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Home News-archive Wave Projects US Air Force Academy get grant for wave energy research
| US Air Force Academy get grant for wave energy research |
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| Written by Administrator | |||
| Thursday, 04 September 2008 13:57 | |||
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The US National Science Foundation has awarded the US Air Force Academy's Aeronautics Department $285,619 to support a cyclodial propeller wave energy converter research project to harness the ocean's power. The Aeronautics Department will partner with Oregon State University to use their wave tunnel for some of the experimental side of this research project. Through both computational and experimental research, the Academy will pursue development of a wave energy converter based on cycloidal propellers, like those used on tug boats. These propellers' main advantage is the ability to produce thrust in any direction perpendicular to the propeller shaft. This project will investigate the use of cycloidal propellers for energy extraction from unsteady flow fields created by both deep and shallow water waves. Both of the three-dimensional flows are a challenge to energy conversion devices since they provide a flow field that fluctuates in time. "Wave power has the potential to provide a large portion of the world's electric energy needs, if it can be tapped in an efficient way," said Dr. Stefan Siegel, who will oversee this research project. This project, which is funded through 2011, is part of a broader Air Force effort to address energy related issues and to support renewable alternative energies research.
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