RAFT: Reconfigurable Array of High-Efficiency Ducted Turbines for Hydrokinetic Energy Harvesting

RAFT Introduction:

Project Innovation + Advantages:

RAFT concept develops a novel solution for hydrokinetic energy harvesting. RAFT, made up of multiple micro-turbines with a ducked design, has a modularized architecture with reconfigurable units, making it adaptable to different applications and marine environments. The innovative new turbine designs, along with distributed load control and regulator concepts, significantly reduce the Levelized cost of energy (LCOE). In-situ real-time optimization-based control optimizes RAFT's features to achieve performance, resiliency, reliability, and cost targets. Multidisciplinary engineering efforts with extensive modeling, iterative optimization, control co-design, and experimental validations will mitigate identified technical risks.

Click here to access the slides for the RAFT introduction.

Recent Publications:

  1. B. Knight, R. Freda, Y. L. Young, and K. Maki, "Coupling numerical methods and analytical models for ducted turbines to evaluate designs", Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 6(2), p.43, 2018. (PDF)
  2. B. Jiang, M. R. Amini, Y. Liao, J. R. R. A. Martins, and J. Sun, "Control Co-design of a Hydrokinetic Turbine with Open-loop Optimal Control", ASME 41st International Conference on Ocean, Offshore & Arctic Engineering (OMAE), 2022. (PDF)
  3. J. Park, J. Martins, K. Maki, and Y. Pan, "Ducted Hydrokinetic Turbine Design Optimization Using CFD based Adjoint Method", Bulletin of the American Physical Society, 2021. (Website)
  4. O. Bilgen, R. Wang, Y. Cao, N. Erol, and X. Shan, "A Reconfigurable Ducted Turbine Array Concept for Renewable Flow Energy Harvesting", AIAA SCITECH 2022 Forum, 2022. (PDF)


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