Rotokite
The evaluation about the potentiality of wind generation at high altitude, we participated during the development of the project of Massimo Ippolito 'Kite Wind Generator' when we were members of the company Sequoia Automation, led us to develop the innovative idea of Rotokite based on the rotation of ultra-light profiles, registering a patent on behalf of the company Sequoia IT.
The great simplicity of the project, which uses known technology, makes us certain of the possibility of developing a wind generation system quickly and at low cost.
The lack of funding for innovative wind power by the European Community and Italian research funds has led us to participate in Google '10 ^ 100 ', with the aim of giving visibility to a too neglected resource, that of wind at high altitudes.
Firmly convinced that the wind is the renewable energy source that can have the most extensive and rapid development, with some friends we created the nonprofit association Xerces blue, which aims to promote scientific research, with particular attention to development of renewable energies. Xerces blue is the name of a small butterfly that had its habitat in the bay of San Francisco and has settled for the development of human settlements in the area. On the website www.xercesblue.org you can find documents related to the production of wind energy at high altitudes and projects of the association.
PRINCIPLES OF FUNCTIONING
The use of piloted kites to capture upper-level wind energy is the object of considerable research.
The proposed project, although it utilises ultra-light structures similar to kites, is extremely innovative with respect to technologies currently being researched since it exploits a new form of aerodynamic profile that rotates around its own axis.
Use of the principle of rotation radically simplifies the difficult problem of in-flight control of kites and eliminates the technical drawbacks related to the length of the tethering cable, permitting the production of wind power at very low cost.
Rotation of an ultra-light aerodynamic profile around its own axis imitates the action of a propeller and optimises capture of winds internal to the rotation area, thus generating propulsive force on the tether, which in turn activates the pulley mechanism of an earth-level generator.
During the traction phase, the aerodynamic profiles rotate and change their angle aspect, with the result that they create traction force on the cable connected to the generator as well as a carrying force that serves to keep the system aloft.
When the desired altitude is reached, the traction stage concludes and a recovery stage is initiated, whereby the profiles are closed and quickly brought down to the level of initial deployment.
In order to keep constant the energy production process, which is interrupted during the recovery procedure, two or three separate and independent units must be deployed, which will function alternatively.
The extreme lightness of the system makes possible use of a small weather balloon that would keep the system aloft in the absence of wind, thus minimising considerably its contact with the ground and allowing its utilisation on the high seas.
Conflict between upper-level wind generators and airplanes would be avoided since airplane use of GPS devices would pinpoint the wind generators in use.
Vibrationsüberwachung
Der Bereich, in welchem SEQUOIA IT operiert ist, in kontinuierlicher Entwicklung, da fortwährend immer leistungsfähigere Hardwarekomponenten angeboten werden, was noch in der Vergangenheit unvorstellbar war.
Wir sind das erste Unternehmen, das durch die MEMS Technologie (Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems) die Applikationen im Bereich der Erfassung von Vibrationserscheinungen durchforscht hat.
Das Unternehmen ist sich bewusst, dass nur bei sorgfältigster Beachtung der Komponenten- und Technologieentwicklung die Leadership in diesem Sektor beibehalten werden kann; deshalb investiert die Firma einen Grossteil der verfügbaren Ressourcen in die Forschung.
Unsere mittelfristigen Ziele, an denen wir arbeiten, beziehen sich auf die Erweiterung des überwachbaren Frequenzspektrums, auf einen Miniaturbau der Instrumente sowie auf eine Synchronisation von mehreren drahtlos kommunizierenden Instrumenten zur -für die Modalanalyse- hilfreiche Datenerfassung.
Nachfolgend ein Auszug der neuesten Patente, die aktuell in Industrialisierungsphase sind:
