Demonstration of a Towed Coaxial Turbine Subscale Prototype for Hydrokinetic Energy Harvesting in Skew

Abstract

The immense potential for ocean current energy harvesting is being actively explored by researchers, exhibiting the importance of the marine hydrokinetic industry. This paper presents a towed dual rotor coaxial turbine prototype built to demonstrate the ability of tethered, underwater, hydrokinetic devices to harvest energy from ocean currents. A sub-scale test article was developed to measure fluid power conversion and serve as a platform for operational feasibility in open-water testing. Tow testing of this article was done in the freshwaters of Lake Norman in North Carolina at three tow speeds: 1 m/s, 1.25 m/s and 1.5 m/s. Preliminary results demonstrate the ability to extract power, system robustness, waterproofing capabilities, and illuminates the nuances and non-linearities unique to the tethered coaxial turbine system.