KPS assets for sale

Its in the wind! I am not in a position to say.

Do you mean you do not know, or are under NDA?

The auction period has passed. Its not looking good from the outside.

Just not something it would be appropriate for me to comment on here, legalities aside, sorry. More official statements and comments will come in due course, but though different channels.

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Hi @George. I am sorry to hear about KPS. I hope you will find ways to continue working on AWE either together or in a new setting.

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Tallak, Have you some definite KPS news?

It looks like a nice bargain for some cash-heavy new AWE player who can fund more research. Unfortunately, established players already have brand identities and corporate structure.

Two kites operated too close together are inherently prone to fouling. KPS is probably suffering from this root kite engineering fact, not pivoting away soon enough to more stable rigging topologies.

Hi @George, welcome to the forum.

For the little that I know, I see two interesting ideas: a continuous generation using two kites, and a first step towards the maximization of space. These areas are promising and I hope that you can develop them whatever the setting.

‘root kite engineering fact’ ? is it a fact? I think you will find that if you have enough control authority to go cross wind then collision/fouling avoidance is very achievable. Maybe two people flying surf kites each thinking independently with no real communication between them it is an inherent problem but for an automated system its a different matter.

Thanks PierreB, I agree with you the use of shared airspace has a real commercial benefit in reducing operational footprint; it could be said that single aircraft AWES are only using half the available wind resource for given operational footprint.

Turbulence can easily saturate any normal actuation. Control Pods, and kite automation generally, are not reliable yet, not even close, by MTBF and major mishap statistics. Even just running out of battery power is major failure mode, with dangerous runway kites possible. Two kites double many single-point failure modes.

The inherent-fouling heuristic is from the kite-pro world. Its presumed KPS is selling off from some underlying technical weakness, and this is an educated guess. Line wear is a secondary problem, solved by short-stroke pumping with anti-chafing sections in the capstans (Kevlar drive belting good).

Reliability is important regardless of dual or single system; but not a basis to sto make determinations between single and dual systems. Any viable system needs to be reliable and needs to have safety systems that can cope when things go wrong. I think you are making judgments based around very basic AWES technology, PODs, surf kites and batteries that can go flat without waring! not really the basis for a commercial device. Sure it would be possible to create a dual system with inherent operational risks with no mitigation; its not mandatory though

Number of topological single-point failure modes is highly predictive of reliability. KPS’s is not the most KIS architecture. Our domain literature covers how multi-units smooth output, regardless of unit fouling risk.

Of course we’ll soon enough verify what root causes moved KPS to auction. Let time prove how its AWES architecture ultimately fares. Its presumed KPS tested enough to develop operational MTBF statistics, but these are not public. If these were good news, they would likely be public.

Thanks for your canter Mr Freak, would you like to discuss Brexit next.

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Very briefly then, this from LSE Brexit, a multidisciplinary, evidence-based blog run by the London School of Economics and Political Science

"We find that the Brexit process has had a negative impact on the investment decisions of companies in the UK in the three years since the referendum. "

So Brexit may well be having a negative effect on UK-based AWE ventures like KPS, especially their ability to raise new capital. Brexit alone is not reason enough for an AWE venture to fail; there has to be a combination of adverse factors.

Very difficult to say for sure if Brexit is behind KPS’s wind down, but since most of our funding came from Europe I cant imagine its helped. Lots of finical uncertainties, rights to work in the UK uncertainties… I blame Brexit for KPS’s demise; might as well.

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Patent Status (a list of KPS patent info available):
https://www.ipo.gov.uk/p-ipsum/Case/ApplicationNumber/GB1916405.2
https://www.ipo.gov.uk/p-ipsum/Case/ApplicationNumber/GB1916404.5
https://www.ipo.gov.uk/p-ipsum/Case/ApplicationNumber/GB1703337.4
https://www.ipo.gov.uk/p-ipsum/Case/ApplicationNumber/GB1703322.6
https://patents.google.com/patent/US9764834B2/en?oq=14%2F239%2C757
https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2017085501A1/en?oq=PCT%2FGB2016%2F053599

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image
The images on the web page are out of date, the latest (Minimum Viable Product) system images has been published on the assets sales page.
https://www.hilcostreambank.com/acquisition-opportunities/kite-power-systems

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VTOL rotor disc area looks inadequate for the platform mass at scale shown. Such details are why the graphic is best described as an artist’s impression, rather than an engineering concept realistically depicted.

I agree, the details shown of the VTOL propulsion are inadequate. The illustration of the aircraft dose however show the novel hybrid wing construction with a degree of accuracy. I would call it a concept drawing, but it’s not important really.

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Apropos: A strong hangglider as a kite?

It doesn’t give to much away but it is essentially a implementation of the spar concept which features in IP sale, unfortunately the IP documents are not available online yet. But yes, spar aside, there is a lot in common with the structural efficiencies used in hang glider design. In theory it will be cheaper and lighter than a carbon fibre wing of equivalent strength, but with some other trade offs. I cant say too much about the spar as its not been published, although it has been filed; hopefully it wont be too long.