Another potentially dumb idea I don’t want to open a new thread for:
Temporarily converting kiteboarding kites into awes.
Use your kite as a non-crosswind awes while not kiteboarding. The additions would be a battery powered pod that controls the kite instead of the control bar, a single line going to the ground and a winch with generator/motor for yoyoing.
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That is a good idea Luke. A 5W awes that fits in a 1 or 2 liters bag may have a large market
Did you thought about pricing of such a product?
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Yoyoing could be replaced with a small water turbine like on https://www.amazon.fr/Hydro-Turbine/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3AHydro%20Turbine.
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So you’d generate energy while riding. Not kiteboarding myself, but I think the system would worsen performance, make it less fun and noone would board exclusively for energy generation.
A small turbine (so small it has no or little influence on riding fun, which has to withstand forces in any direction could make the board a self-recharging powerbank.
Can someone with kiteboarding experience chime in? No idea how much for example the generator linked by @PierreB would have on board performance. (properly housed in th board of course)
Also: Is this even useful to anyone? One could just take a powerbank.
I agree your system is funner. Indeed the initial (?) topic “Least useful awes” was also appropriate (the same for my “idea”).
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Have not thought about pricing yet.
First one should consider the weight and volume penalty in relation to usefulness.
Would anyone even want to pack it, if they already had it at home?
I estimate that it would need to be a bit sturdier because of the forces on the kite and thus one should probably target a bit more power than the KiweeOne.
Do people go kiteboarding in uninhabited areas?
Judging fron the components price alone it should be cheaper than kiweeone, but since it is no less complex, there is no reason to think that I (or whoever)/could produce at a lower price.
Using a good grunty kitesurfing kite to drive a turbine through water is a grand idea because you have the speed and the density at the turbine.
however
When you interface the turbine set with say the board, you drastically change the board blade characteristic to be more draggy. Depending on the extra size of the turbine the rider will need to do a lot more core and leg work. They’ll be knackered quickly. So this may be ok for charging a wee USB power bank.
There are plenty turbines designed to drop behind a yacht or leave in a river … which may be applicable.
A more suitable placement is likely where you use the back side of the riders harness. Now extra the drag is in line with the kite tension. So the rider doesn’t notice so much change in control or the extra effort… just the slower speed. An otter board or J hook foil would be a suitable mount for a turbine towed from the riders harness. It would stop twist in the line and could also add extra lift into wind from the water.
There was a video a few years back with a kitesurfer riding in mid air. They were anchored from the back of their harness by a hook shaped foil in the water which was tethered to go slightly upwind giving overall system cross wind.
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Just to add to this. Some weight, a tether into water, a bucket and turbine. Its kind of viable. BUT - wind must be offshore so that the kite is attached to ground, but the bucket is at sea.
A kite surfing kite will pull too hard for easy handling bu people without tools. So I guess I would start thinking about the steering mechanism at ground level. Something like @Rodread’s generator could work for such short lines.
One more “negative” though about this. A kitesurfing kite is quite pricey. I doubt most people would leave their kite running in a machine for longer durations. Also, people+technology will undoubtly lead to quite a few crashes.
Fun idea though
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