Columbia Power Technologies and the University of Washington (UW) have concluded the testing of low-power wave energy system for US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
The prototype design, build, and offshore tests of the wave energy buoy that self-deploys (WEBS) were performed as part of the first phase of the project led by UW’s Applied Physics Laboratory.
The device has two floats and a central nacelle, equipped with power generating equipment, which is connected by a tether to a heave plate located 60 meters below the water.
WEBS operates by rotating the floats relative to the nacelle and the heave plate below as the waves pass by. The differential and rotary motion of the arms is transferred through the gearboxes to the generator which in turn produces electricity.
The testing was conducted as part of DARPA’s Tactical Undersea Network Architecture (TUNA) program which seeks to develop and demonstrate novel optical-fiber-based technology options and designs to temporarily restore tactical data network connectivity in a contested environment.
Columbia Power Technologies is a US-based manufacturer of direct-drive wave power systems for both utility-scale and low-power applications.