U.S. Department of Energy Marine Energy Collegiate Competition (MECC)
Team Name: Osprey CREW (Cheap Reliable Energy from Waves)
University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida
Team deliverables
- Poster: Next Generation Wave Energy Converter (WEC) with Linear Generator: OSPREY CREW (Cheap, Reliable Energy from Waves)
- Report: Next Generation Wave Energy Converter (WEC) with Linear Generator: OSPREY CREW (Cheap, Reliable Energy from Waves)
- Presentation: Next Generation Wave Energy Converter (WEC) with Linear Generator
- Next Generation Wave Energy Converter (WEC) with Linear Generator: OSPREY CREW (Cheap, Reliable Energy from Waves)
- Recording of virtual team presentation
Why this competition?
Students on the Osprey CREW team cite opportunities to build expertise in engineering, business, economics, and the renewable energy sector while pursuing a passion for the environment as significant factors motivating their involvement in the U.S. Department of Energy Marine Energy Collegiate Competition (MECC). Many were drawn to the competition by its interdisciplinary nature and its grounding in marketplace realities. While some team members are already focusing on wave energy in their graduate studies, others are pursuing more general mechanical engineering studies and see MECC as a way to gain hands-on experience with the design process. Team members have repeatedly expressed their excitement at the prospect of contributing to a clean energy future.
Project description
Osprey CREW will design a wave energy converter that is affordable, durable, quickly deployable, scalable, and environmentally friendly. A design composed of recyclable material will minimize environmental impacts. Using Faraday’s Law of Electromagnetic Induction to generate electricity, up-down motion of the waves will move a permanent magnet through the device’s coil, changing the magnetic flux through the coil and inducing a current in the wire of the coil.
Game plan
The team is in the process of testing its smallest model in preparation to design a bigger model for the build and test part of the competition. Simultaneously, Osprey CREW is modeling the new design using Ansys Aqwa and WEC-Sim simulation programs to identify any potential design flaws prior to fabrication. Once the design has been finalized, the team will build an intermediate model and test it in the University of North Florida (UNF) wave basin.
The Osprey CREW team members clean and prepare the University of North Florida wave basin for intermediate testing. Photo credit: University of North Florida
Team strengths
This small but strong interdisciplinary team pairs mechanical and electrical engineers with business majors. All of the team members contribute flexible and adaptable skill sets and a laser focus on goals and results.
Team hurdles
The team’s outdoor facility can pose challenges when the weather is extremely hot or rainy. On the other hand, this open-air environment is considered safer than indoor settings during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Competition objectives
The Osprey CREW’s goals are to deliver a design and working model of an efficient and simple wave energy converter that contributes to the growth of the wave energy industry, as well as to learn from other teams’ ideas.
Social media accounts
This portal is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) under Contract Number DE- AC36-08GO28308 with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Contract Number DE-AC05-76RL01830 with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Contract Number DE-NA0003525 with Sandia National Laboratories, as part of the MHK Data Communities project. The United States Government retains, and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes.