Collaborative Research: Optimized Harvesting of Hydrokinetic Power by Ocean Current Turbine Arrays Using Integrated Control

知识优势：现代世界需要多样化的能源组合，在过去的十年中，大量投资致力于利用海洋可再生能源，理论上，海洋可再生能源的潜力远远超过世界目前的发电需求。在这些未开发的资源中，位于大多数大陆东部海岸线附近的开阔洋流，或主要是单向大尺度环流，位于更深的海洋区域（250米），但在海面附近流动。各种商业利益集团现在建议安装涡轮机，将这些巨大的动能储备转化为可用的电能，但到目前为止，还没有大规模的商业生产原型被建造或在相关环境中进行测试。认识到这些资源的价值并培育其商业发展，美国能源部已经指定了三个国家中心来研究解决方案，以帮助加快海洋可再生能源向电网提供基本负荷电力的步伐，并为不断发展的技术提供测试能力。佛罗里达大西洋大学（FAU）的东南国家可再生能源中心（SNMREC）就是这样一个中心，专门负责开放洋流技术的商业化。SNMREC、新奥尔良大学造船与海洋工程学院（UNO）以及弗吉尼亚理工学院和州立大学（VT）的能源收集材料与系统中心（CEHMS）之间建立了合作伙伴关系，利用各自机构的优势，帮助新兴的洋流能源产业克服具体的技术障碍，促进并实现最终的商业化。未来的海流涡轮机农场（OCTs）将战略性地设置在海流能量最密集的部分（靠近海面，但锚定在深海地区），以最大限度地发电。为了实现定位稳定性和最大发电量，oct需要有效地避免附近涡轮机的尾迹和破坏性的环境力，同时寻求高能量密度和一致的流量。因此，这些涡轮机必须实现自主和集成机电和位置控制。不幸的是，由于早期的商业涡轮机设计工作仍然集中在能量转换演示、小规模验证和运行环境的硬件适用性上，因此尚未投入大量精力来开发oct农场的联合运动控制，特别是在考虑发电时。因此，这项工作建议开发自主机电和飞行控制系统，以最大限度地利用单个OCT单元产生的电力，然后通过基于物理的数值模拟测试有效性。控制优化将涉及利用直升机飞行控制和现代多变量约束控制技术的主动OCT旋翼桨叶俯仰角控制。然后将解决方案外推到oct农场，这将需要新颖的先进协同控制方法，并将通过基于物理的数值模拟进行验证。更广泛的影响：为了使OCT概念在商业上可行，需要运动控制和发电优化系统。该项目将实现这一要求，将推进涡轮建模科学，并将推进现代控制设计。这项工作将直接实现洋流能量转换的商业化，并将重点放在新的控制和优化应用上，这将激发超出这项工作的重大创新。该项目的主要研究成果将直接与SNMREC、UNO和VT积极的外展和教育发展计划相结合，这些计划定期通过演讲、研讨会、网络和会议与公众分享研究成果。K-12 STEM强化课程和文化多样化学区训练有素的教师将进一步受益于这项工作。大学合作伙伴还开发了合作实验室工具，计划直接纳入本科课程。UNO、VT和FAU促进传播适用的研究数据，帮助为强大的海洋可再生能源部门培养未来的专业劳动力。

INTELLECTUAL MERIT: The modern world needs a diverse energy portfolio and during the past decade, significant investments have been committed to harnessing marine renewable energy sources which have a theoretical potential to far exceed the world's present power generation needs. Of these untapped resources, open ocean currents, or predominantly unidirectional large scale circulations located near eastern coastlines of most continents, are located in deeper ocean areas (250m), but flow near the sea surface. Various commercial interests now propose to install turbines to convert these vast kinetic energy reserves into usable electrical power, but thus far no large-scale commercial production prototypes have been constructed or tested in relevant environments. Perceiving the value these resources and to nurture their commercial development, the U.S. Department of Energy has designated three national centers to investigate solutions that help accelerate the pace at which marine renewables deliver base-load power to the grid and to provide testing capacities for evolving technologies. One such center, the Southeast National Renewable Energy Center (SNMREC) at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), is specifically tasked with enabling commercialization of open ocean current technologies.A partnership between the SNMREC, the School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at the University of New Orleans (UNO) and the Center for Energy Harvesting Materials andSystems (CEHMS) at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VT) has been organized to leverage the strengths of each institution to achieve the goal of helping the emerging ocean current energy industry overcome specific technical hurdles to promote and enable eventual commercialization. Future farms of ocean current turbines (OCTs) will be strategically located in the most energy dense portions of ocean current flows (near the surface, but anchored in deep ocean areas) to maximize power generation. To achieve positioning stability and to maximize generated power, OCTs are expected to efficiently avoid the wakes of nearby turbines and destructive environmental forces, but seek high energy density and consistent flow. Thus, these turbines must achieve autonomous and integrated electromechanical and position control. Unfortunately, because early commercial turbine design efforts are still focused on energy conversion demonstrations, small-scale validation, and hardware suitability for the operational environment, no significant effort has yet been applied to develop joint motion control for farms of OCTs, especially when coupled with power generation considerations. This effort therefore proposes to develop autonomous electromechanical and flight control systems to maximize the generated electricity by a single OCT unit, and then test effectiveness with a physics-based numerical simulation.Control optimization will involve active OCT rotor blade pitch angle control by leveraging helicopter flight control and modern multivariable constrained control techniques. The solutions will then be extrapolated to a farm of OCTs, which will require novel advanced collaborative control methodologies and will be validated with physics-based numerical simulation.BROADER IMPACTS: For OCT concepts to become commercially viable, motion control and power generation optimization systems are needed. This project will achieve this requirement, will advance turbine modeling science, and will advance modern control design. This effort will directly enable the commercialization of ocean current energy conversion and will bring focus upon a new control and optimization application which will inspire significant innovation beyond this work. Major findings from this project will be directly integrated with the SNMREC, UNO and VT active outreach and education development programs which regularly share research outcomes with the public through presentations, workshops, the web, and conferences. A K-12 STEM enhancement curriculum and trained teachers in culturally diverse school districts will further benefit from this work. The university partners have also developed cooperative laboratory tools planned for direct incorporation into undergraduate curriculum. UNO, VT and FAU promote dissemination of applicable research data, helping prepare a future professional workforce toward a robust marine renewable energy sector.