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Alternate Energy News (Wave, Tidal and Wind) - 2009
Editors - please refer to the Notes to Editors for background information on Umeco plc and its operating divisions.
'Quietrevolution' Wind Turbine
| Other News | 2010 |
| Alternate Energy |  |
From Concept to Reality with ACG’s VTM266 Prepregs - ACG’s Technology Enables Innovative Tidal Project
Materials from Advanced Composites Group (ACG), a member of the Composites Division of Umeco plc, were used to manufacture some of the components in SeaGen, the world’s largest commercial scale tidal energy system.
Hailed a major success in tidal energy production, SeaGen is now generating 1.2MW of power, and is currently the highest produced by a tidal stream system anywhere in the world. Power generated by SeaGen is being purchased by Irish energy company, ESB Independent for its customers in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. This tidal energy turbine has the capacity to generate power to meet the demands of approximately 1,000 homes.
Manufactured by tidal energy company Marine Current Turbines Ltd (MCT), and installed during March 2008 in the mouth of Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough, SeaGen uses ACG’s technologically advanced Variable Temperature Moulding VTM®260 Series prepregs for the manufacture of the 65mm thick structural spars, the critical elements that add strength and rigidity to the two 8metre long blades. At this length, the spars had to be made using a material that possessed the requisite design and performance qualities and characteristics of high strength and stiffness, but with minimal mass.
From a processing standpoint, the chemistry of ACG’s VTM260 Series prepregs results in a safe, low temperature cure processing route, making these prepregs ideally suited for this particular application, where overall composite thickness could, under other circumstances, result in severe exothermic reaction. While VTM260 Series prepregs permit vacuum-only or autoclave processing curing options, the vacuum-only route was particularly suited for components of this magnitude.
The scale of the project meant that excellent handling and out life characteristics were significant factors in MCT choosing VTM260 Series prepregs. These prepregs provide good handling and processing characteristics on reinforcements ranging from lightweight veils to ultra heavyweight multi-axial fabrics and unidirectional tapes.
Aviation Enterprises Ltd., based in Lambourn, UK, was responsible for manufacturing the colossal blade assemblies. In addition, they designed and installed a fully integrated fibre-optic stress sensing system into the blades to continuously monitor their life-long performance under the challenging environmental conditions. Due to the enormity of the task, and being an industry first, the entire project was enthusiastically accepted as a fresh engineering challenge.
A team of environmental scientists, drawn from Royal Haskoning, Queen’s University Belfast and St. Andrew’s Sea Mammal Research Unit, closely monitored SeaGen’s operation and its interaction with marine life during the 12 week commissioning phase.
The UK Government’s Department of Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) provided valuable support to the SeaGen project. MCT received grant assistance from BERR for the main part of the project’s development and received a further £0.98million investment from the government-funded Technology Strategy Board to cover the additional installation costs and independent performance validation.
Martin Wright, Managing Director of MCT, said: “Having the system generating at full power was an important milestone. It demonstrates, for the first time, the commercial potential of tidal energy as a viable alternative source of renewable energy. As the first mover in tidal stream turbine development, we have a significant technical lead over all rival tidal technologies that are under development. There are no other tidal turbines of true commercial scale; all the competitive systems so far tested at sea are quite small, most being less than 10% the rotor area of SeaGen.”
Photo: Courtesy of Dr I J Stevenson
'Quiet Revolution' Wind Turbine
A compact, robust, elegant wind turbine that incorporates a display screen - sounds like a good pitch, right? Well it's not just good, it's real and it's coming to a roundabout, a street lamp, a building or any space near you.
The 'quietrevolution' wind turbine was designed and developed by XCO2 in conjunction with ACG's customer Aviation Enterprises Ltd. who was able to offer full aerodynamic design, composite engineering and manufacturing expertise.
ACG worked closely with AEL providing light weight oven curing VTM® prepregs tailored to the nearest % of resin and curing as low as 65°C. Keeping the weight of the blades to a minimum was critical due to centrifugal forces of up to 200 G. Spinning the blades at 300rpm in testing, the blades required virtually no balancing at all proving the consistency and accuracy that ACG prepregs offer the customer.
The rotating section is 5m high and 3.1m in diameter and is designed to withstand maximum wind speeds of 120mph. XCO2 claims the design performs more efficiently as it does not have to keep changing direction with the wind as a traditional turbine would, this decreases vibrations and cuts down on aerodynamic noise, all of which are very important for use in urban areas.
Further advantages are that the cylindrical structure with the vertical 'S' blades occupies less space than the average turbine, the structure is robust, and practically as well as aesthetically can integrate easily into the urban environment.
Rotation of the turbine drives the 6kw generator and can be mounted on either a 9m or 15m high tower or on a 3m mast on a roof.
The 'quietrevolution' turbine also comes in a display model, the first site for which will be in Bristol on a roundabout in the Temple Meads area. By embedding flashing LED's into the blades, clients will be able to use the turbine to promote eco friendly products and raise awareness of climate change. At the same time as generating renewable energy.
Please also visit www.quietrevolution.co.uk
For further details contact ACG Sales Department.
| Other News | 2010 |
| Alternate Energy | |
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