Confinement-Exploiting Cross-Flow Turbine Arrays

Default ARPA-E Project Image

Program:
SHARKS
Award:
$1,825,000
Location:
Seattle, Washington
Status:
ACTIVE
Project Term:
08/23/2021 - 08/22/2024
Website:

Technology Description:

The bottom, sides, and surface of rivers and tidal channels confine water flow, which significantly alters the operation of river and tidal turbines. As turbines harness the momentum of the moving water, they alter the flow around them—water passing through the blades of the turbine is slowed while water passing around the blades speeds up. When the area that a turbine array presents to the flow is an appreciable fraction of the channel cross-sectional area, changes to the flow increase array power output and efficiency. When the array turbines are in close proximity, mutual interactions can further increase power output. The University of Washington proposes a control co-design process that combines advances in turbine control strategies, hydrodynamic configurations, and blade geometry optimization to capitalize on unsteady non-linear fluid dynamics. Experimentally optimized designs will be scaled up through validated simulations to evaluate the structural requirements for turbine blades. The team will focus on cross-flow current turbines, which are well-suited to achieving high confinement in river and tidal channels. The project aims to demonstrate a significant step-change up in efficiency with a step-change down in cost of energy.

Hydrokinetic energy is an abundant renewable energy source that presents unique opportunities and benefits.

Potential Impact:

Hydrokinetic energy is an abundant renewable energy source that presents unique opportunities and benefits.

Security:

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

Environment:

HKTs, used to capture energy from tides, rivers, canals, and ocean currents, optimize a clean, renewable power source that could help reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

Economy:

Hydrokinetic energy has applications beyond solely providing power to electrical grids. It is ideally suited to the emerging technologies and markets built upon ocean- and riverine-based infrastructure, including climatological observation, aquaculture, desalination, ocean floor and seawater mining, disaster recovery, powering isolated communities, and autonomous underwater vehicle support.

Contact

ARPA-E Program Director:
Dr. Mario Garcia-Sanz
Project Contact:
Dr. Brian Polagye
Press and General Inquiries Email:
ARPA-E-Comms@hq.doe.gov
Project Contact Email:
bpolagye@uw.edu

Related Projects

• Aquantis - Tidal Power Tug
• Emrgy - Performance Enhancement of Hydrokinetic Arrays Using Reliable, Low-Cost Dynamic Components
• Littoral Power Systems - Control Co-design and Co-optimization of a Transformational Cost-Efficient Hydrokinetic Energy Turbine System
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) - A Computer Tool to Control Co-Design Hydrokinetic Energy Systems
• Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC) - Optimized Hydrokinetic Systems
• SRI International - MANTA: Reliable and Safe Kite Energy System
• University of Alaska Fairbanks - Material and Cost Efficient Modular Riverine Hydrokinetic Energy System
• University of Michigan - RAFT: Reconfigurable Array of High-Efficiency Ducted Turbines for Hydrokinetic Energy Harvesting
• University of Virginia (UVA) - Bio-Inspired Renewable Energy (BIRE) for Highly-efficient Low-cost Riverine Hydrokinetics
• University of Washington (UW) - Confinement-Exploiting Cross-Flow Turbine Arrays
• Westergaard Solutions - HydroMINE: Simple, Modular, and Scalable

Release Date:
04/09/2020