FloWave spins tidal arrays

 
UK’s Exeter and Edinburgh universities have tested up to 15 tidal device arrays at FloWave Ocean Energy Research Facility.

Up to fifteen scale models of the IP-protected Momentum Reversal Lift (MRL) concept were tried for 11 days in a range of array configurations to determine the optimal set-up for maximum energy capture, according to FloWave.

The prototypes have been designed to operate on the seabed in estuaries, with long horizontal blades in a cylindrical ‘combine harvester’ design.

Each blade has an aerofoil cross-section which changes its orientation as the machine rotates in order to maximize energy capture from the estuary flow.

The FloWave tests come at the end of a three and a half year £1.12 million Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funded collaborative project led by Exeter University in partnership with Edinburgh and Manchester Universities.

“We were able to use real data from the FloWave test tank and compare this with the predictions from CFD modelling. This allowed us to make some immediate changes to the numerical model based on these results, and we have now captured a tremendous amount of high quality data which we can use to further refine the CFD models. The test programme has given us increased confidence in the MRL concept,” said Ian Moon, Laboratory Technician from Exeter University, who manufactured the scale models and supervised all test activities.

Stuart Brown, FloWave Chief Executive Officer, said: “It has taken some considerable effort from all the collaborators on this project to achieve the test campaign on time, on budget and on quality, but I am really pleased that the group have been able to bring all their turbines to FloWave to be tested in a wide variety of numbers and configurations.”

The MRL team will now write up the final results of their programme for submission to the EPSRC in 2016, FloWave’s press release reads.

FloWave Ocean Energy Research Facility is owned by the University of Edinburgh, and is designed for academic research into wave and tidal current interactions.

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