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MANAGING INNOVATION TO ELIMINATE RADAR INTERFERENCE
Pera Technology has been working in the Hull and Humber region for a number of years, specialising in securing finance and providing technical support for companies looking to develop new products and services.
Lucy Davies North East Regional Manager from the leap® team at Pera Technology discusses one of the company’s recent projects, as well as the funding opportunities currently available to businesses targeting the wind industry.
WIND TURBINE INCREASE The number of wind turbines installed across Europe is estimated to increase by 80,000 by 2030. In order to do so, the industry and government needs to address some of the key issues affecting where wind farms can and cannot be placed, one of which is radar interference.
CONSORTIUM
To address this issue, Pera Technology brought together a consortium of businesses from across Europe, including Scunthorpe-based HITEK Electronic Materials Ltd whose combined skills, products, and expertise it believed could offer a solution. To fund the project Pera Technology worked with the consortium partners to secure close to €1 million through the EU FP7 programme.
A cost-effective, low thickness, dual band Salisbury screen or frequency selective surface (FSS) structure which used a continuous manufacturing process for the production of an intrinsically conductive polymer (polyaniline) was soon identified.
PROJECTED SALES
It is estimated that this technological development will generate projected sales of over €80 million within five years of the project’s conclusion.
NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES
PROJECT DEVELOPMENT By tailoring the conductivity of the polyaniline the project developed two low-thickness RAMs based on a Salisbury screen and a frequency selective surface (FSS) structure, suitable for application to wind turbine towers, nacelles, and blades. Both structures achieve radar attenuation of 20dB in the S- and X-band frequency ranges, enabling wind turbines to be positioned in areas of optimal power generation, without the threat of disrupting civil, maritime, and aviation radar navigation.
The innovative new material means that, for the first time, radar systems and wind farms can co-exist, with the siting of the latter dictated by optimal power generation rather than radar proximity.
This is just one example of a number of new product development programmes Pera Technology has undertaken with companies involved in the wind energy sector. In January 2014 FP7 was replaced by Horizon 2020, one of the most commercially aware public funding mechanisms ever devised.
Lucy Davies Pera Technology
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www.windenergynetwork.co.uk
HULL & HUMBER SPOTLIGHT ON
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