Turbine Design and Operation
Applied Ocean Current Turbine Flight Control
Led by William Baxley, MS, PE
Affiliated Home Campus: Harbor Branch
Affiliated Department: Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center
PROJECT
Emily Pippin worked with Bill Baxley to design a prototype control system for a novel ocean current turbine (OCT) device. This device is unique in that it can remain in the water while turbines are replaced. Control surfaces were designed to control the orientation of the device for turbine replacement, as well as the orientation under varying current velocity profiles and turbine performance. The effect of the control surfaces on the orientation of the device was simulated in Matlab to determine the necessary angle of attack variance of the control surfaces for stability. These simulations were used in combination with an Arduino based IMU to control servos as the wings and ailerons. The Arduino control system was implemented for a three percent scale 3-D printed prototype.
