Bearings and seals are an integral part of Pelamis Wave Power’s second-generation wave energy generator.
A report filed by Drives&Controls highlighted that novel bearing and seal technologies are playing a vital role in the P2 generator, which is due to start testing off the Orkney Islands later this year. The P2 generator consists of a series of floating, linked tubes with four hydraulic rams at each main joint pivoting on precision bearings to drive hydraulic motors coupled to electric generators.
Mike Woods, Pelamis’ senior engineer and bearings group leader, told the publication that the biggest challenge has always been “how we manage the loads and motions from such an active and constantly variable environment, whilst at the same time extracting as much power as possible”. The team eventually came up with the idea of bringing the axes, or joints, together.
Key to the new joint is a low-friction material developed by Schaeffler. The modified PTFE fabric liner effectively eliminates the “stick-slip” effect, allowing the machine to perform better than standard bearing materials would have done.
“Now that we have been able to put all the bearings in one place, we have taken a major technological step forward,” reportedly said Woods.
PWP and its project partner E.ON recently secured £4.8 million from the Carbon Trust’s Marine Renewables Proving Fund (MRPF). The funding will support the manufacture, deployment and testing of company’s second generation Pelamis P2 machine. The first P2 machine is currently under construction at PWP’s headquarters in Leith and will be deployed at the European Marine Energy Centre, Orkney, later this year. The MRPF scheme will allow PWP to increase the scope and pace of trials planned for this machine.
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