Kite Power in the Press
In the Elective Kites & Energy one of the example projects gaining energy with a Kite was from the Dutch Company Kite Power.
Monday 27-09 this company had an article in the Press: NRC
In the Elective Kites & Energy one of the example projects gaining energy with a Kite was from the Dutch Company Kite Power.
Monday 27-09 this company had an article in the Press: NRC
For scenario’s for BOTU have to be distinguished.
1. Rotterdam: BOTU resilience program:
https://bospoldertussendijken.nl/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Brochure_Bospolder_3.0_English.pdf
https://resilientcitiesnetwork.org/urban_resiliences/rotterdam-social-cohesion/
2: IABR: studie
ENERGIEWIJK BOSPOLDER-TUSSENDIJKEN
https://iabr.nl/en/projectatelier/botu_local_energy
Spatial-Energetic Building Block
by OOZE Architects and Urbanists
document: (Dutch)
https://iabr.nl/media/document/original/iabr_atelier_rotterdam_energiewijk_botu_publicatie.pdf
Study with calculations.
Realistic, SWOT analyse.
3: Huis van de toekomst: House of the Future
https://www.huisvandetoekomst.org/de-toekomst
Manifesto about “Human Power”, linked to 4:
4:
Human Power Plant:
Speculatief Scenario, energy generated by human power, for example a tram “running on” 60 people making it move.
https://www.humanpowerplant.be/human-power/
which comes from:
Unlike solar and wind energy, human power is always available, no matter the season or time of day. Unlike fossil fuels, human power can be a clean energy source, and its potential increases as the human population grows. In the Human Power Plant, Low-tech Magazine and artist Melle Smets investigate the feasibility of human energy production in the 21st century. To find out if human power can …
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More about 4:
BoTu – House of the Future – is an initiative to look at the scenario for an area of the city of Rotterdam Bospolder-Tussendijken functioning on their own energy.
Links: https://www.huisvandetoekomst.org (Dutch)
English version: https://www.humanpowerplant.be/human-powered-neighbourhood/
The story on this website regarding human energy is based on the article in LowTech: https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2017/05/could-we-run-modern-society-on-human-power-alone.html
The story starts with a lot of positive things: making your own bread for the community seems nice! Growing your own food – very bucolic. So, a paradise? Well not if there is no wind and sun: then the power needed must be provided by your exercise!
The stories in my opinion are “speculative design”, this means they provide an impression. For instance they suggest to be able to say no “to modern healthcare, which is completely dependent on fossil fuels. Yet the inhabitants are just as healthy as other Dutch people.” (citation from the site https://www.humanpowerplant.be/human-powered-neighbourhood/).
To me personally this sounds strange: people get ill, needing special care, specialized hospitals.
Or: “the residents … are flocking to the main shopping street. They do this on their own, without the use of fossil fuels or electricity.” (citation from the site https://www.humanpowerplant.be/human-powered-neighbourhood/).
To me this sounds strange too: I always get around on my bike (on muscle power, not an electrical bike) shopping not with my car. And this bike has to be produced in a big factory, like any bike. This production already has consumed a lot of energy.
On the one hand there is a lot of technology inside this neighborhood, like solar panels and wind turbines, but at the other hand (no wind and sun) everything has to be powered by hand. But where are these solar panels and turbines coming from? And the electronic gadgets for parties which are still organized when there is enough energy?
In the story of LOWTECH about muscle power there are self critical remarks included, like “a human generating electricity would earn only 0.015€ per hour.”, meaning: can anybody be really motivated to spend 2-6 hours every day on exercise machines for “community purposes”, like in the student house project they describe?
On the BoTu site this slightly critical tone is abandoned. It is suggested that it is possible with human power to provide all the energy needed.
What seems more realistic is the story of the tram line, powered by human energy. They calculate that for a tram having 60 passengers, the energy need to make it move should be coming from 20 persons powering this vehicle with their muscles. Realistic – but then a bit absurd…and do you really need a tram inside this not so big area?
Reading all the scenario’s a feeling of the Middle Ages with hard labour and little individual choice is coming up. No private space anymore, because sitting together is more energy efficient. Eating in community kitchens (in Dutch “eten wat de pot schaft”), probably what everybody wants, which might be only French fries….(Dutch: Patat).
And maybe that feeling is what is meant. Indeed, maybe we are spending too much energy. Sure! The climate is reacting. But getting back to manual labour for every drop of energy in our climate…
So the purpose of the project is reached for me! Now I am scared!
Can “anything” which produces “electricity” charge my smart phone?
A solar cell produces electricity, so it should charge my smart phone, or not?
For example – ask yourself which of these project could charge your smart phone:
Answers: (as always with solar power – there has to be sun, otherwise…but say what are the answers if the sun is really shining!
Now why is it so difficult to charge that all important device in our life? Because this dear companion uses quite a lot of energy…
And not all sources produce enough real usable energy.
Plants really live on a tiny bit of energy compared to our smart phones. So, yes, plants produce energy, but no, don’t expect one plant, or even a lot of plants, to be able to charge your current smart phone. That for the moss plants…
To charge our cell phone we would need about the energy of a day’s work a human can produce! According to this citation, which claims that a human can produce as much energy as a square meter of solar panel.
https://www.huisvandetoekomst.org/de-toekomst
The solar shirt of Pauline van Dongen has “the problem” that it will be worn, carried around, and will not always be in the right angle to rays of the Sun. Pauline showed a picture where she rather hangs the shirt on a wall facing the Sun, making it again into a static solar panel! (Lats Friday during the The Solar Biennale Opening Seminar @ Het Nieuwe Instituut September 9th).
The titanium dioxide cell you can make yourself produces only tiny amounts of either Volts or milliamps, (but we even need to multiply these two numbers…). The same goes for the mud cells.
To generate the amount of energy “we” need, indeed at least the square meters of solar cells you see on all the roofs nowadays, or the big wind turbines, the solar farms…
Why are we still bothering about the smaller domains?
Because for instance sending data costs only a very small amount of energy. And transfer of information is as important as “real” energy.
This is well explained in two excellent BBC documentaries presented by Professor Jim Al-Khalili:
If you need to send data, you can use totally other energy sources, much smaller, which cannot charge your smart phone, but could save the world anyway!
This is the domain of energy harvesting: collecting small amounts of energy, and when you have enough – send your data!
For data transfer you can use – of course – also smaller solar cells.
Small amount of energy fun:
In 2015 I made a knitting for the E-textile Swatch Exchange, combined with plastic generating enough energy to flash a LED:
For the preparation of the elective Kites & Energy in 2022 I used a propeller and a small dynamo on a kite to make a LED flash – and using a microcontroller, this became a Morse Code ….
The Morse Code sending circuit:
You see in this video that blowing on the ventilator on the dynamo produces a signal visible on the Oscilloscope: it is enough t0 give a microcontroller energy to make an LED send a Morse Code in flashes:
See also my post on the Interaction Station Wiki: http://interactionstation.wdka.hro.nl/wiki/Design_and_Energy_Harvesting_research
Calculations
In order to be able to make your project work you need to calculate what energy you need. Then you have to choose from the possibilities available which source will deliver that energy. Also you have to consider the circumstances. You can think the Sun will be able to deliver the energy , but if you will use your design product in Holland the Sun is not always available, so you need to consider alternatives. Power Law: P = V * I, power equals volt times current.
Energy Law : E = P * s, total energy is power times the number of seconds you apply this power.
Ohm’s Law: V = I * R, Voltage equals Current times resistance.
As a calculating example: http://interactionstation.wdka.hro.nl/wiki/Energy_calculation_example_1
And yes, really doing calculations becomes more and more complex…(even for the sending of simple data):
More in depth, calculations for a solar cell: http://interactionstation.wdka.hro.nl/wiki/Solar_cell, there you meet the Maximum Power Point Relation!
For instance, my Victory over the Sun garment, a battle agains a solar cell – presented in 2015 in France:
The dress can generate energy by a hand crank and by a solar cell. The challenge is to generate more energy than the solar cell…easy in the dark of course, but not soo simple in the ferocious rays of the sun!
More pictures can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/contrechoc/albums/72157689160056833, where you can see that also the electronics involved was a battle, using energy harvesting chips and supercaps…
One of the unexpected problems which I had to solve was how to get rid of the last bit of energy after the game was played. It turned out to be rather difficult to start at zero Volt again, that is, to get all the energy out of the energy storing supercaps. A bit like getting rid of a few kilo’s of unnecessary bodyweight :-).
FIELDLAB – wind energy harvesting in combination with kite making
LAB: we dived into the idea of experiencing generating energy with kites by making kites, by making a simple electro-motor, by making a propeller from a pet bottle, by using an existing generator and adding this with the propeller to the kite.
We made first small kites, we flew these kites, by running in school, by using the wind outside the building – then in groups we made a bigger kite.
We did practice an electric circuit and even (briefly) looked at the use of microcontrollers for sensing, for steering.
We looked at existing far more advanced projects.
FIELD: We flew the kites, we had the propellor turning, made pictures and movies, we proved that the concept could work, even in this simple set-up.
We reflected on our experiences, and how we could apply this energy-kite experience to other fields or projects, like the Major.
In a logbook the students wrote what they did each days, and their experiences, feelings, making sketches, adding samples.
The educational model is experiential learning: start by doing (playing), getting your hands involved. Then look what works, what could be improved. Try again.
Some stages from the affective taxonomy could be traced: being present, responding, having enormous fun in flying the kite at the Kralingse Plas. The first tries to personalise the kite.
Emergency (from the description of the workshop by Beam)
Energy, we use it all the time. Just get it out of the wall, burn some petrol. But wait! Where does this energy come from? The Earth, the Sun…and do we give something back? No???? Just take and not give back – that means…problems!!! Energy scarcity, fighting for the last drop of energy. This elective will investigate a way not to steal energy from the Earth. We will harvest the energy from the wind, using designer ways: making. Designers can invent, build, test, reflect and improve.
We as designers will build a kite, we will build a dynamo. We need some electronic and a microcontroller, which we also learn on the way. Then we fly the kite with the energy device and show the World how to behave – like a responsible designer!
Detailed program and links:
welcome!
intro
Emergency!!!!! Energy is …
Concept of “The Living Station” https://livingstations.wdka.nl
experiential learning
this page: http://interactionstation.wdka.hro.nl/wiki/Kites%26energy
Elective picture page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/contrechoc/albums/72177720298378464
trying out kites by….wind….running…adjusting….making movies….documenting
lunch talk by Sandrine
making the Indian bana kite https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8cI7EN97oU
adjusting kite properties
intro microcontrollers
reflection on learning
showing and or flying some kites
start at 9:00
Sandrine: energy transformation – what is a motor –
A “normal” motor works on a heat difference – steam engine, car motor.
Motors on wind or solar energy don’t use a heat difference. First there is electricity from somewhere, then with a clever trick of copper wiring, this is converted into movement. The clever trick uses the principle of induction.
let’s take a look at some “real” kite energy projects video’s
some intro electricity from magnets and spools
demo special generator spool
making spool from copper wire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI0pGk0MMhg and the funny rotator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voHz6sxwQ2Q
study difference
making propeller
checking with volt meter
kite theory
different kites
again microcontrollers
connecting to the microcontroller maybe?
reflection on learning
improving kite making
in your group, you work on your project of kites and energy
there is a small generator available for your group.
one way to go is making a sort of delta kite (the one I showed you) and add your propeller
make a better propeller if necessary, or add all propellers….
find out and make a connection to the generator (making challenge)
show that the led is lighting up
if finished - test you propeller kite in the air this is for Friday
morning – you finish your kites in school, so that we can all see what you did and already discuss it.
afternoon - flying the kites
kite ready?
energy system attached?
Location Kralingse Plas, depending on the wind direction, one of the four sides of this square lake.
hopefully there is enough wind – otherwise you have to run your kite
great site for wind prediction: wind finder.com – https://www.windfinder.com/#13/51.9352/4.5300/2022-06-10T12:00Z
doing making reflecting documenting
Monday morning 10:00 – 12:30 we will start the last session.
Bring your bigger kite to school!
We will review the elective and find out what you learnt – also how your learning style.
We will look back at the program and make a general documentation using your best pictures, stories and thoughts
During your kite making don’t forget to make pictures.
At 12:00 or so I have to review your activities from the “logbook” where you made notes and decide if you have passed the elective or not – based on your activities.
showing chatting doing making reflecting documenting
what did we learn? More important: HOW did we learn, how did you learn, there are different styles....
making – on two levels
making – styles
making with uncertainty
making – reflections
different learning domains
The model we use for this elective is experiential learning (D.A. Kolb, 1984: Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall)
There’s is even a model on top of this: of Kay Peterson and David A. Kolb, 2017 : “How you learn is How you live”: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315449473_How_you_learn_is_how_you_live_Using_nine_ways_of_learning_to_transform_your_life
These models are within the so called affective domain – described or proposed by Bloom and Krathwohl – Handbook II. Affective domain – 1956 the text of which can be found here: https://archive.org/details/taxonomyofeducat0000bloo_o9o7
This affective domain is in contrast with the first domain of Bloom and Krathwohl – the cognitive domain.
We are at what I call “a school which operates mainly inside the affective domain”
Affective means here in school terms:
The affective domain is in contrast with, or next to the cognitive domain because in the cognitive domain you could learn by yourself, just by reading, in a very academic way, and the knowledge acquired is supposed to be objective.
There is a third domain: the psycho motor domain.
This is the “making” part of this elective in a way. You will become “skilled” that is you need to teach your hands, but also in running the kites, you need to learn how to move….
Of course, can we really separate ourselves into “cognitive”, rational, objective, and “affective”, subjective, and behaviour, movement? No! We are beings, and have it all at the same time.
But we like to make models, analyse, reflect don’t we?
bigger machines:
smaller tools:
for electronics and microcontroller:
Prototyping: DIY, cheap, fast
making a small tetrahedral kite from straws: http://mathandecon.councilforeconed.org/35/visuals/lesson7_activity.pdf
Professional
Then you need more expensive materials, good sewing skills, experience with kite making, ideas, kite passion
please make 10 more before even be starting to be proud of yourself! This is really “a skill”.
and a lot of practice making
but you need to be very inspired for this one: (not my own) https://www.flickr.com/photos/contrechoc/40654374043/in/album-72157707131754945/
very practicable
a kite needs to be foldable!
the door and the kite problem: https://www.flickr.com/photos/contrechoc/48670548301/in/album-72157707131754945/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/contrechoc/51236538009/in/photostream/
for this elective I propose the delta , which is foldable: https://www.flickr.com/photos/contrechoc/47906437801/in/album-72157707131754945/
self made delta in flight: https://www.flickr.com/photos/contrechoc/47985659773/in/album-72157707131754945/
bought delta in flight (video): https://www.flickr.com/photos/contrechoc/47277639981/in/album-72157707131754945/
cheap DIY
Special material
in the neighbourhood (Schiedam) https://www.depaddestoel.nl – can also order online here
online: bv https://www.devliegerwinkel.nl/nl/
also amazon.nl and bol.com
nasa site: https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/kite1.html
rotating tails, bought from shop (Beams kite) : https://www.flickr.com/photos/contrechoc/52028850994/in/album-72177720298378464/
we will start “propellers” folding rotating thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MJ2eDFSklA
different shapes: https://www.flickr.com/photos/contrechoc/52121329996/in/dateposted/
material: pet bottle plastic and sheet metal from tins
Beam’s example: https://www.flickr.com/photos/contrechoc/52121329996/in/dateposted/
from metal cans: don’t cut your fingers and hand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEQnYfp1THM
3D printing: https://www.flickr.com/photos/contrechoc/52111439912/in/album-72177720298378464/
Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:173994
Other kinds of small wind turbines:
what is V – Volt – symbol V
what is Ampere – current – symbol I
what is resistance – symbol R
Law of Ohm connect V and I and R: V = I times R – this seems simple but can get complicated when several circuits are combined.
what is a circuit?
electonic components is series
electronic components in parallel
battery – producer of energy has a voltage
wire – is conductive – connects components
resistor – any component has a resistance and gives a drop in voltage
diode – something that lets current through or not depending on the direction – also has a voltage drop – LED
speaker – transfers energy into sound
electromotor – either makes rotation – movement – from voltage and current (electric energy) or makes electricity from rotation (as a generator)
advanced
voltage regulator – prevents voltage above a certain boundary, for instance 5V
rectifier – makes DC current from Alternating current
typically designerish: exploring into a very specialised field … as naive as a baby….:-)
a bit clumsy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI0pGk0MMhg
see Beam’s experiment: https://www.flickr.com/photos/contrechoc/52112947630/in/album-72177720298378464/
and try this one:
Making smallest DIY dynamo motor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCplwikusyw
Advanced explaining and using a stepper motor:
Making generator from stepper motor: (using h-bridge, capacitor)
mini wind turbine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=938dTRrwrYc (a test if it is worth the trouble of printing)
(well commercially …. but for “learning”!!!!)
this is the turbine he is talking about: https://www.amazon.nl/TEX-Energy-Infinite-Ausgangsstrom-Micro-USB/dp/B075RF17NV/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_nl_NL=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&crid=1064Q9X69FI5I&keywords=Infinite+Air&qid=1654454500&sprefix=infinite+air%2Caps%2C158&sr=8-1
pretty big for our kites….
why not using these bigger motors???
advanced: electrometers are … complicated…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdNVg1MWc8c
see also the links in the description of this video
so here we conclude … yeah, but is is very speculative….
a microcontroller can be programmed to open or close circuits
we will use this to try to send morse code from the kite
needs energy, which comes from the electrometer which is rotated by the wind
script for Attiny85 on kite: https://github.com/contrechoc/watchdog_for_kite/tree/main
For this elective – microcontrollers:
programmable as Arduino, but smaller and lighter:
programmable as Arduino, but smaller and lighter: (needs a programmer)
I order online
webshops which deliver fast: (in the Netherlands)
specially for electronics
https://www.flickr.com/photos/contrechoc/52112974355/in/album-72177720298378464/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/contrechoc/52111439912/in/album-72177720298378464/
using a rectifier because of alternating current, then a voltage regulator: https://www.flickr.com/photos/contrechoc/52117231590/in/dateposted/
using a script with a “watch dog timer” in the ATtiny85
the IKEA LJUSA shows how the rectifying circuit should be done in a “real energy harvesting device”: https://www.flickr.com/photos/contrechoc/52126074143/in/photostream/
collecting small amounts of energy and transfer this into electricity
what is “small”?
what to do with small amounts of energy?
very small devices, small batteries, specialised chips, for example LTC
very small energies: not something that charges your smartphone.
an old blog of Beam: https://energyharvestingresearch.wordpress.com/author/contrechoc/ e-textile summercamp workshop: http://etextile-summercamp.org/2014/capacitor-energy-harvesting/ Beam interaction station page: http://interactionstation.wdka.hro.nl/wiki/Research/Research2014-2015-Beam#Research:_Design_and_Energy_Harvesting
applied in this elective: generate energy for sending a morse code for a LED
Beam’s picture collection on Kites&energy: https://www.flickr.com/photos/contrechoc/albums/72177720298378464
Scottisch inventor:
Kite power systems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMTchVXedkk
KiteKraft: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42jvQpgfm94
Florian Bauer – kiteKraft blog: https://medium.com/@florian.bauer
Kite building archive: https://www.kiteplans.org
Kites-101: https://sites.google.com/site/kites4all/kite-101
Beam’s kite project in France: https://airlaboart.wordpress.com
Beam collaboration with Hans Was – poet – project “Woorden in de Wind”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDw3T5K2qls
and this elective!
Energy is everywhere and is in everything! We, humans, and all the other organisms, use energy to carry out complex tasks in our systems, and most of the energy in the world is processed from the sun, that works as a powerhouse. The plants which are the basis of the food web also use the sun, to transform light energy into chemical energy, an elemental part of the photosynthetic process. Energy is fundamental for our lifestyle as we can’t live without it in our homes and with the electronic equipment attached to us: (smart) watches, mobile phones, bike-lights, computers, etc). In the energy lab the student will have the opportunity to dive in this ever-growing discipline, from the basic to more complex ways of harvesting energy from their surroundings and the environment.
The rise in the demand to power the post-industrial, digital society, made us aware that the conventional natural resources that are used to power these industries are in limited supply. While they do occur naturally, it can take hundreds of thousands of years to replenish the “stores”. While some places in the globe have the initiative to harvest energy from environment-friendly resources, some environmental accidents are happening on the other side of the planet, sometimes combined with the undervaluation of energy harvesting from minework, that are issues which ask awareness and action. To give an example think about these data centers and how much energy does these places expend to keep the ‘cloud’ working (the energy cost for being online).
All the Living Stations are still under construction.
background image: Kristof Kintera, We’ve Got the Power, 2003.