FlexGrid System
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Lower prices
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Same kW absorption on a smaller area
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Easier to place and maintain
Why? much lower weight, smaller size, mass production
Reduction app. 70% in weight
app. 30% in productions prices and reduced handling.
The Inventor Erik Skaarup has invented a new concept, for use on The WavePlane, but it can also be used on other floating wave energy converters. There has been applied for a patent in January 2002 and for PCT in January 2003.
In order to find the necessary distance between the WavePlanes at sea, it became obvious that a park of WavePlanes would take up a large area, to large an area. The WavePlanes has to have enough space in order to never bump in to each other.
To reduce the area, the WavePlanes has to be fixated with something flexible. Since the power of the ocean is so enormous it is better to yield than try to withstand it. It also makes the construction cheaper.
The trend in wave energy today is build on the principles from wind energy. It is to produce as many MW on as few items as possible.
A certain width of a wave has a certain amount of wave energy. Double the width double the energy.
To gain the same effect on the double width of e.g. a WavePlane, it has to withstand much larger forces. The materials needed is to bee cubed 2 x 2 x 2 = 8 times. The WavePlane will not only be the double width, but also have the double thickness and double depth in the bearing structures. But it only gains the double energy absorption.
The Actually extended use in material, to replace two singles of the original WavePlanes with one the double width, is six times.
Figure 1. Normal size of park with 7 WavePlanes
The WaveFlexGrid will fixate the WavePlanes positions in relation to each other to prevent collisions but it will not prevent the vertical movements between the units. At the same time the WaveFlexGrid only requires one anchorage and one cable connection.
Figure 2. To the left the same 7 WavePlanes (figure 1) placed in the new WaveFlexGrid
and to the right in half size saving 75% material but archiving the same energy capture.
This makes it possible to make the WavePlanes smaller (to a certain degree) and thereby gain an price and material reduction.
The system of the Multi-WavePlane that divides the incoming waves in several levels was planed to be constructed in units of 400 kW energy output, in order to gain a price reduction by mass production. This size has now been half to 200 kW.
The new system ”WaveFlexGrid” is cheaper and much more flexible. It can be suited in series to the size of a given area of ocean and to the MW output required.
To see how it works and its advantages.