The University of Galway announced successful testing of a RivGen marine hydrokinetic turbine foil, designed by ORPC Ireland and fabricated by ÉireComposites.
The testing program is part of the €3.9 million (US$4.2 million) European Commission’s Horizon 2020-funded CRIMSON project and involved 1.3 million fatigue cycles on the turbine foil – the highest number reported on a full-scale marine energy component in dry laboratory conditions.
The tests were led by the Sustainable and Resilient Structures Research Group at the University of Galway, which is part of the Enterprise Ireland-supported technology center Construct Innovate and the university’s Ryan Institute.
The 5-m-long foil is made from carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer and shaped similarly to an airplane wing. The test foil was designed by the team at ORPC Ireland and manufactured by ÉireComposites, which is leading the CRIMSON Project, and incorporates recycled carbon-fiber material from Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials.
When placed perpendicular to river or tidal currents, the foils spin and produce electricity via an underwater generator. Three of these foils combine in each of two turbines in the 80 kW RivGen marine hydrokinetic energy device.
The technology underwent intense stress testing in the University’s Large Structures Testing Laboratory to demonstrate its ability to withstand operational loads over its design lifetime. Before completing the testing campaign, a destructive static test was performed to demonstrate the foil’s structural integrity at loads well in excess of what is expected during operation in the marine environment.
“The findings from this full-scale structural testing program help to de-risk ORPC’s technology and give insights that can be used for structural health monitoring and inform the next generation of testing standards,” said Dr. William Finnegan, Assistant Professor and Principal Investigator of CRIMSON at the university. “The combination of such high-level design and manufacturing with University of Galway’s state-of-the-art testing will improve the reliability of river and tidal energy devices as they move closer to commercial viability.”
The next phase of the project will trial the complete turbine in operational conditions at Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche’s large towing tank in Rome, Italy.
