Ocean Energy Reliability Workshop to be held at EWTEC

You are invited to attend the Ocean Energy Reliability Workshop taking place at EWTEC 2019 in Italy.

The workshop is being jointly hosted by RiaSoR2 and MONITOR project partners and will share learnings from across the two reliability-focused projects to support the progression of wave and tidal energy.

Venue: Renaissance Hotel Mediterraneo, Via Ponte di Tappia 25, 80133, Napoli (600 metres from EWTEC venue).

RSVP: Email carly.tait@emec.org.uk to book your place. Registration is free, however spaces are limited.

Please find the agenda below or download your invitation here

15.30 – 16.00 (30 min)	• Introduction and overview of MONITOR and RiaSoR2 projects. • VMEA importance to reliability.	Michael Togneri (MONITOR) Johannes Huffmeier & Pär Johannesson (RiaSoR2)
16.00 – 17.30 (90 min)	Demonstrating monitoring of wave energy converters: • Monitoring framework • Quantification of load uncertainties in the design process of a WEC • Reliability assessments • Monitoring system • Training package	Mathias Johanson Mairead Atcheson Pär Johannesson August von Hacht Charlotte Strang-Moran
17.30 – 18.00 (30 min)	Break – refreshments provided
18.00 – 19.00 (60 min)	Multi-model investigation of tidal energy converter reliability: • Computer modelling • Lab modelling • At sea testing	Michael Togneri Grégory Pinon André Pacheco

Reliability Evaluation of CorPower Pre-tension Cylinder using VMEA

RiaSoR2 reliability guidance published for wave energy

The Reliability in a Sea of Risk 2 (RiaSoR 2) project has published new reports on condition monitoring systems (CMS), numerical load analysis and reliability assessment specifications for wave energy converters (WECs).

Building on Phase 1 of the RiaSoR project, which developed a theoretical reliability assessment guideline for WECs and tidal energy converters (TECs), RiaSoR 2 aims to enable developers to validate their findings and establish a practical, condition-based monitoring platform to prepare for future arrays, where big data handling and processing will be vital to drive down operational expenditure.

Available to download from the RiaSoR website (www.riasor.com), the reports feed the methodologies and training into the guideline developed in the first RiaSoR project.

The reports available for download are:
• Condition Monitoring Requirements and Needs
• Condition Monitoring Systems of Wave Energy Converters
• Condition Monitoring Training Requirements
• Outline Load Assessment Numerical Tool Specification

The CMS reports developed by RiaSoR 2 partners transfer experience from other industries providing an insight into the condition monitoring of WECs.

An efficient condition monitoring system will allow early detection of upcoming failures due to aspects such as vibrations, causing structural fatigue of the marine energy converter. The CMS will detect any abnormal behaviour in different components of the WEC, for example the structural, electrical or hydraulic sub-systems and other operational parameters such as pre-tension and entanglement of moorings. The ‘Training Requirements’ report provides a statement of requirements for a User Training Package, including for relevant CMS certification, standards, and guidelines.

Johannes Hüffmeier, RISE adds:

“The reports give guidance on how to increase reliability of ocean energy devices by a structured approach ensuring increased uptime of critical components, more efficient maintenance campaigns and in the long run allow for knowledge-driven design.”

The reports have been developed by SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, Alkit Communications AB, Cruz Atcheson Consulting Engineers and Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, in association with the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), Synective Labs, CorPower Ocean, Waves4Power and Ocean Harvesting.

The RiaSoR 2 project is funded by the Ocean Energy European Research Area Network (OCEANERA-NET), in association with the Swedish Energy Agency and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

Outline Load Assessment Numerical Tool Specification

Condition Monitoring Systems of Wave Energy Converters

Condition Monitoring Requirements and Needs

K2 Management

K2 Management (previously known in the project as Cruz Atcheson Consulting Engineers) is an independent renewable energy consultancy, active across the energy sector. The K2M team provide technical and engineering services, software development and training to a wide range of clients across the world, with the capacity to assist clients at several stages of development.

Our experienced team of highly skilled engineers has worked on projects from inception stage to full-scale prototype, and developed specialist software to solve complex engineering problems. Members of the K2M team have directly contributed to the design and analysis of numerous of wave energy converter (WEC), offshore wind and tidal turbine concepts.

Improving the reliability of wave and tidal energy converters

The second phase of an international collaborative research project designed to improve the reliability of wave and tidal energy converters (WEC/TEC) is now underway.

By reducing associated risks and enhancing reliability, the project aims to encourage increased investment in the marine energy industry by both the public and private sector.

Building on the success of Phase 1 of the Reliability in a Sea of Risk (RiaSoR) project, which developed a theoretical reliability assessment guideline for WECs and TECs, Phase 2 aims to enable developers to validate their findings and establish a practical, condition-based monitoring platform to prepare for future arrays, where big data handling and processing will be vital to drive down operational expenditure.

Marine energy devices operate in harsh environments but still need to perform reliably and produce an expected amount of energy, which gives rise to huge engineering challenges.

Funded through the OceanERANET initiative and led by the Research Institute of Sweden (RISE), RiaSoR2 brings together the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC), the Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, Alkit Communications, Synective Labs, CorPower Ocean, Waves4Power, Cruz Atcheson and OceanHarvesting to offer a comprehensive suite of testing methodologies to wave and tidal developers that will enable a systematic approach to achieve optimal reliability and performance, while minimising cost and time-to-market.

The RiaSoR 1 reliability guideline built upon established practices from the automotive industry where a monitoring framework is applied to a fleet of test-vehicles. Through design iterations, the reliability is improved, and a final reduced set of sensors are deployed in a commercial vehicle.

For RiaSoR 2, components for monitoring will be equipped with several sensors to collect required data, which will then be fed into the reliability process to reduce uncertainties. Sea tests will act as case studies to feed the methodologies and training into the guideline.

The findings from this will then be disseminated to other WEC and TEC developers, and the wider industry.

“Reliability testing is tough to do in the sea. RiaSoR 2 is about establishing a methodology and testing programme so we can gather data between device installation through to MTTF (mean time to failure). The instrumentation, condition monitoring methodology applied with Variation Mode and Effect Analysis (VMEA) methodology used in other more mature sectors such as the automotive and aerospace industry will be adapted in the RiaSoR project for the ocean energy sector and will provide valuable insight into prototype design development”, explains Elaine Buck, EMEC’s Technical Manager.

Johannes Hüffmeier, RISE adds:

“Earlier this year, the RiaSoR 2 consortium held a workshop in Stockholm which resulted in an appropriate aim and scope being developed for the monitoring guideline. We discussed the methods that are suitable to derive cost-efficient monitoring systems based on key performance indicators. In the workshop we had a useful brainstorming session around requirements on sensors, system architecture and devices. Additionally, the project will be making a report on condition-based monitoring and sensing techniques for ocean energy devices available shortly.”

Further information about the project and upcoming RiaSoR2 events can be found on the RiaSoR website, here: www.riasor.com

Ocean Harvesting

Ocean Harvesting Technologies AB (OHT), a privately held company based in Karlskrona, Sweden, develops wave power technology with a special focus on power-off and energy storage, both at device level array infrastructure level. OHT develops a novel wave energy converter (WEC) with ball screw actuator and InfinityDrive Power Take-Off (PTO). The InfinityDrive PTO uses a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) with high speed flywheel to provide reactive force control capabilities in a WEC combination with very efficient power smoothing. This solution provides exceptional capture performance, high conversion efficiency and a constant sea state tuned electric power output. The technology is protected by four patent applications and is currently in a system design simulation analysis phase. The InfinityDrive PTO is available to other WEC developers and stakeholders in the marine energy industry, through participation in OHTs WEC development program, or by forms of technology cooperation and licensing. OHT’s core competence is wave energy conversion, control strategies, storage, simulations and system design. OHT’s strategy is to work in close collaboration with WEC developers, system integrators, OEM’s, research institutions and academia.

Waves4Power

Waves4Power is a Swedish company that develops and sells wave energy systems. Waves4Power’s concept is to focus on profitable electricity production with a system that is survivable and easily serviceable. Therefore Waves4Power is developing a power generating buoy with an elastic mooring system. In addition to a number of model tests in large and small scale of wave power devices, Waves4Power and its predecessors have performed a number of full-scale prototype tests in the ocean since 1976, of which the best known are the IPS buoy, Elskling (1980) and the WaveEL buoy (2010), both performed in the sea west of Gothenburg. The experiences from these prototypes have led to the design of a demonstration buoy intended for mass production that has been used for the WaveEL project at Runde off the west coast of Norway between the autumn 2015 and 2017. Waves4Power is one of the leading players in the green marine energy sector, which is expected to be the future of energy production for Europe as well as the rest of the world.