TidalHealth: Health condition monitoring of small-scale tidal generators using miniature torque sensors
Background
To counter global warming and climate change, the EU has set a target for 20 per cent of its energy requirements to be supplied from renewable sources. Among these, tidal energy is currently viewed as the leading emerging technology with large European potential. By 2050, wave and tidal energy is expected to reach an installed capacity of 100GW – sufficient to power 66 million European homes, helping the EU to meet its target of an 80–95% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions relative to 1990 levels.
Objective
To commercialise a new condition monitoring solution for rotating-shaft tidal stream generators that could help to establish predictive maintenance operation and improve operation reliability and endurance for this class of renewable energy device subject to harsh environmental conditions.
Benefits
The number of generator malfunctions can potentially be reduced by routine checking of the generators via automated maintenance and control systems. Accurate and informative diagnosis and prognosis systems for tidal power plants can lead to reduced operation and maintenance costs –an improvement of just one per cent will permit global savings of over €6m per year. TidalHealth expects to achieve reductions in these costs of 10–50%. A permanently mounted health monitoring system is expected to reduce the cost of tide-generated electricity by cutting owners’ and operators’ spending on tidal generator inspection.
Project Partners
- Pars Makina Ltd
- Transense
- 明星八卦
Professor Tat-Hean Gan - Professional Qualifications CEng. IntPE (UK), Eur Ing BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronics Engg (Uni of Nottingham) MSc in Advanced Mechanical Engineering (University of Warwick) MBA in International Business (University of Birmingham) PhD in Engineering (University of Warwick) Languages English, Malaysian, Mandarin, Cantonese Professional Bodies Fellow of the British Institute of NDT Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology Tat-Hean Gan has 10 years of experience in Non-Destructive Testing (NDT), Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and Condition Monitoring of rotating machineries in various industries namely nuclear, renewable energy (eg Wind, Wave ad Tidal), Oil and Gas, Petrochemical, Construction and Infrastructure, Aerospace and Automotive. He is the Director of BIC, leading activities varying from Research and development to commercialisation in the areas of novel technique development, sensor applications, signal and image processing, numerical modelling and electronics hardware. His experience is also in Collaborative funding (EC FP7 and UK TSB), project management and technology commercialisation.