AIKIDO: Advanced Inertial and Kinetic Energy Recovery Through Intelligent (co)-Design Optimization

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Program:
ATLANTIS
Award:
$2,862,554
Location:
San Francisco, California
Status:
ALUMNI
Project Term:
04/06/2020 - 01/05/2023
Website:

Critical Need:

Floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) are currently designed to be large and heavy to replicate more familiar onshore wind turbine dynamics, maintain stability, and survive storms. However, this approach fundamentally limits how inexpensive FOWTs can ever become. Radically new designs that do not require a massive floating platform—applying the control co-design (CCD) approach of substituting mass by control systems—are needed. CCD methodologies integrate all relevant engineering disciplines at the start of the design process, with feedback control and dynamic interaction principles as the primary drivers of the design. To design innovative, economically competitive FOWTs, researchers must overcome several significant technical barriers: insufficient current knowledge of how FOWT subsystem dynamics interact; insufficient computer tools for dynamic simulation; and a dearth of experimental data. ATLANTIS will address these technical barriers while exploring radically new FOWT design concepts that minimize mass and maximize productive rotor area to provide economical offshore wind power.

Project Innovation + Advantages:

Traditional wind turbines have grown larger to reach the higher wind speeds found at greater heights and enable the blades to intercept a larger area of wind. The stiffness required to hold up the blades and nacelle has caused turbines to become extremely heavy and consequently expensive. Applying novel CCD paradigms, Otherlab will develop a new architecture for wind systems based on compliant materials, energy-generating structural surfaces, and advanced control systems that overcome the need for stiff, expensive materials by actively controlling how the system interacts with the environment.

Potential Impact:

ATLANTIS projects will aim to develop new and potentially disruptive innovations in FOWT technology to enable a greater market share of offshore wind energy, ultimately strengthening and diversifying the array of domestic energy sources available to Americans.

Security:

Diverse, domestic energy resources can boost grid resiliency and reduce infrastructure vulnerabilities.

Environment:

Increased availability of affordable, reliable wind energy could lessen reliance on fossil fuels, reducing power sector emissions.

Economy:

Program developments in FOWTs could reduce the cost of wind energy production and provide an entirely new option for the offshore wind industry, as well as access to significant wind resources near major population centers on U.S. coastlines.

Contact

ARPA-E Program Director:
Dr. Mario Garcia-Sanz
Project Contact:
Dr. Sam Kanner
Press and General Inquiries Email:
ARPA-E-Comms@hq.doe.gov
Project Contact Email:
skanner@otherlab.com

Related Projects

• General Electric (GE) Global Research - Control Co-design and Co-optimization of a Lightweight 12 MW Wind Turbine on an Actuated Tension Leg Platform
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) - The FOCAL EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM - Floating Offshore-wind and Controls Advanced Laboratory Experiment to Generate Data Set to Accelerate Innovation in Floating Wind Turbine Design and Controls
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) - Ultraflexible SmartFLoating Offshore Wind Turbine (USFLOWT)
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) - Wind Energy with Integrated Servo-control (WEIS): A Toolset to Enable Controls Co-Design of Floating Offshore Wind Energy Systems
• Otherlab - AIKIDO: Advanced Inertial and Kinetic Energy Recovery Through Intelligent (co)-Design Optimization
• Principle Power (PPI) - Development, Experimental Validation and Operation of a DIGItal Twin Model for Full-scale FLOATing Wind Turbines (DIGIFLOAT)
• Rutgers University - Computationally Efficient Control Co-Design Optimization Framework with Mixed-Fidelity Fluid and Structure Analysis
• Sandia National Laboratories - ARCUS Vertical-Axis Wind Turbine
• University of Central Florida (UCF) - Model-Based Systems Engineering and Control Co-Design of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines
• University of Maine (UMaine) - The NASA Floater: 15 MW Ultra-light Concrete Hull with Sea-water Ballast Tuned Mass Dampers
• University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) - A Low-Cost Floating Offshore Vertical Axis Wind System
• WS Atkins - Scale Model Experiments for Co-Designed FOWTs Supporting a High-Capacity (15-MW) Turbine

Release Date:
08/08/2019