To on-board MHD power generation

The electric power generation in on-board MHD generator is considered under conditions of vehicle’s flight in Earth atmosphere. The physical and computational model of on-board MHD power generation is presented. It is shown that electric power of order of 18 – 20 MW (or ∼ 100 W/cm3) can be extracted in ordinary Faraday-type segmented MHD generator. This high level of electric power is achieved at magnetic field about 0.3 – 0.4 tesla and constitutes nearly 9.5% of total enthalpy flux. The main factor limiting the rise of extracted power is a stall of flow due to MHD deceleration.

A PSO – I GWO Algorithm Based MPPT for PV System under Partial Shading Conditions

Solar photovoltaic (PV) is skyrocketing energy due to its advancement in technology. Nevertheless, PV energy face some difficulties under partial shading conditions (PSC) easily fall into local maxima instead of maximum peak power (MPP), oscillations around MPP when we used conventional algorithms. To avoid this problem a hybrid model of particle swarm optimization and improved grey wolf optimization (PSO – I GWO) based metaheuristic algorithm is used in this paper. It is developed and implemented in Matlab/ Simulink environment for different irradiation conditions. Moreover, the proposed algorithm is compared with another existing algorithm of cuckoo search optimization (CSO). Eventually, the hybrid model is superior to CSO in terms of convergence time, extracted power, and efficiency.

Performance Optimization for Cycloidal Hydrokinetic Turbine With Augmentation Duct for Harvesting Riverine Energy

With the increased demand for developing renewable energy, hydro energy has attracted more attention since it is reliable and easy to acquire. In this area, the cycloidal turbine has been recently studied and applied to ocean energy for its stable and efficient output. Compared to the ordinary vertical/horizontal axis turbine with fixed pitch angle blades (e.g., Darrieus turbine), the cycloidal turbine can maximize the extracted power efficiency by keeping the optimized angle of attack for the blades. Meanwhile, the cycloidal turbine provides a potential solution to solve the problems of self-starting and seasonal flow variations. Introducing an augmentation duct is considered as a method to further increase the incoming flow velocity of the turbine. Inspired by the design of the wind tunnel, a convergent-divergent design of the augmentation duct is developed. One is noted that the dimensions of the augmentation duct are essential to the performance of the duct. In this study, a convergent-divergent augmentation duct is developed based on a 3-blade cycloidal hydro-turbine, operated at a 2 m/s river. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis with sliding unstructured mesh is applied to investigate the extent how the dimensions of the duct affect the flow velocity to the turbine as well as the extracted power efficiency.

Hydrodynamic Analysis of a Multibody Wave Energy Converter in Regular Waves

A performance assessment of wave power absorption characteristics of isolated and multiple wave energy converter (WEC) rotors was presented in this study for various wave-heading angles and wave frequencies. Numerical hydrodynamic analysis of the WEC was carried out using the three-dimensional linear boundary element method (BEM) and nonlinear computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Experimental results were used to validate the adopted numerical models. Influence with and without power take-off (PTO) was estimated on both isolated and multiple WEC rotors. Furthermore, to investigate the interaction effect among WECs, a q-factor was used. Incorporation of viscous and PTO damping into the linear BEM solution shows the maximum reduction focused around peak frequency but demonstrated an insignificant effect elsewhere. The q-factor showed both constructive and destructive interactions with the increase of the wave-heading angle and wave frequencies. Further investigation based on the prototype WEC rotor was carried, and calculated results of the linear BEM and the nonlinear CFD were compared. The pitch response and q-factor of the chosen wave frequencies demonstrated satisfactory consistency between the linear BEM and nonlinear CFD results, except for some wave frequencies. Estimated optimal time-averaged power using linear BEM show that the maximum extracted power close to the zero wave-heading angle around the resonance frequency decreases as the wave-heading angle increases. Overall, the linear BEM on the extracted power is overestimated compared with the nonlinear CFD results.

Study on Optimum Power Take-Off Torque of an Asymmetric Wave Energy Converter in Western Sea of Jeju Island

This study primarily investigates an optimum energy conversion efficiency of asymmetric wave energy converter (WEC). A power take-off (PTO) system that provides a constant load torque opposite to pitch motion was implemented. Incident wave conditions were selected based on the measured data in the western sea of Jeju Island, South Korea. An optimum torque was calculated by comparing the time-averaged extracted power with various PTO load torque. InterDyMFoam solver based on Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations were used in an OpenFOAM v4.0 framework—an open-source computational fluid dynamics model—against the experimental results derived from the wave flume. The upward pitch excursion was induced by wave force due to the asymmetric WEC characteristics; however, the downward pitch excursion depends on its weight. Numerically, the PTO torque was only loaded in uni-direction against the upward pitch motion. Moreover, the optimum PTO torque was estimated by comparing the time-averaged extracted power. Finally, the optimum PTO torque was evaluated by an irregular wave as a function of significant wave height. The optimum PTO provides design information about the asymmetric wave energy converter to improve energy conversion efficiency.

Multivariate SCADA Data Analysis Methods for Real-World Wind Turbine Power Curve Monitoring

Due to the stochastic nature of the source, wind turbines operate under non-stationary conditions and the extracted power depends non-trivially on ambient conditions and working parameters. It is therefore difficult to establish a normal behavior model for monitoring the performance of a wind turbine and the most employed approach is to be driven by data. The power curve of a wind turbine is the relation between the wind intensity and the extracted power and is widely employed for monitoring wind turbine performance. On the grounds of the above considerations, a recent trend regarding wind turbine power curve analysis consists of the incorporation of the main working parameters (as, for example, the rotor speed or the blade pitch) as input variables of a multivariate regression whose target is the power. In this study, a method for multivariate wind turbine power curve analysis is proposed: it is based on sequential features selection, which employs Support Vector Regression with Gaussian Kernel. One of the most innovative aspects of this study is that the set of possible covariates includes also minimum, maximum and standard deviation of the most important environmental and operational variables. Three test cases of practical interest are contemplated: a Senvion MM92, a Vestas V90 and a Vestas V117 wind turbines owned by the ENGIE Italia company. It is shown that the selection of the covariates depends remarkably on the wind turbine model and this aspect should therefore be taken in consideration in order to customize the data-driven monitoring of the power curve. The obtained error metrics are competitive and in general lower with respect to the state of the art in the literature. Furthermore, minimum, maximum and standard deviation of the main environmental and operation variables are abundantly selected by the feature selection algorithm: this result indicates that the richness of the measurement channels contained in wind turbine Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) data sets should be exploited for monitoring the performance as reliably as possible.

The Power Reclamation of Utilizing Micro-Hydro Turbines in the Aeration Basins of Wastewater Treatment Plants

Upgrading the aeration basin technology can improve the oxygen transfer efficiency (OTE), while keeping the energy consumption at its minimum level. Therefore, this paper introduces a new idea of installing micro-propeller turbines in the aeration basin of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) to extract power from the high-velocity location in the water column. This extracted power can be used to operate a mixer at the top of the membrane to induce the mixing in that region, which will drive the less oxygenated wastewater into the water column. The rest of the extracted power will rotate microturbine rotors for electric power generation. By applying the proposed microturbines to the 13 audited facilities, it was demonstrated to achieve a gross annual energy-savings of 3,836.9 MWh, a gross annual cost-saving of $260,497, and total CO2 emissions that would be reduced by 2,714 metric tons/year. Generally, the addition of the proposed microturbines can save up to 15.7% of the annual plant electricity consumption (1.3–12.8% of the plant annual electricity bills).