WAVE ENERGY GENERATOR

KymoGen

Mechanical Engineer David Hartmann and Craftsman Jason Ballash have designed a new wave power technology called the KymoGen, which has the potential to produce clean, low-cost energy using the constant power of waves. Key to the design is its simplicity.

A portable 8’x8′ platform is tethered to a mooring on the sea floor. Inside the floating platform, the tether is connected to a drive system which spins a flywheel as the waves rise and fall, providing constant power between waves. The generated electricity can then either be stored, or connected directly to existing power grids.

Weighing in at an estimated 800 lbs, the KymoGen can output 2 hp in as little as 12 inch waves and 8hp in 4 foot waves. Larger KymoGens could generate substantially more in rougher waters. The estimated average output per day is 25 to 100 kilowatt hours. It will be constructed of high strength Marine Composites, and the platform can accommodate wind or solar technologies to increase the energy output.

Weighing in at an estimated 800 lbs, the KymoGen can output 2 hp in as little as 12 inch waves and 8hp in 4 foot waves. Larger KymoGens could generate substantially more in rougher waters. The estimated average output per day is 25 to 100 kilowatt hours. It will be constructed of high strength Marine Composites, and the platform can accommodate wind or solar technologies to increase the energy output.

https://youtu.be/yiFFoC9OTD

WaveNet

Scotland’s Albatern is putting a new, modular spin on renewable energy generation. WaveNET is a scalable array of floating “Squid” generator units that harvest wave energy as their buoyant arms rise and fall with the motion of the waves. Each Squid can link up to as many as three others, effectively creating a large, floating grid that’s flexible in every direction. The bigger this grid gets, the more efficient it becomes at harvesting energy, and the more different wave movements it can extract energy from. Albatern’s 10-year target is to have 1.25 kilometer-long floating energy farms pumping out as much as 100 megawatts

Each Squid unit in the WaveNET array consists of a central ballast pole, surrounded by three buoyant floats that connect to the central post with linking arms. The linking arms connect to the central post with a fully articulating pump unit at each end, thus any movement of the arms as the floats move in the water causes those pumps to create hydraulic energy.

The Squid units can be connected to one another at the floatation points, and Albatern has discovered that building a large array gives you “dramatic non-linear yield improvements.”

WaveNET Squid test units floating in calm seas

WaveNET Squid test units floating in calm seas

 

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