In Seong Hwang, Wanggu Kang and Seung Jo Kim
International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sicences, vol. 12, no. 4, pp.354-359, 2011

Abstract : This study proposes a design for an airborne wind turbine generator. The proposed system comprises a cycloidal wind turbine adopting a cycloidal rotor blade system that is used at a high altitude. The turbine is mounted on a tethered balloon. The proposed system is relatively easier to be realized and stable. Moreover, the rotor efficiency is high, which can be adjusted using the blade pitch angle variation. In addition, the rotor is well adapted to the wind-flow direction change. This article proves the feasibility of the proposed system through a sample design for a wind turbine that produces a power of 30 kW. The generated wind power at 500 m height is nearly 3 times of that on the ground.

Keyword : Cycloidal wind turbine, Tethered balloon, High altitude