The AirLoom - Wind Capture which Combines the Concepts of Traditional Wind Turbines and Airborne Wind to Achieve 15x Cost Savings (Energy Harvesting & Storage USA 2015)

The AirLoom merges the best concepts of Airborne Wind with ground based turbines, yielding a hybrid design superior to either.

Compared to the three blades of a traditional horizontal-axis wind turbine (HAWT), the AirLoom runs multiple small airframes on a slender oval track, with downwind forces supported by a patented bridling system. The utility-scale AirLoom eliminates 93% of the HAWT's mass, yielding a 15x capital cost advantage. It also reduces transportation, maintenance, and land costs, and provides greater location and altitude flexibility. With our cost advantages, we can compete in the $13 billion U.S. wind turbine manufacturing market, license the technology, or build our own windfarms (at a 6.7x total cost advantage) to sell inexpensive, renewable electricity to utilities.

Robert Lumley, patentee of the AirLoom, is not your typical technologist, but is a protypical entrepreneur. He double-majored in chemistry and economics at Williams College, and then earned a Masters of Business Administration from UCLA. Lumley began his career at Morgan Stanley. Later, he founded Haystack Systems (1992-2003), a first-mover in business process outsourcing. Then, as a real estate investor and retail store owner (2003-2007), Lumley was a principal in over $20 million in real-estate transactions. Since 2007, his enthusiasm for kiteboarding has drawn him into the study of wind power (as featured in this Wall Street Journal article) —leading to the steady accumulation of ideas, patents, and a network of experts. Combining passion with entrepreneurial and technical experience, Robert Lumley will successfully drive the AirLoom to completion.

AirLoom Energy, a dba of KiteFarms LLC, is privately held, and located in Laramie, Wyoming, USA. We are working with the Wind Energy Research Center at the University of Wyoming. Having been issued three Patents in 2015, we are now de-stealthing and actively seeking partners.