Harvesting energy from turbulent winds with Reinforcement Learning

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Basile, Lorenzo, Berni, Maria Grazia, Celani, Antonio
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866917937229594624
author Basile, Lorenzo
Berni, Maria Grazia
Celani, Antonio
author_facet Basile, Lorenzo
Berni, Maria Grazia
Celani, Antonio
contents Airborne Wind Energy (AWE) is an emerging technology designed to harness the power of high-altitude winds, offering a solution to several limitations of conventional wind turbines. AWE is based on flying devices (usually gliders or kites) that, tethered to a ground station and driven by the wind, convert its mechanical energy into electrical energy by means of a generator. Such systems are usually controlled by manoeuvering the kite so as to follow a predefined path prescribed by optimal control techniques, such as model-predictive control. These methods are strongly dependent on the specific model at use and difficult to generalize, especially in unpredictable conditions such as the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer. Our aim is to explore the possibility of replacing these techniques with an approach based on Reinforcement Learning (RL). Unlike traditional methods, RL does not require a predefined model, making it robust to variability and uncertainty. Our experimental results in complex simulated environments demonstrate that AWE agents trained with RL can effectively extract energy from turbulent flows, relying on minimal local information about the kite orientation and speed relative to the wind.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_13961
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Harvesting energy from turbulent winds with Reinforcement Learning
Basile, Lorenzo
Berni, Maria Grazia
Celani, Antonio
Machine Learning
Systems and Control
Fluid Dynamics
Airborne Wind Energy (AWE) is an emerging technology designed to harness the power of high-altitude winds, offering a solution to several limitations of conventional wind turbines. AWE is based on flying devices (usually gliders or kites) that, tethered to a ground station and driven by the wind, convert its mechanical energy into electrical energy by means of a generator. Such systems are usually controlled by manoeuvering the kite so as to follow a predefined path prescribed by optimal control techniques, such as model-predictive control. These methods are strongly dependent on the specific model at use and difficult to generalize, especially in unpredictable conditions such as the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer. Our aim is to explore the possibility of replacing these techniques with an approach based on Reinforcement Learning (RL). Unlike traditional methods, RL does not require a predefined model, making it robust to variability and uncertainty. Our experimental results in complex simulated environments demonstrate that AWE agents trained with RL can effectively extract energy from turbulent flows, relying on minimal local information about the kite orientation and speed relative to the wind.
title Harvesting energy from turbulent winds with Reinforcement Learning
topic Machine Learning
Systems and Control
Fluid Dynamics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.13961