renewable energy 31
static Jpeg graphics. By correlating the pedal position data
with the telematics data, the engineers found interesting
differences in driving styles between geographical regions:
in Germany the engineers saw frequent high-speed
highway driving, where the pedal is pushed all the way
down; in Singapore, people are seen to drive more slowly
and smoothly, with the pedal seldom pushed down more
than 40 per cent of its travel. Understanding these trends
will enable the engineers to customise control strategies for
different regions.
Something else that the engineers have found is that
the high quality of the analysis and reports that they can
produce in Matlab has resulted in other team members
and managers asking them further questions to gain even
better insight. And engineers have found they can respond
quickly and easily by working solely within Matlab.
Marine power
So far we have discussed a variety of renewable energies,
Fig. 4. Dongfeng Electric Vehicle used Mathworks model-based design
but two that are often overlooked are wave and tidal power
tools to develop a battery management system for the EQ6110 hybrid
– sometimes referred to collectively as marine power.
electric city bus.
These technologies have been described as lagging 20 years to address such challenges. For example, researchers
behind wind power, though commentators have recently developing a wave device comprising an array of vertically
expressed the view that marine power technologies could oscillating floats known as the Manchester Bobber
catch up with wind power technologies in as little as ten have used the flume to improve their understanding of
or even five years. And the incentive certainly exists: tidal performance of an array of devices, as little is known about
power, in particular, offers an advantage over wind power this for any type of wave energy device. The experiments
in that tidal flows are guaranteed, throughout the year, in enabled the team to optimise the device’s float-shape as
all weather conditions. well as study arrays of tidal stream devices to understand
One of the drawbacks with marine power technologies, the effect of energy extraction on the natural flow.
however, is the difficulties and costs associated with testing Supported on three gantries, the instrumentation
prototypes. But now the University of Manchester, in includes capacitance wave probes and velocimeters, as
the UK, has opened a combined wave and tidal flume well as high-speed video cameras. The instrumentation
that can be hired by firms looking to conduct physical is linked to a PC interface for remote monitoring and
tests on nearshore structures or renewable energy devices data-logging, and a Perspex basin is provided for easy
(Fig. 5). Designed specifically for shallow hydraulic flows visualisation from both above and below. n
such as those found in coastal regions, the Joule Centre
Wave Flume allows realistic nearshore wave and current
conditions to be simulated, which makes it particularly
well suited to the evaluation of marine power device
performance and environmental impact.
Waves in the 20 m long facility are provided by eight
piston-type wave paddles that can create regular, random,
directionally spread or grouped wave conditions. Current
velocities up to 0.5 m/s at 0.45 m depth are achievable
and currents can be generated simultaneously with any
wave condition - which is a feature that is claimed to be
unique. The programmable paddles and 5 m width of
the flume ensure that repeatable tests can be conducted
without significant influence from the side walls. The
flume can also be tilted by up to 10 degrees from the
horizontal, which will be of interest to companies needing
to test shoreline or estuarine structures.
Key considerations for those developing marine
energy technologies are their power output, survivability
and environmental impact, all of which are crucial to
Fig. 5. The Joule Centre Wave Flume, situated at the University of
the economic viability of this emerging industry sector.
Manchester, can be used to evaluate marine power device performance
Previous experiments using the flume have helped
and environmental impact.
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