Tidal turbine technology designed to generate 500 kW (0.5 MW) of power
The technology
The CoRMaT tidal energy converter is a contra-rotating turbine, suitable for deployment in water depths of 8 to 500m.
Formed in our Energy Systems Research Unit within the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, the CorMaT-designed and enabled turbine employs two closely-spaced contra-rotating rotors, which drive the rotor and rotating stator sections of an electrical generator. The first rotor has three blades rotating in a clockwise direction while the second rotor, located directly behind the first, has four blades rotating in an anti-clockwise direction. Buoyancy chambers at the front and rear sections of the nacelle are tuned to achieve neutral buoyancy. The turbine is connected to a tensioned mooring at a point in the water column where the flow velocity is greatest and surface wave action minimised.