November 16, 2018: "Wave Energy Harvesting Technology: A Performance Enhancement Innovative Solution”

Friday, November 16, 2018
Location: 212 Randolph Hall
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Sergei Antonello Sirigu
Faculty Host: Dr. Stefano Brizzolara

Abstract: Wave power represents a highly promising field in the broader area of green energy and it is currently the subject of increasing research and investments. Different technology solutions have been proposed in these decades to harvest the energy contained in the oceans. Since 2009 Politecnico di Torino, in collaboration with the Spin-off company Wave For Energy SRL been working on the development of a gyroscopic based Wave Energy Converter called ISWEC (Inertial Sea Wave Energy Converter) and in 2015 the fullscale prototype was tested in open sea successfully for 6 months in Pantelleria Island in Italy. Next deployment of a 1:2 prototype will be in the Adriatic Sea in collaboration with ENI Spa in order to prove the new technological advances and innovative solutions.

Recently a new collaboration with iShip lab, directed by professor Stefano Brizzolara, has been started to study and design of a new technology solution to increase the performance of the ISWEC device: the Pitch Resonance Tuning Tanks. This new technology (patent-pending) allows the pitch resonant wave energy conversion devices to adapt their resonance response to the prevalent incoming wave period through a sea-state control.

Current studies of this project are:
• Study and implementation of the control logic strategies for the sloshing water tanks
• CFD model validation of the sloshing water tanks dynamics in regular irregular motions
• Implementation of more sophisticated control systems for the Power Take Off (MPC for example)
• Global optimization and cost reduction of the device