Design and experimental evaluation of a unidirectional flow collective air pumps wave energy converter

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dc.contributor.authorRodriguez-Macedo, Julio Cesar
dc.contributor.supervisorSuleman, Afzal
dc.date.accessioned2018-01-08T15:49:00Z
dc.date.available2018-01-08T15:49:00Z
dc.date.copyright2017en_US
dc.date.issued2018-01-08
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Mechanical Engineering
dc.degree.levelDoctor of Philosophy Ph.D.en_US
dc.description.abstractCommercial viability of Wave Energy Converters (WEC) depends on addressing not only the energetic effciency, but also in solving the practical issues related to manufacturing methods, access to technology, handling, transportation and installation, operation and maintenance, impact on marine life and most importantly the cost per kW-h. The UFCAP WEC is one concept which has the potential to facilitate handling, manufacturing, and installation activities as well as to be able to lower the current wave energy cost per kW-h, however its feasibility had not been properly assessed nor proved. It consists of multiple interconnected Oscillating Water Columns (OWC) chambers, it is modular, and simple, with no-moving parts in contact with the water and can use a simpler one-direction turbine which is more economic, and more effcient than self-rectifying turbines used in most of the OWCs devices. Testing of the device to fully assess its feasibility required a low pressure check-valve, and a customized turbine which were developed during the present work. Check-valves are widely used in the industry for medium or high-pressures, but were not available at all for large-flows with low-pressure-differences. A novel check-valve was devised for this application, along with the scaled UFCAP prototypes developed to be tested in a wave-flume and in the ocean to validate UFCAPs concept feasibility, and identify critical design parameters and features such as the conduit/air-chamber ratio. Ocean tests allowed to observe performance at component and assembly levels, learning new failure-modes and stablishing best-practices for future deployments. Testing confirmed the UFCAP WEC is not only an idea, but a concept which works and can generateing electricity at a competitive cost.en_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitationJ. Rodriguez and A. Suleman, \Apparatus for converting ocean wave energy into mechanical energy." Canadian Intellectual Property O ce. CA 2692188, 2006.en_US
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitationJ. Rodriguez, The Unidirectional Flow Collective Air Pumps A Novel Wave Energy Converter. Master of applied science thesis, University of Victoria, 2006.en_US
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitationJ. Rodriguez \Valvula de retencion de baja presion de apertura." Instituto Mexicano de la propiedad Industrial. Solicitud MX/a/2012/001639. Clasificacion F16K17/00 (2006-01); F16K47/00 (2006-01). Ficha SIGA 5254263.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/8957
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjectWave Energy Converteren_US
dc.subjectOscillating Water Columnen_US
dc.subjectOcean testsen_US
dc.subjectWave Flume Testen_US
dc.subjectCheck-Valveen_US
dc.titleDesign and experimental evaluation of a unidirectional flow collective air pumps wave energy converteren_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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