Modeling of airborne wind energy systems in natural coordinates

This paper presents a modeling approach for AWE systems that allows for developing models of low symbolic complexity and low nonlinearity. The approach is based on multi-body modeling, using natural coordinates and algebraic constraints as a representation of the system evolution. This paper shows how to build such models for AWE systems in the Lagrangian framework and how to efficiently incorporate a non-singular representation of the pose (i.e. 3D orientation) of the wing. The proposed modeling technique is illustrated on a single-wing AWE system for power generation and rotating start-up, and for a dual-wing AWE system. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.