| Wave and tidal power
Left: The MU-EDRIVE team meeting in Newcastle University’s Electrical Power Laboratory
From left to right Dr Ramin Korbekandi, Dr Chang Li, Himayat Jan (PhD student, Edinburgh), Lewis Chambers (PhD student, Newcastle), Professor Markus Mueller (Edinburgh); Professor Jeff Neasham; Dr Nick Baker
In 2016, Research Council funding allowed
Baker and his team to look at developing these machines in collaboration with a number of wave energy device developers. In the lab, five small- scale electrical generators were built and taken to the wave tank at the University of Edinburgh where they were connected to a couple of buoys to demonstrate that, on a small scale, heaving motion could be converted into electricity. The team also developed the power converter and put this all together. It meant that not only could they generate electricity from waves in the sea, but they could also control it. They could decide, in a particular wave, exactly how the buoy should oscillate in order to maximise the amount of power extracted. “That project finished in 2019 and demonstrated that this was all technically feasible at small scale,” Baker explained. “The project that we’re doing now, which started in 2021, is proving out that our technology can be scaled up, can be integrated into a wave energy device, and can be installed at sea in the real marine environment. “The university has a research vessel and has
offshore research in other areas like biofouling and offshore communications, etc. Joining together a few different research areas, we realised we’ve got everything we need to take this technology forward and get it ready for the commercial world. “We are doing it at small scale, primarily because
we are doing it with a limited budget. It makes sense to prove it at small scale in an academic environment, and then allow industry to manufacture on a bigger scale. That’s exactly the approach that wind power took, it started off small and onshore, and then it grew and is now moving very quickly,” Baker said.
Protecting the device A major part of the project is how the system will be
protected from biofouling once it is in the water. There are different parts of the device, such as the main body. For this, protection will be similar to the protection used on ship hulls. However, what the project is concerned with is the actual electrical generator. The ideal solution here is something you can install and leave alone for two decades. You don’t want to install something that will wear out or fail. The project is looking at the idea of not having any seals. “Normally, what you do with wave energy machines is if you put them in the marine environment, you seal them to protect them from the seawater. The problem you have however is that eventually those seals fail, or they need replacing,” explained Baker. “The alternative is not to have any seals at all - we’re just going to flood the electrical machine with seawater. Now that is good
for me as an electrical engineer, because it cools the generator down, but then it introduces the problem of biofouling. The research we are undertaking is looking at how we stop biofouling slime build-up in the electrical generator itself. We’ve got a single moving component, no seals, no gearboxes. We’ve just got one thing moving so it’s potentially a very reliable solution to this power take off problem.”
Going forward The project team is currently in the practical testing
phase and modelling the performance of the generator, with plans to begin mechanical design and construction by the end of the year. The goal is to have the device installed and operational by early next year, with monitoring equipment in place to ensure that everything is functioning as intended. However, there are significant challenges in designing a robust system that can efficiently generate power in both low-energy and high-energy situations while surviving harsh marine environments, Baker explained. He said the team are currently at the simulation stage and lab testing phase, with research staff modelling the device to ensure that it will oscillate as expected and be capable of extracting power while also surviving extreme conditions, testing small models in a wave tank, and investigating biofouling solutions in a slime farm.
One major concern is the risk associated with deploying novel technology in a harsh environment with a modest budget. There is always the possibility of unforeseen complications, such as weather-related issues or the need for over-engineering to ensure that the system is rock solid. Nonetheless, the team remains committed to demonstrating the general principles of the technology, which will be open access and available for adoption by everyone. The team is a collaboration between electrical engineers, naval architects and a communications and system engineer with expertise in the ‘internet of things’ and offshore communications. There is growing interest in developing internet-enabled technology for offshore applications, such as monitoring fish movements or offshore communication, which will require a reliable source of electricity. The team believes that the offshore oil and gas industry, which currently relies on fossil fuels, could be a potential medium-term market for the technology, as the wave energy generators could provide a reliable source of electricity to oil rigs. The project is innovative research with significant risk, but it appears the team is confident in its ability to bring together novel technologies to generate electrical power from wave energy.
www.waterpowermagazine.com | June 2024 | 39
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45
