• Energy Research
• 2016-2025close
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• 2019 close

There are two types of wind turbines, a Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT) and a Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT). A HAWT has high efficiencies, but also high costs of materials, transportation, installation and maintenance. A VAWT has low efficiency, but lower costs of materials, transportation, installation and maintenance. In comparison, a VAWT also offers a subtler design with reduced shadow flicker, bird strike, and noise. However, due to the low efficiency of a VAWT, it is not an economically commercial method of producing renewable energy. AB Power has developed a technology to increase the efficiency of a VAWT close to that of a HAWT without sacrificing the cost savings. This has led to a far cheaper method of harnessing energy from the wind than ever before. Due to the affordability of the VAWT, it will have a dramatic impact on the fight against climate change. The technology being developed at AB Power will make renewable energy available to more customers than ever before. Through the growth of AB Power, there will be a direct relationship with the reduction of UK emissions.

Production of a prototype internal blade inspection system for use inside Offshore Wind Turbine blades including a cost benefit analysis.

Wind is proving to be a commercially viable source for generating electrical power. The UK is exploiting this opportunity with its consistent wind resource using wind turbines fixed to the seabed along its coastline up to 50 metres in depth. Other coastal regions around the world are considering offshore wind turbine projects and, despite some being too deep for fixed seabed wind turbines, floating wind turbines may provide the solution. 18 miles offshore Peterhead, Scotland, such a test program is in operation. Known as Hywind Scotland, the project deploys five interconnected floating turbines supplying sufficient electricity to power 20,000 UK households. The next step in development is to design floating foundation structures with commercial potential for mass production. Test level projects may then be scaled up to develop floating windfarms deploying hundreds of interconnected units supplying commercially viable electricity to the world's major coastal cities. Designs for the floating bases upon which the turbines stand remain a challenge. The Hywind floating bases must be assembled in deep water Norwegian fjords and specialist heavy lift floating cranes for construction which add to the project cost. Alternative floating base designs present different construction challenges such as large widths that make assembly and launch difficult using facilities found in typical ports. Also, the UK currently has to rely on intellectual property rights owned in the US, Norway, France and Japan to take advantage of this new technology. CPDSYS Ltd is investigating how to optimise floating wind turbine foundation design and intallation. It has developed the Drop Keel concept, a compact, shallow draft design which Atkins Engineering has analysed and identified as possessing operational performance and motion characteristics acceptable for commercial wind turbine operation. Scale model tank tests are planned with Strathclyde University for a 10MW capacity unit followed by further analysis to investigate the relationship between wave motion, aerodynamic performance and motion control systems. The objective is to produce a full scale Drop Keel foundation design protected by UK Intellectual property rights that not only supports renewable power opportunities in the UK's deeper coastal waters but also meets the demands of a global export market. CPDSYS is also investigating how the Drop Keel concept may support marginal deep water oil and gas fields by providing a source of electricity in remote marine locations that could assist with recovery of hydrocarbons similar to the way that pump jacks (nodding donkeys) power onshore oil wells.

Tackling climate change, providing energy security and delivering sustainable energy solutions are major challenges faced by civil society. The social, environmental and economic cost of these challenges means that it is vital that there is a research focus on improving the conversion and use of thermal energy. A great deal of research and development is continuing to take place to reduce energy consumption and deliver cost-effective solutions aimed at helping the UK achieve its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. Improved thermal energy performance impacts on industry through reduced energy costs, reduced emissions, and enhanced energy security. Improving efficiency and reducing emissions is necessary to increase productivity, support growth in the economy and maintain a globally competitive manufacturing sector. In the UK, residential and commercial buildings are responsible for approximately 40% of the UK's total non-transport energy use, with space heating and hot water accounting for almost 80% of residential and 60% of commercial energy use. Thermal energy demand has continued to increase over the past 40 years, even though home thermal energy efficiency has been improving. Improved thermal energy conversion and utilisation results in reduced emissions, reduced costs for industrial and domestic consumers and supports a more stable energy security position. In the UK, thermal energy (heating and cooling) is the largest use of energy in our society and cooling demand set to increase as a result of climate change. The need to address the thermal energy challenge at a multi-disciplinary level is essential and consequently this newly established network will support the technical, social, economic and environmental challenges, and the potential solutions. It is crucial to take account of the current and future economic, social, environmental and legislative barriers and incentives associated with thermal energy. The Thermal Energy Challenge Network will support synergistic approaches which offer opportunities for improved sustainable use of thermal energy which has previously been largely neglected. This approach can result in substantial energy demand reductions but collaboration and networking is essential if this is to be achieved. A combination of technological solutions working in a multi-disciplinary manner with engineers, physical scientists, and social scientists is essential and this will be encouraged and supported by the Thermal Energy Challenge Network.

MAX phases are 2D-layered hexagonal carbides or nitrides that can exhibit very high mechanical damage tolerance at high temperatures. In common with ceramics, they are significantly less activated than metals by fast neutron irradiation. Hence they have potential applications in structural applications for advanced nuclear fission. However, the structure/property relationships and mechanisms of damage accumulation in MAX phases need to be better understood for microstructure-based modelling to support the design and development of materials and engineering components. Strain mapping by both image analysis and diffraction has revolutionized studies of deformation in structural materials. Together, they can provide excellent knowledge of both the elastic and plastic strain states within complex structures, which are internally "strain gauged" in three-dimensions with high spatial resolution. Image correlation tools applied to tomographs can measure three-dimensional deformation and total strain states with high precision. Diffraction analysis to measure elastic strains within bulk materials is also routine with neutrons and also on high energy synchrotron X-ray beam-lines. The project aims to use X-ray and neutron diffraction and imaging to map, in situ and in 3D, both the total and elastic strains under load and at elevated temperature, and thereby perform novel studies of the mechanisms of strain accommodation in bulk MAX phase materials for nuclear energy, with emphasis on the effects of strain history, microstructure texture and material heterogeneity, in order to improve material reliability and performance. The objectives of the project are to study, in particular, the differences between phase pure and commercial purity MAX phase materials from the TiAlC system, including the application of high resolution electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) to study the transfer of strain between grains and phases, which may be affected by the texture that is introduced during processing. This project interacts closely with a parallel project, starting at the same time, that is conducting studies of strain accommodation in MAX phase materials for advanced nuclear energy at the microscale, using high temperature nano-indentation and high resolution microscopy. This project collaborates with SCK-CEN (Belgium) who are developing MAX phases for nuclear applications in conjunction with the European Energy Research Alliance Joint Programme in Nuclear Materials that aims to develop materials for next generation sustainable nuclear energy. The project also connects with the H2020 Il Trovatore programme on Innovative cladding materials for advanced accident-tolerant energy systems, in which standard mechanical testing (including studies of irradiated materials) are being conducted by SCK-CEN, together with electron-microscopy microstructure characterisation by EBSD and Transmission electron microscopy. This project falls within the EPSRC Energy Research Theme (Nuclear Power).

More and more wind turbines are reaching the end of their designed service life. Due to economic factors, it is in the operator's interest to keep their wind turbines operating beyond their designed service life, as long as the safe operational requirements are met. This process is known as lifetime extension. Whilst relatively well-established practices exist for the lifetime extension of the structural members, the electro-mechanical and drivetrain are often overlooked. Therefore, this PhD will look at developing a methodology, analysis tools and the framework for the lifetime extension of the wind turbine drivetrains.

The latest report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 'Global warming of 1.5C' emphasises the need for 'rapid and far-reaching' actions now to curb carbon emission to limit global warming and climate change impact. Decarbonising heating is one of the actions which is going to play a key role in reducing carbon emission. The Committee on Climate Change states that insufficient progress has been made towards the low carbon heating homes target that requires immediate attention to meet our carbon budget. It is well known fact that the ground is warmer compared to air in winter and cooler in summer. Therefore our ancestors build caves and homes underground to protect them against extreme cold/hot weather. Geothermal energy pile (GEEP) basically consists of a pile foundation, heat exchanging loops and a heat pump. Heat exchanging loops are usually made of high density polyethylene pipes and carry heat exchanging fluid (water and/or ethylene glycol). Loops are attached to a reinforcement cage and installed into the concrete pile foundations of a building to extract the shallow ground energy via a heat pump to heat the building during winter. The cycle is reversed during summer when heat is collected from the building and stored in the ground. GEEP can play an important role in decarbonising heating as it utilises the sustainable ground energy available under our feet. High initial cost remains the main challenge in deploying heat pump technology. In the case of GEEP, the initial cost can be reduced, if the heat capacity of the concrete is improved and loop length can thus be decreased. This can be achieved by incorporating phase change material (PCM) in the concrete. PCM has a peculiar characteristic that it absorbs or releases large amount of energy during phase change (solid to liquid or liquid to solid). This project aims to develop an innovative solution by combining two technologies GEEP and PCM to obtain more heat energy per unit loop length which would reduce the cost of GEEP significantly. PCM has never been used with GEEP in the past, therefore obvious research questions that come to the mind are (1) how to inject PCM in concrete (2) what would be the effect of PCM on concrete strength and workability (3) how PCM would affect load capacity of GEEP as primary objective of the GEEP is to support structure (4) how much heat energy would be available (5) what would happen to the ground temperature surrounding GEEP (6) how much it would cost (7) whether it would reduce carbon footprint of concrete. We aim to answer all the above research questions by employing sustainable and environmental friendly PCM and impregnate it in light weight aggregates (LWAs) made with waste material (e.g. fly ash, slag, glass). There are three advantages of using LWAs made from waste: first LWAs will replace natural aggregate in concrete as natural aggregates are carbon intense, second LWAs are porous and light so they can absorb large amount of PCM and reduce the weight of concrete, third reuse the waste. Laboratory scale concrete GEEP will be made with PCM impregnated LWAs and tested under heating and cooling load to investigate thermal (heat transfer) and mechanical (load capacity) performance. Extensive experimental and numerical study will be carried out to design and develop novel PCM incorporated GEEP which can provide renewable ground energy for heating and cooling.

"Offshore wind turbines operate in harsh and extreme environments such as the North Sea. As blades continue getting larger, their tip speeds can exceed 100m/s. At these speeds, any particulates in the air such as rain, dust, salt, insects, etc. can wear away the surface of a blade's leading edge, a phenomenon known as ""leading edge erosion"" (LEE). This, in turn, alters the blade's aerodynamic shape, affecting its efficiency and potentially exposing the blade to further and more serious damage, thereby reducing its working life. Whilst the extent and nature of contributing factors to LEE are not yet fully understood, it can be said that at some point in their lifespan, all wind turbine blades will suffer from some form or degree of LEE which will need to be addressed. Maintaining blades in the offshore wind sector is an expensive and dangerous job where, typically, highly skilled rope access technicians are required to scale down the blades to carry out leading edge repairs. Having successfully proven the concept in Phase 1 of the Innovate UK funding round, in this project, BladeBug Limited will continue its work with the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult to develop, build and test a complete, walking robotic system designed specifically to carry out a number of these detailed inspections and repetitive repairs on the leading edges of wind turbine blades. The ability to perform these tasks remotely will free up time of skilled rope access technicians to undertake specialist repairs or upgrades to blades that only they can do. More blades could then be inspected and treated in the same time frames, maximising the electrical output of the turbines and, as a result, increasing revenues to turbine owners as well as the environmental benefit to everyone in CO2 savings."

High fidelity Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) will be used to simulate flows past individual and small clusters of wind turbines to develop detailed models of wind turbine wakes and their merger and interactions. The performance and wakes of generic large turbines will be considered. The influence of vertical flow shearing, cross-stream variation in speed and turbulence intensity, and relative device placement that lead to inviscid (blockage) and viscous interactional effects will be considered. CFD simulations will be performed with blade resolved RANS models and Actuator Line LES models in order to capture relevant wake physics. Simplified representation and reconstruction of turbine wakes is of critical importance to developing understanding of the physical processes governing wake evolution. Flow-field decon-struction methods such as POD (Proper Orthogonal Decomposition) will be used to identify the leading order wake modes and physical processes important in wake development, merger and representation, which will be used to devel-op new wake merger and evolution models and algorithms.