Cyclic elongation of strength member in operation

Fatigue damage of electric conductors due to strain limit < 0.1% at high number of load cycles

Scalability to high power transmission

Low voltage design too heavy. Protection of hight voltage design needed.

Length adaptation

Squeezing and deformation leads to damage of electric system on drum. Protection of electric system needed.

Figure-8-path

Twice the area required compared to a circular path
Large load changes and torsion leads to fatigue

Tether: fatigue challenge

For Airborne Wind Energy, an ultralight and fatigue resistant tether is required, windable under workload.

Until now, this is still a missing key element. The tether design of the Makani project e.g. was not windable under workload.

This major drawback has led to a fixed working length, which was a main reason for instable flight conditions and crash.

The swiss inventix tether design fulfils all requirements for Airborne Wind Energy production with crosswind flying drones.