Ocean Engineering Senior Design Final Review
Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4
Group Two
Ocean Current Energy Converter for Autonomous Surface Vessel
Autonomous Surface Vessels (ASV’s) such as the WAMV-16 can be anchored at some remote location and used as a launch platform for small payloads (such as a drone or Autonomous Underwater Vehicle). However, ASV’s have a limited energy storage for space reasons. Therefore, a long-term anchoring operation can become an issue. While commercial solutions already exist for solar energy storage, harvesting energy from the ocean current is at a developmental phase.
The group shall design and implement an Ocean Current Energy Converter mountable on an ASV and capable of producing 50 [W] of average power over a fixed period-of-time. Operation shall take place away from the surf zone.
System Level of Requirements:
- The group shall design and implement an Ocean Current Energy Converter easily mountable on an ASV and capable of producing 50 [W] of average power over a period of 2 hours. The unit shall be easily removable from the ASV. Finally, the unit shall have the proper outlet to recharge a drone-like payload installed on the ASV. The group shall carefully consider the possibility of ducting the water flow in an effort to generate sufficient power. The design shall handle current coming from any direction. The current speed shall not exceed 0.5 [m/s] in any direction. The ASV would be provided by the Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering.
- Requirement 1 + the unit shall be designed so that it can be manually moved in and out of the water after and before ASV transit.
- Requirement 2 + the unit shall be designed so that it can be automatically moved in and out of the water after and before ASV transit.
Operating Requirements:
- Mountable on the WAMV-16.
- Diver-less operations.
Presentation & Forms:
Click here to download group two's PowerPoint presentation
Click here for group two's evaluation form