 100
times greater than steel at 1/16th the
weight. Individual SWNTs, have current
carrying capacities of 109 amp/cm2,
higher than those of copper or gold, and
semiconducting species exhibit higher
electron mobility than silicon.
Composites have several advantages
including high specific strength and
stiffness, lightweight, corrosion
resistance, and good fatigue
performance. In addition, the use of
composites permits greater design
flexibility for tailoring properties to meet
specific design requirements, thus
promoting better system-oriented, cost-
effective solutions. Also, new
innovations are being developed to
embed fiber optics and electrical
conductors into the composite part to
monitor quality during manufacturing,
structural integrity and loads during
service, and to obtain operational
conditions from remote locations.
ADVANCED COMPOSITES
TETHER SYSTEM (ACTS)
The tether system is based on the use of
small diameter (about 6 mm) pultruded
carbon fiber composite rods assembled
into strands. The strands are assembled
into a tether. The assembly of the strands
into a tether can be achieved using the
existing steel tube umbilical fabrication
facilities. The composite tether is
terminated in a metal end fitting using
resin potted Cones.
The manufacturing process of a
composite tether involves four main
steps:
1. Fabrication of small diameter rods;
2. Assembly of rods into a strand;
3. Assembly of the tether from multiple
strands.
4. Termination of strands and assembly
of end connector.
This kind of tether production is not a
finalized method as present technologies
for this purpose is unknown. Since this
system requires the production of several
kilometers of CNT based tethers new
methods should be discovered for the
same. The method at one side should be
feasible enough to produce huge amount
of CNT tethers and at another side
should be economical too.
CONCLUSION
The flying electric generators can
harness the powerful and persistent
winds aloft to supply electricity for grid
connection, for hydrogen production or
for hydro-storage. Globally, upper
atmospheric winds provide an enormous
resource for this application. The
environmental impacts at altitude are
minimal with virtually no visual, or
noise intrusion and no bird strikes. The
proposed systems lead logically to
rural/remote area installations in regions
of restricted airspace. Full-scale
facilities, using individual FEG units of
rated power around 30 MW, could easily
form wind-farms equivalent in output to
regular coal, gas and nuclear facilities.
These wind-farms would give capacity
(generating) factors around three times
greater than that from conventional
wind-farms. The estimated bulk
electricity cost for the power so
produced is estimated to be of the order
of $20/MWh.m. High altitude wind
power is not science fiction. It depends
on currently available technologies and
engineering know-how, building on
decades of experience with wind turbine
and gyroplane technologies. Harnessing
high altitude wind energy, using a
combination of essentially existing
technologies, appears to be thoroughly
practical and suggests that this energy
source can play an important part in
addressing the world's energy and global
warming problems. For these reasons
only, more emphasis has been given on
the use of CNT based tethers. This may
definitely proved to be a step towards
making these systems real and feasible
one.
PROPOSAL OF HYBRID SYSTEM
(FUTURE SCOPE)
To increase the production of power at
even large scale, a concept of using
hybrid system is also proposed in this
paper. When a layer of photovoltaic cells
are fitted in the external body of these
FEGs, the power production can still
increase. As they are at high altitudes
and have more exposure to direct
sunlight, solar energy can be easily
harnessed. Besides that, solar panels
being light in weight are not going to
have any significant effect on the
performance of these generators. In
addition to that since their mode and
source of power production are different
it is believed that they will not have any
kind of interference with each other’s
operations. Hence, power transmission
systems can be made through the same
transmission channels.
REFERENCES
1) www.goole.com
2) www.skywindpower.com
3) www.niac.usra.edu
4) www.sigma-aldrich.com
5) “Structure of carbon nanotube-
based nanocomposites”.