Optimizing the efficiency of ocean tidal turbines by introducing a new technique

The main goal of this project is to target a missing niche for tidal energy distribution. There is a growing interest in utilizing tidal currents for power generation, which has led to extensive research on this source of renewable energy. Among all the different ways to collect kinetic energy from ocean tides, the tidal turbine is financially the most optimum to build. Unlike other methods such as barrages or fences, they do not require constant supervision to adjust the power output. However, tidal turbines have the least efficiency among all the others. One main reason for this is because they can only generate power in one direction. In a one-day period, there are two high and two low tides. However, tidal turbines can only produce energy for 12 hours a day. My proposal is to design and implement a system taking advantage of the so-called ground effect and introduce an efficient technique using bidirectional blades to produce energy regardless of the direction of the blade rotation to increase the efficiency of power production. My proposal would focus on this niche and wants to improve the performance of the tidal turbines with no significant extra cost.

Faculty Supervisor:

Jianming James Yang

Student:

Partner:

Springboard Atlantic Inc.

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Energy and Utilities; Other; Clean Technology

University:

Memorial University of Newfoundland

Program: