Different types of flying kites (such as water kites, bi-media kites, fluid kites, gas kites, kytoons, paravanes, soil kites, solid kites, and plasma kites) have niche applications. In nature, some animals, such as spiders, also make use of kiting.
William A. Eddy, the maker of Eddy-kite fame, lifted cameras to take photographs of cities and landscapes. Today kite aerial photography (KAP) is the hobby of many enthusiasts, is a tool for surveying land and animals, and a mode for artistic expression. Professor Charles Benton illustrates how KAP can grow in one's life. Scott Haefner [ permanent dead link ] has one of the most extensive collections of KAP photographs; he shares his technology. San Francisco. Those who do KAP are called Kapers KAP.
The kite is frequently used along with a vehicle for teaching aerodynamics, mathematics, physical education, and problem-solving. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Long-distance travel across the land, [6] ice, and sea started centuries ago, but today significant tasks of moving people and goods from point A to point B are occurring; this is so in part from the advances in kites and kite systems designs and technology, a better understanding of winds, and use of computers and GPS. In 1889 kite sailing was carefully instructed via controlling large kite systems towing boats.
Using kites to reduce the work done by an engine in propelling a cargo ship is an idea that is gaining traction as a result of increasing fuel prices and environmental concerns. For example, SkySails GmbH have developed technology that they estimate can reduce fuel usage by 10–35% per day on average. [7] [8] A trial on board the MS Beluga resulted in fuel savings estimated to be worth £800 per day. [9]
Free-flight cross-country hang gliding kites both in the hang glider style and the paraglider style are permitting trips of hundreds of miles; records are recorded by the FAI. George Pocock (inventor) was an early pioneer in kites for transportation. NASA continues to explore free-flying kites for delivering goods to the earth surface and non-earth planet surfaces, including Mars. [10] There are several projects for using very large kites to sail cargo ships currently underway: KiteSail and KiteShip along with a series of patents and improvements in control of large ship-carried kite systems aim to save significant amounts of fuel. [11] [12] [13] [14] Kiting one's kayak is getting a significant following A. Kinsman – kite kayaking tutorial..
Kite yachting may have started with Benjamin Franklin's pond pull. [15] English Channel crossing.
Anne Quemere has crossed the Atlantic Ocean solo using power kites. And on 4 November 2008, she started her bid to cross the Pacific Ocean under power kites as sailing power to pull her in her small boat called Oceankite. [16]
SkySails has developed ship-pulling kites as a supplemental power source for cargo ships, which was first tested in January 2008 [17] on the MS Beluga Skysails. Trials on the 55-metre (180 ft) ship indicated that, in favorable winds, the kite increases fuel efficiency by up to 30 percent. This system was planned to be in commercial production in late 2008. [18]
MS Beluga Skysails is the world's first commercial container cargo ship which is partially powered by a 160-square-metre (1,700 sq ft), computer-controlled kite which can reduce fuel consumption by 20 percent. Launched 17 December 2007, it was scheduled to leave the north German port of Bremerhaven for Guanta, Venezuela at 1700 local time (1600 GMT) on 22 January 2008. SkySails managing director Stephan Wrage said, "During the next few months we will finally be able to prove that our technology works in practice and significantly reduces fuel consumption and emissions."[ needs update ] Verena Frank, project manager at Beluga Shipping (SkySails' partner), said: "The project's core concept was using wind energy as auxiliary propulsion power and using wind as a free of charge energy". [19]
The idea of using wind to power sailing ships is an old one. Large kites have advantages over traditional sails. A well-designed kite can generate up to 25 times more power per unit area than a sail. [8] Kites can be flown high above the ship, taking advantage of stronger, steadier winds. A kite flying on a 200-metre (220 yd) line will have twice as much available wind energy as a kite on a 10-metre (33 ft) line. [20] A kite's shape blocks air like a traditional sail and acts as an aerofoil, with the combined forces of lift and drag pulling the boat through the water. [21] All that is needed to operate the kite is a winch and a storage area near the front of the ship, which can be fitted with little modification at low cost. A sail requires a mast, which is much more expensive and reduces the cargo area on the ship's deck. [7] Kites have also been proposed for logging, to lift logs out of areas without roads. [22]
Kites can also be used as light-effect carrier, e.g., by carrying glow sticks or battery-powered light effects. Companies may buy large quantities of kites that feature their advertisement. Messages are sometimes displayed by lighting systems that are built into the kite system.
Many kite stores fly kites regularly so that people will see the kites; one of the final purposes is for the store to profit from the flying of the kites. [23] Kites are necessary to increase sales of kites.
Kite boarding, kite surfing, kite buggying, kite buggy jumping, kite landboarding, freestyle kite landboarding, snow kiting or snowkiting, downhill speed kiting, hang gliding, and kite high jumping are among the extreme kite sports wherein competitions are held.
Peter Powell's development and promotion of two-line stunt kites or sport kites helped to move stunt kiting into a popular activity as well as a competitive sport. Also, the parafoil stunt kites feed the same sporting activity. Events for kites of more than two control lines are common. The four-line Revolution kite has been setting new standards in precision flying. Informal field competition and formal sport competition support a stunt-kite industry; seemingly endless refinements to the kite wing and kite line along with accessories continue unabated. [24] [25]
A kite has two essential parts: wing and tether line. In kite fighting, the kite line plays a huge part in the activity. Sport kite fighting is perhaps 2000[ citation needed ] years old; participation worldwide is high. [26] North American Kite Fighter Association (NAFKA Archived 29 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine ) Trawl-board and paravane innovator
Frequently kites are used to entertain observers. [27] This application is part of recreational uses, but sometimes part of commercial uses.
Still kites are hung decoratively in rooms of homes and businesses to set the tone of a home or selling environment. [28]
There are several ways kites are used in recreational and sport fishing, including lofting drop lines, control-kite trolling of bait, aerial photography of fishing environment using kites, and out and back cycles of trolling bait using a kite. Kites such as net-spreading underwater kites and soil kites (kiting anchors) are commonly used. Recreational fishing, commercial fishing, and scientific and military uses of depressors of tow lines use water kiting to accomplish the effects wanted. The Use of Kites for Fishing—George Webster wrote comprehensively on kite fishing. Jetty/Pier Fishing.; _ Paravanes for Sportfishing. A plan view of a Solomon islander's leaf fishing kite is shown in a photograph held by the Pitt-Rivers Museum is viewable at Natural History Magazine online; Pick from the Past, Natural History, April 1957: "Go Fly a Kite". [29]
In Kite Fishing by the Salt-Water Natives of Mala or Malaita Island, British Solomon Islands T. W. Edge-Partington, leaf kites are described. The sago palm or ivory nut tree has leaves from which natives of Mala or Malaita Island made kites for fishing. [30] [31]
Net-spreading underwater kites and kite vanes aid the control of large fishing nets. Remotely controllable paravane Robert A. Kirby et al.
Kites have been used for military uses in the past for signaling, delivery of munitions, free-flight kiting payloads from aircraft to ground positions, kiting troops to points where they could parachute to destinations, underwater kiting via paravanes to perform various underwater duties, lifting payloads from one point to another, raising rescue signals from rafts or stressed areas, raising communications antenna, and observation by lifting an observer above the field of battle, and by using kite aerial photography. Barrage kites have been used in both open frame kites and kytoon types to defend against enemy aircraft. [32] [ citation needed ]
Kim Yu-Sin (or Kim Yushin), a Korean general, in 637 C.E. rallied his troops to defeat rebels by kite lofting a burning ball. [33] Kites were also used by Admiral Yi of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea (1392–1897) .[ citation needed ] During the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598), Admiral Yi commanded his navy with kites. His kites had specific markings directing his fleet to perform his order. Admiral Yi was said to have over 300 such kites.[ citation needed ] The war eventually resulted in a Chinese and Korean victory and the kites played a minor role in the war's conclusion.
In more modern times the British navy also used kites to haul human lookouts high into the air to see over the horizon and possibly the enemy ships, for example with the kite developed by Samuel Franklin Cody. [34] Barrage kites were used to protect shipping during the Second World War. [35] [36] Kites and kytoons were used for lofting communications antenna. [37] Submarines lofted observers in rotary kites. [38] The Rogallo parawing kite [39] and the Jalbert parafoil kite were used for governable parachutes (free-flying kites) to deliver troops and supplies. [40]
Kites have been used for scientific purposes, such as Benjamin Franklin's famous experiment proving that lightning is electricity. Kites were the precursors to aircraft, and were instrumental in the development of early flying craft. Alexander Graham Bell experimented with very large man-lifting kites, as did the Wright brothers and Lawrence Hargrave. Kites had an historical role in lifting scientific instruments to measure atmospheric conditions for weather forecasting. Francis Ronalds and William Radcliffe Birt described a very stable kite at Kew Observatory as early as 1847 that was trialled for the purpose of supporting self-registering meteorological instruments at height. [41]
Collecting kited spiders with kited nets: Kites are used to take samples of upper air and to collect things found in the upper air. The spiders that kite to disperse (so-called ballooning spiders) have been found in nets raised to upper air for collecting; [42] the method is noted carefully in Spider Ballooning: Development and Evaluation of Field Trapping Methods (Araneae) [43] Balloon kite of the so-called ballooning spiderlings; the spiders' kite is not a balloon.
Kites were the precursors to aircraft and were instrumental in the development of early flying craft. Alexander Graham Bell experimented with gigantic man-lifting kites, as did the Wright brothers and Lawrence Hargrave.
Both air and hydro kites are used to generate electricity; the kite is set in the stream of air or water; various schemes are used to extract some of the stream's energy for converting that energy to electricity.
A major research and development project called Makani Power, based in California and funded by Google.org, is investigating the use of kites in harnessing high altitude wind currents to generate electricity. [44]
Tidal kites operate underwater, using the tidal stream's greater mass to generate far more electricity than available in wind-borne environments. [45]
Video links for generating electricity by using kites:
Kites can be used for radio purposes, by kites carrying antennas for MF, LF or VLF-transmitters. This method was used for the reception station of the first transatlantic transmission by Marconi. Captive balloons may be more convenient for such experiments, because kite carried antennas require a lot of wind, which may be not always possible with heavy equipment and a ground conductor. It must be taken into account during experiments, that a conductor carried by a kite can lead to a high voltage toward ground, which can endanger people and equipment, if suitable precautions (grounding through resistors or a parallel resonant-circuit tuned to transmission frequency) are not taken.
Kites can be used to carry light effects such as lightsticks or battery powered lights.
There are natural kites that play a part in shaping what happens on earth. Some leaves kite to relieve wind pressures, pump fluids, and to disconnect annually to fertilize the soils. Poet Pablo Rosenblueth expressed his understanding that children see leaves as kites. Poet Marvin Bell recognized leaves are kites in his Nightworks: Poems 1962–2000. The leaf wafts in the wind held by the tethered leaf stem; when it is fall time, the leaf stem has a de-mooring disconnect process; the wind then easily interacts with the leaf to cause it to fly off the trees and into a gliding fall to the ground. [49] There is a following of kite makers that bridle leaves to fly them again as kites. [50] [51] [52]
Billions of spiders use kiting to travel, disperse or to build bridge lines for their webs. Spiders hanging in the moving air on their silks are deflected to various points where they make anchor points for web building. [53] [54] [55] [56] [57] [58] [59] [60] [61] Carol Frost, biology researcher of the University of Alberta, Canada, observed kiting in spiderlings. [62]
A kite is a tethered heavier-than-air or lighter-than-air craft with wing surfaces that react against the air to create lift and drag forces. A kite consists of wings, tethers and anchors. Kites often have a bridle and tail to guide the face of the kite so the wind can lift it. Some kite designs do not need a bridle; box kites can have a single attachment point. A kite may have fixed or moving anchors that can balance the kite. The name is derived from the kite, the hovering bird of prey.
Unpowered aircraft can remain airborne for a significant period of time without onboard propulsion. They can be classified as gliders, lighter-than-air balloons and tethered kites. In the case of kites, lift is obtained by tethering to a fixed or moving object, perhaps another kite, to obtain a flow of wind over the lifting surfaces. In the case of balloons, lift is obtained through inherent buoyancy and the balloon may or may not be tethered. Free balloon flight has little directional control. Gliding aircraft include sailplanes, hang gliders, and paragliders that have full directional control in free flight.
A power kite or traction kite is a large kite designed to provide significant pull to the user.
An aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft is an aircraft that relies on buoyancy to maintain flight. Aerostats include the unpowered balloons and the powered airships.
An airborne wind turbine is a design concept for a wind turbine with a rotor supported in the air without a tower, thus benefiting from the higher velocity and persistence of wind at high altitudes, while avoiding the expense of tower construction, or the need for slip rings or yaw mechanism. An electrical generator may be on the ground or airborne. Challenges include safely suspending and maintaining turbines hundreds of meters off the ground in high winds and storms, transferring the harvested and/or generated power back to earth, and interference with aviation.
Kiteboating or kite boating is the act of using a kite rig as a power source to propel a boat. Kiteboating is a type of surface water sport, but it also has transportation uses
Airborne wind energy (AWE) is the direct use or generation of wind energy by the use of aerodynamic or aerostatic lift devices. AWE technology is able to harvest high altitude winds, in contrast to wind turbines, which use a rotor mounted on a tower.
Ballooning, sometimes called kiting, is a process by which spiders, and some other small invertebrates, move through the air by releasing one or more gossamer threads to catch the wind, causing them to become airborne at the mercy of air currents and electric fields. A 2018 study concluded that electric fields provide enough force to lift spiders in the air, and possibly elicit ballooning behavior. This is primarily used by spiderlings to disperse; however, larger individuals have been observed doing so as well. The spider climbs to a high point and takes a stance with its abdomen to the sky, releasing fine silk threads from its spinneret until it becomes aloft. Journeys achieved vary from a few metres to hundreds of kilometres. Even atmospheric samples collected from balloons at five kilometres altitude and ships mid-ocean have reported spider landings. Ballooning can be dangerous.
A man-lifting kite is a kite designed to lift a person from the ground. Historically, man-lifting kites have been used chiefly for reconnaissance. Interest in their development declined with the advent of powered flight at the beginning of the 20th century. Recreational man-lifting kites gradually gained popularity through the latter half of the 20th century, branching into multiple sports. In the 21st century man-lifting kites are often used in kitesurfing, where brief launches can be followed by safe water landings and parasailing, where kites are towed behind a vehicle.
A tethered, moored or captiveballoon is a balloon that is restrained by one or more tethers attached to the ground so it cannot float freely. The base of the tether is wound around the drum of a winch, which may be fixed or mounted on a vehicle, and is used to raise and lower the balloon.
SkySails Group GmbH is a Hamburg-based company that sells kite rigs to propel cargo ships, large yachts and fishing vessels by wind energy as well as airborne wind energy systems for electricity production from high-altitude winds.
MS Onego Deusto is a commercial container cargo ship. It is the world's first ship partially powered by a computer-controlled kite rig, called the SkySails system. It consists of a kite similar to a huge paraglider of up to 160 square metres (1,700 sq ft) area.
In kiting, a line is the string or thin cord made of cotton, nylon, silk, or wire, which connects the kite to the person operating it or an anchor. Kites have a set of wings, a set of anchors, and a set of lines coupling the wings with the anchors. Kite lines perform various roles: bridle, control, tug, or special duty.
Domina Cleophas Jalbert (1904–1991) invented the ram-air inflated flexible wing, often called the "Jalbert parafoil".
Kites are tethered flying objects which fly by using aerodynamic lift, requiring wind for generation of airflow over the lifting surfaces.
Kite mooring refers to a specific method used to secure a kite in flight. The two fundamental parts of a kite are the wing and the kite line. The kite must be moored to a mobile or fixed object to develop tension in the kite line which converts to lift and drag, enabling the kite to fly.
The paravane is a towed winged (hydrofoiled) underwater object—a water kite. Paravanes have been used in sport or commercial fishing, marine exploration and industry, sports and military applications. The wings of paravanes are sometimes in a fixed position, else positioned remotely or by actions of a human pilot. Pioneer parafoil developer Domina Jalbert considered water kites hardly different from air kites. However, paravanes generally orient themselves in respect to the water surface. They may have sensors that record or transmit data or are used entirely for generating a holding force like a sea anchor does. While a sea-anchor allows a vessel to drift more slowly downwind, the paravane travels sideways at several times the downwind speed. Paravanes are, like air kites, often symmetrical in one axis and travel in two directions, the change being effected by gybing, shunting, or flipping over.
A kytoon or kite balloon is a tethered aircraft which obtains some of its lift dynamically as a heavier-than-air kite and the rest aerostatically as a lighter-than-air balloon. The word is a portmanteau of kite and balloon.
Crosswind kite power is power derived from airborne wind-energy conversion systems or crosswind kite power systems (CWKPS). The kite system is characterized by energy-harvesting parts flying transversely to the direction of the ambient wind, i.e., to crosswind mode; sometimes the entire wing set and tether set are flown in crosswind mode. From toy to power-grid-feeding sizes, these systems may be used as high-altitude wind power (HAWP) devices or low-altitude wind power (LAWP) devices without having to use towers. Flexible wings or rigid wings may be used in the kite system. A tethered wing, flying in crosswind at many times wind speed, harvests wind power from an area that exceeds the wing's total area by many times.
Kite rigs are wind-assisted propulsion systems for propelling a vehicle. They differ from conventional sails in that they are flown from kite control lines, not supported by masts.
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