Giant Anaconda Takes Water to Provide Green Wave Energy
Anaconda, the enormous South American snake that hunts its prey in water and which spends a lot of time in water environments, is just what two British researchers needed as inspiration to develop an innovative wave energy concept.
The anaconda is a wave energy converter device made of a giant rubber tube which may hold the key to producing cheaper, sustainable electricity from the energy in sea waves.
Wave-generated electricity is carbon-free and so can help the fight against global warming.
Invented in the UK by Francis Farley, a professor of physics, and Rod Rainey, a floating structures expert, the ‘anaconda’ is a totally innovative wave energy concept.
It has a simple design that would be cheap to manufacture and maintain, enabling it to produce clean electricity at lower cost than other types of wave energy converter, according to the inventors.
Named after the snake of the same name because of its long thin shape, the anaconda, designed to be anchored just below the sea’s surface, with one end facing oncoming waves, is closed at both ends and filled completely with water.
A wave hitting the end squeezes it and causes a ‘bulge wave’ to form inside the tube. As the bulge wave runs through the tube, the initial sea wave that caused it runs along the outside of the tube at the same speed, squeezing the tube more and more and causing the bulge wave to get bigger and bigger.
The bulge wave then turns a turbine fitted at the far end of the device and the power produced is fed to shore via a cable.
Because it is made of rubber, the anaconda is much lighter than other wave energy devices (which are primarily made of metal) and dispenses with the need for hydraulic rams, hinges and articulated joints. This reduces capital and maintenance costs and scope for breakdowns.
When built, each full-scale anaconda device would be 200 meters long and 7 meters in diameter, and deployed in water depths of between 40 and 100 meters.
Initial assessments indicate that the Anaconda would be rated at a power output of 1MW (roughly the electricity consumption of about 2000 houses) and might be able to generate power at a cost of 5 US cents per kWh or less.
Although around twice as much as the cost of electricity generated from traditional coal-fired power stations, this compares very favourably with generation costs for other leading wave energy concepts.
A full-sized anaconda device may only be available in 5 years’ time but professor John Chaplin, of the University of Southampton’s School of Civil Engineering and the Environment, says: “The Anaconda could make a valuable contribution to environmental protection by encouraging the use of wave power.”
To safeguard from the possibility of wavering on slow wave days and enduring the ocean environment, the inventors hope the flexibility of the plastic will allow anaconda to match physical resonance with any wave size.
Chaplin, the project engineer who is testing the device, says: “The anaconda can achieve similar resonance by making the speed of the bulge wave - the natural speed of the bulge wave in the tube - match the speed of the water waves outside…”
Photo credit: Checkmate Seaenergy
Interesting concept. I a little familiar with the concept of harvesting wave power but not this. I’d like to see what becomes of it.
[...] Anaconda, the enormous South American snake that hunts its prey in water and which spends a lot of time in water environments, is just what two British researchers needed as inspiration to develop an innovative wave energy concept. The anaconda is a wave energy converter device made of a giant rubber tube which may hold the key to producing cheaper, sustainable electricity from the energy in sea waves. Read more of this story » Continue here: Giant Anaconda Takes Water to Provide Green Wave Energy [...]