Ocean Current Energy Conversion for Powering Distributed Sensors

The Problem

Oceanographic research organisations rely on electronic sensors to observe and monitor marine conditions and ecosystems.  At present, these sensors are powered by batteries, so their deployment times are limited by battery life.  They must therefore be regularly recovered and redeployed, and the significant expense and labour of these operations limit the extent and persistence of marine observation. One way this limitation may be overcome is by harvesting energy from the environment in situ with the sensors.

Our solution

We are working on an ocean current energy conversion (OCEC) device that can be moored alongside sensors.  This device is optimized to work with very slow currents, and will therefore be able to provide indefinite power to sensors in a wide range of marine locations.  Once ready, the OCEC device will help enable more extensive and persistent sensing networks that can provide more and higher quality data to ocean researchers.

Collaborators

Galen Leir-Taha is working on this project in collaboration with the Water and Energy Research Laboratory (WERL) at the University of Toronto.