Wasp Cumbria News Update October 2020
Initial tests will be to determine which of the two Designs returns the most favourable results during the trials. Both Designs feature the same individual blade shape with the three bladed version having a slightly larger swept area. The Turbines will be suspended on a Test Rig below the water from our support vessel and moored in a 4 – 5 knot tidal stream. Initially the Turbines will be free running and mounted on a fixed shaft to give an indication of rpm for each Turbine. We will also film the Turbines underwater to give us the opportunity to study flow characteristics and turbulence.
Once the early tests have been analysed we will start the process of adding further components to the drive train to monitor additional information. Subject to the data gathered we will formulate a programme to start Design work on a larger version of the selected Turbine along with our ideas for transferring the power transmitted by the Turbine into driving a suitable generator.
Alan Newton, C Eng, MRINA.
Wasp Cumbria News Update June 2015
Taking the decision not to attempt a second set of Trials for our tidal Turbine in 2014 has allowed WASP to concentrate more effort and resources into refining in more detail the modifications that we believe will make the improvements to our original design that we are aiming for. It will also give us the opportunity to test several other interesting ideas and concepts, albeit at a smaller scale, that we have been developing alongside our current tidal Turbine project.
Whilst preliminary modifications on our first tidal Turbine have been ongoing, through 2014 to date, there are still several areas that we would like to improve before further Trials. Areas that we are looking at such as the change to a Hydraulic drive system and an innovative method of driving the generator using the hydraulic power will take some time and costs to complete. With one of our main aims being the simplicity of the systems that we are working on, adopting a minimum of moving parts, making the systems as reliable as possible and also offering economical and speedy manufacture we need to ensure that we maintain a robust control of our finances in order to meet our design objectives. As a small Company Funding will play an important role in the timescale to further Trials and indeed to the scale of the Prototypes that we are developing. Certainly the Grants that Wasp has benefited from to date have been extremely useful and attracting further funding is another area that we are actively pursuing as we move forward.
It is worth noting that a number of major Tidal and Wave power projects have unfortunately run into difficulties recently despite having high levels of funding and moving into larger scale manufacture. This would indicate that even systems showing positive and viable levels of return, in early stages of development, can suffer from perhaps being over complicated in what is an extremely harsh and unforgiving environment especially when scaling up in size and in the selection of the location of trials.
Alan Newton, C Eng, MRINA.
Wasp Cumbria News Update February 2014
Design improvements to help reduce the efficiency losses, highlighted in our trials in 2013, are now complete and component modifications are currently being carried out in order to facilitate a second series of Trials in 2014. In addition we have been developing a novel horizontal axis Tidal Turbine which we hope to test in 2014 to make full use of our existing Floatation unit and other components.
A complete redesign of our Tidal range project is also nearing completion and again in order to maximize resources we will carry out Trials of this system following completion of our Tidal Flow Trials. This will then allow WASP to compare results and identify the next phase of development towards commercialization and provide guidance regarding what additional level of funding will be required.
Alan Newton, C Eng, MRINA.