In fast-moving areas of technology it’s often a case of first having an idea, then start making it and only then getting around to designing it as you go along. That was not exactly the case when Al Newton and AC Marine & Composites co-founder Katinka Burmester found themselves looking, at very short notice, for large premises plus a long shopping list of specialised equipment, to respond to a ‘very’ serious enquiry from Atlantis Resources, world leaders in tidal power generation. An initial period spent pre-manufacture testing brought unexpected benefits: AC Marine & Composites (ACM&C) set new benchmarks, by infusing up to 120mm of carbon Triaxial laminate in one hit and on a repeatable basis. This initial period doubled up as a final round of ‘interviews’ before the company was awarded the manufacturing contract itself – ahead of 19 of Europe’s largest composite groups. Virtually overnight the ACM&C
team moved from prototyping into the task of building the first commercially viable composite tidal turbine blades – designed and built to drive a Lockheed Martin AR1500, 1.5MW horizontal turbine complete
54 SEAHORSE
with active pitch and yaw capability. The nacelle of the AR1500 weighs 150 tonnes in air with a design life of 25 years. Rotor diameter is 18m and all systems have triple redundancy for reliability offshore. The task for ACM&C grew wider.
Build the new facility, fit it out to a rigorous specification, while starting to manufacture high-precision substantial carbon blades of some 8m in length… And at the same time hiring and training an international workforce and under rigorous confidentiality agreements. Taking photographs remains strictly verboten at ACM&C. There’s nothing like a deadline to
focus the mind. At the conclusion of an intense nine-month build schedule (until last month the ACM&C boardroom doubled up as overnight accommodation) the first set of carbon turbine blades were successfully delivered – which are now turning faultlessly in the fast-moving tides of Scotland and generating some 4% more energy than the contractual baseline… However, as the first fruits of this ambitious project were coming together, so too was ACM&C’s new facility. Everything at the ACM&C facility in southern England was created to order; there is little use
ACM&C has been created with the goal of delivering the maximum amount of the complete sketch-to-test manufacture process in-house in order
to maintain complete control of experimental as well as mainstream production parts. Here welding of a large (left) structural fabrication is underway in the extracted bay area while at the same time composite materials are laid out in the adjacent oven on a custom made 9mx3m carbon fibre vacuum table
of generic manufacturing technology since the firm intends to take the quality of its output – large and small – to a new level. Company founder Newton designed, specified or diligently improved every piece of equipment on display. In most cases well- known suppliers have built a tool to order, after which Newton tinkered around with it before setting down a list of modifications. The manufacturing systems at ACM&C are clearly the product of one man’s many years of experience in composite manufacturing. In several areas, though, there
was no supplier who could come up with what the company was specifying, so larger items such as ovens and fridges plus management systems were created on site by the ACM&C team. However, despite the evident sophistication this is no ‘laboratory facility’ and the boatbuilding heritage of the team comes through strongly – particularly when the pressure is on to meet tight deadlines working in relatively uncharted areas of technology. Perfectionism balanced with pragmatism as required. While preparing for the next
stage of turbine development for
PAUL CLOSE
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