(Press-News.org) WASHINGTON D.C. Sept. 17, 2013 -- In the long sprint to find new sources of clean, low-cost power, slow and steady might win the race -- the slow-moving water of currents and tides, that is. Just as wind turbines tap into the energy of flowing air to generate electricity, hydrokinetic devices produce power from moving masses of water.
In a paper appearing in AIP Publishing's Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, Ramon Fernandez-Feria, a professor of fluid mechanics at Universidad de Málaga in Spain, and his colleagues Joaquin Ortega-Casanova and Daniel Cebrián performed a computer simulation to determine the optimum configuration of one such system to enable it to extract the maximum amount of energy from any given current.
The system, developed by a Norwegian company called Tidal Sails AS, consists of a string of submerged blades or sails, connected via wire ropes, angled into the oncoming current. The rushing current generates large lift forces in the sails, and as they are pushed along through a continuous loop, they drive a generator to produce electricity.
A small-scale version of the Tidal Sails device is already in operation at a test facility constructed in a stream outside Haugesund, Norway. The pilot project has a power-producing capacity of 28 kilowatts; a full-scale version could generate several megawatts of power. Installing several such units in a tidal stream, the company says, could generate as much as 100 gigawatts of electricity per year.
In their analysis, the researchers found that the maximum amount of power could be generated using blades with a chord length (the width of the blade at a given distance along its length) equal to the separation between each individual blade, that are positioned at about a 79 degree angle relative to the oncoming current, and that move at a speed about one and half times faster than the current.
"The next step would be to refine the design of the device with further hydrodynamic numerical simulations, complemented with small-scale experiments," Fernandez-Feria said. "For instance, trying more efficient aerodynamic blade profiles, and different angles between the string of blades and the current."
INFORMATION:
The article, "Lift and drag characteristics of a cascade of flat plates in a configuration of interest for a tidal current energy converter: Numerical simulations analysis" by Daniel Cebrián, Joaquin Ortega-Casanova and Ramon Fernandez-Feria appears in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy. See: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4816495
ABOUT THE JOURNAL
The Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal produced by AIP publishing that covers all areas of renewable and sustainable energy-related fields that apply to the physical science and engineering communities. See: http://jrse.aip.org/
Study determines best arrangement of tidal sails device
Simulation in 'Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy' predicts optimized arrangement of clean, green power-generating devices
2013-09-17
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
OptSwap optimizes microbial strain design for production-scale bioprocessing
2013-09-17
New Rochelle, NY, September 17, 2013—Using a new in silico method called OptSwap scientists can predict how to engineer microorganisms to increase the yield of high-value biobased chemicals produced by industrial-scale cell factories. This example of how advanced computational tools are being applied to genome-scale metabolic modeling in microbes illustrates the important contributions from the field of Systems Biology, as highlighted in a special research section in Industrial Biotechnology, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert Inc., publisher. The articles are ...
Death & disability from air pollution down 35 percent in the US
2013-09-17
Arden Pope's students know him as an excellent economics teacher, but some would be surprised to learn that, thanks to him, the air they breathe today is cleaner than the first breath they ever took.
In fact, a new study by this BYU professor concludes that improvements in U.S. air quality since 1990 have sparked a 35 percent reduction in deaths and disability specifically attributable to air pollution. Pope was a member of a large research team who co-authored the study for the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"Some of the best news relative to the air ...
Speeding up cancer diagnosis during surgery
2013-09-17
Tissue-conserving cancer surgery is a highly skilled procedure which involves time-consuming tissue preparation to detect the margins of cancerous tissue. The goal is to remove as much of the tumour as possible while sparing healthy tissue.
With funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), experts at The University of Nottingham have developed a highly accurate prototype technique which can produce a detailed 'spectroscopic fingerprint' of each tissue layer removed during surgery. This technique — which can produce detailed maps of the tissue rich ...
Wetlands more cost-effective in nutrient removal, but multiple payments would be of uncertain value
2013-09-17
URBANA, Ill. – Removing nitrogen from the environment "the natural way" by creating a wetland is a long-term, nutrient-removal solution, more cost effective than upgrading a wastewater treatment plant, but it isn't necessarily socially beneficial to offer landowners multiple payments for the environmental services that flow from such wetlands, according to a study conducted at the University of Illinois.
"In the areas we studied in Bureau County with small wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), it was much cheaper to do pollution control by installing just a few wetlands ...
Entitlement-minded workers more likely to claim bosses mistreat them, new UNH research shows
2013-09-17
DURHAM, N.H. – Employees who have a sense of unjustified entitlement are more likely to say that their bosses are abusive and mistreat them than their less entitlement-minded coworkers, according to new research from the University of New Hampshire.
The research was conducted by Paul Harvey, associate professor of organizational behavior at UNH, and his research colleagues Kenneth Harris from Indiana University Southeast, William Gillis from the University of South Alabama, and Mark Martinko from the University of Queensland. It is presented in The Leadership Quarterly ...
Information conveyed to urologists regarding laser fiber diameter is incorrect, says new study
2013-09-17
17 September 2013 – Neither the total nor the core diameters of laser fibers correspond to the advertised laser fiber diameter, revealed a new study investigating lasers used for urological surgery. Furthermore, there are serious differences between manufacturers of fibers with a supposedly equal diameter.
The new study, conducted by Dr. Peter Kronenberg of Hospital Fernando Fonseca in Amadora, Portugal, and Prof. Olivier Traxer of the Hôpital Tenon in Paris, France, aimed to objectively confirm the diameter between laser fibers of supposed equal thickness by different ...
MOOCs Forum -- preview issue of groundbreaking publication
2013-09-17
New Rochelle, NY—Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers has introduced a preview issue of MOOCs Forum, a new publication dedicated to the development and sustainability of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The burgeoning coverage of MOOCs in the press extols their potential. But within the communities of education, industrial learning, developers, investors and broad student demographics, the credibility, standards, protocols, utility and value of MOOCs are being questioned, researched and developed. MOOCs Forum is committed to providing and promoting dialogue, debate ...
A protein that can mean life or death for cells
2013-09-17
Each cell in an organism has a sensor that measures the health of its "internal" environment. This "alarm" is found in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), which is able to sense cellular stress and trigger either rescue responses or the death of the cell. A team from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), in Barcelona, has discovered that the protein Mitofusin 2 (Mfn2) plays a crucial role in correctly measuring stress levels, and also makes sure the pathways of cell repair or cell death are effective.
The researchers reveal some of the molecular mechanisms that ...
Physical contact + ethical marketing = increased consumer preference
2013-09-17
This news release is available in French. Montreal, 17 September 2013 — Can world-saving claims like "not tested on animals" and "phosphate free," help sell bottles of shampoo and bars of soap? A new study from Concordia University's John Molson School of Business proves such statements can make consumers more likely to buy, especially when one's sense of touch is appealed to alongside one's sense of social justice.
In a paper recently published in the Journal of Business Ethics, Concordia University marketing professor Onur Bodur shows that for ethical claims to ...
Lawrence Livermore study finds human activity affects vertical structure of atmospheric temperature
2013-09-17
Human influences have directly impacted the latitude/altitude pattern of atmospheric temperature.
That is the conclusion of a new report by scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and six other scientific institutions. The research compares multiple satellite records of atmospheric temperature change with results from a large, multi-model archive of simulations.
"Human activity has very different effects on the temperature of the upper and lower atmosphere, and a very different fingerprint from purely natural influences," said Benjamin Santer, the lead ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Ash tree variability may offer restoration path post-beetle decimation
Integrating CRISPR and biomaterials engineering: Paving the way for safer gene therapies
New tool for synthetic biology
Yu & Martin adapting mixed reality training programs to real-world scenes to enhance human-AI teaming in emergency responses
ExxonMobil donates $10 million to fund MD Anderson-led Be Well™ Beaumont initiative
Long reads successfully used to find genetic causes of rare diseases
X-ray flashes from a nearby supermassive black hole accelerate mysteriously
New research highlights trends in ADHD diagnoses
United States dementia cases estimated to double by 2060
“The biggest challenge is lacking public acceptance of wind turbines”
Six-month outcomes in the long-term outcomes after the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children study
Global prevalence of sexual violence against children
Chances of quitting smoking improve with integrated care, including medication and counseling
From microplastics to macro-impact: KTU expert explains plastic recycling challenges
How does the brain encode pain? Scientists uncover neuronal mechanisms of pain intensity encoding
Study finds opioid pain medications very infrequently prescribed to NFL players
Wrong place, wrong time: Why Zika virus hijacks a protein needed for brain growth
The new age of infrastructure maintenance using data from space
CNIO and CNIC research identifies a key protein for ‘burning’ fat
‘True food’ research database offers rankings for 50,000 processed foods
Mystery solved: how tumor cells die after radiotherapy
Bacterial survival genes uncovered using evolutionary map
Sodium-ion batteries need breakthroughs to compete
Tumor DNA in the blood can predict lung cancer outcome
New study unveils breakthrough in understanding cosmic particle accelerators
Previous experience affects family planning decisions of people with hereditary dementia
Does obesity affect children’s likelihood of survival after being diagnosed with cancer?
Understanding bias and discrimination in AI: Why sociolinguistics holds the key to better Large Language Models and a fairer world
Safe and energy-efficient quasi-solid battery for electric vehicles and devices
Financial incentives found to help people quit smoking, including during pregnancy
[Press-News.org] Study determines best arrangement of tidal sails deviceSimulation in 'Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy' predicts optimized arrangement of clean, green power-generating devices