Overall Structure of the Work Plan
SEA-TITAN project is structured in 7 Work Packages (WP): one dedicated to coordination (WP1), five comprising the technical core of the Project (WP2-WP6), and one related to dissemination, communication, exploitation of results and standardization (WP7).
The technical part of the project starts with the identification of the technical requirement of a higher force density power take-off (PTO) as well as peak forces, analysed in three different types of wave energy converters (WECs). In WP2, 4 different technologies of point absorber devices will be modelled in two sea locations each (UK, France, Portugal and Spain), defining a set of 8 scenarios in the west coast of Europe, where the wave resource is more promising, covering a width range of application for the proposed PTO.
Considering also a set of restrictions, such as volume and cost limitations, a scalable PTO module will be defined, as well as a PTO prototype to be developed. In WP3, from the previous specifications, a detailed design of the complete PTO will be developed, including the power electronics and control to operate the system and connect it to the grid. A complete prototype of the new design of PTO will be fabricated in WP4. Different partners will take care of the linear generator, power electronic converters and control platform, respectively. The complete novel prototype of PTO will be tested in laboratory environment during WP5, emulating real conditions (hardware-in-the-loop scheme) of the 8 scenarios defined in WP2, by using a hydraulic actuator and a control platform to reproduce the on-line conditions. Complete information of the performance of the new PTO (force limits, efficiency map, thermal behaviour and mechanical vibrations) will be obtained from these experimental tests and the PTO models obtained in WP2 will be updated and fine-tuned.
Based on the specifications defined in WP2 and some design ideas from WP3, a parallel development of a conceptual solution of linear generator based on superconducting windings will be accomplished in WP6. This alternative solution deals with the benefit of increasing the energy generated due to the no force limitation at the PTO.
Both the PTO core solution and the superconducting PTO will be especially useful for the potential final users included in the consortium or in the External Industrial Exploitation Board (EIEB), who will evaluate the possibilities of commercialisation of the new PTO solutions in the market of the wave energy converters. That will be accomplished in the core of WP7. Moreover, WP7 will comprise the communication about the project, dissemination of the results in the scientific and industrial communities, as well as analysis of the innovative character of the solution, and management of the intellectual property of the results among the members of the Consortium.