VALID
Verification through Accelerated testing Leading to Improved wave energy Designs
| Business | Period | Project Coordinator | Funding Scheme |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | December 2020 - November 2023 | RISE RESEARCH INSTITUTES OF SWEDEN AB |
H2020 |
Challenge
Europe’s most promising untapped energyresources are located in our ocean.
However, ocean energy technologies are not yet mature enough to overcome the challenges related to cost, performance and reliability and the development of a wave (or tidal) energy converter is surrounded by high uncertainties.
Currently, most laboratory testing has been focused on functional tests (e.g. of proof of concept and performance assessment for example) disregarding other key performance measures such as reliability and survivability.
For this reason, VALID has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement 101006927 to de-risk the whole Wave Energy Converters (WEC) design process in terms of components reliability and Survivability.
VALID Project Consortium will develop Hybrid Test Platform (VHTP), an integrated and open platform for accelerated hybrid testing that can be used across the entire wave energy sector to improve the reliability and survivability (hence, the performance) of the components and subsystems that form Wave Energy Converters, proposing a novel prototype test rig going beyond current testing practices.
Approach
In the framework of VALID, RINA will be in charge of the overall assessment and standardization of project innovation.
In particular, we are going to:
- Promote improved norms and standards for dry testing of wave energy components or sub-systems
- Provide targets on key reliability-related metrics to facilitate taking go/no-go decisions at early stages of technology development
- Quantify the impact on cost reduction of increased performance, reliability and survivability of critical components based on the experimental results
- Produce an updated version of the Cost of ENergy Calculation Tool able to integrate and couple the variations of reliability into variations of the Levelized Cost of Energy/Electricity (LCOE).
Conclusion
In conclusion, VALID methodology for accelerated hybrid testing combines both physical testing (physical test rigs) and virtual testing (simulated environment, numerical models and data).
The project novel platform will be applied in three user cases to generate enhanced test rigs for accelerated reliability testing of three critical failure modes:
- wear of dynamic sealing,
- thermal fatigue of electric generator
- leakage due to wear of seals and glider rings in sea water hydraulic pumps.
Three direct benefits will come from the VALID project outputs:
- accelerate the physical testing process,
- support timely design decision by early prediction or indication of failure
- improved confidence in overall testing, especially where repetition is needed for reliable data which is difficult to attain with real ocean
testing.
