Atlas Ocean Systems, a US-based wave energy developer, has completed the trials of its scaled SQ5 wave energy device running for the US Department of Energy’s (DoE) Wave Energy Prize.
The 1:50 scaled wave energy converter model was tested at the Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratory at the University of Michigan.
Atlas Ocean is developing a point absorber with suspended oscillating ballast driving pneumatic bladder WEC type.
Following the completion of the tests, the company stated: “We had some very pleasant surprises watching our model interact with the dynamics of the wave tank and the mooring. Coming into the testing we were pretty sure the ‘roughness’ of the pneumatic system on our ‘hand-built-in-the-garage’ model wouldn’t be as responsive or stable as we wanted, but it came through with flying colors. Our unique ‘compressibility compensation’ system seemed to be working very well and as a result we were getting what appear to be truly scaled pneumatic system responses (volumetric flow rates and pressures).”
The testing was conducted from November 29 to December 4, 2015.
Upon the 1:50 scaled testing results review, up to 10 finalists and alternates, out of 17 total, are expected to be announced on March 1, 2016, after which the seed funding distribution for the finalists will begin.
These finalist teams will have the opportunity to receive funds to build their 1:20 scale WEC prototypes, which are scheduled to undergo tank testing at the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s Maneuvering and Seakeeping (MASK) Basin at Carderock, Maryland, beginning in the summer of 2016.
Initially, there were 20 finalist teams selected by the DoE, but 3 companies dropped out of Wave Energy Prize competition for various reasons.
Wave Energy Prize competition was launched by the US Department of Energy to encourage the development of game-changing wave energy conversion (WEC) devices that will achieve the DOE’s goal of doubling energy capture, thus reducing the cost of wave energy and making it more competitive with traditional energy solutions.
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