Things are starting to get very busy with the Hales Tidal Turbine Project , the one square metre sized prototype has been completed and a steel pontoon, which has been loaned to the project by John Heath, a specialist boatbuilder from Hampton, London, was refurbished at the Normans Bay workshops before being returned to the Thames at Isleworth , Nr Richmond.
A special deploying frame and rail system had been manufactured by Davrek Engineering, Finmere Rd, Eastbourne, to carry and deploy the prototype turbine and all the test equipment.
Once the pontoon had been refloated on the Thames , students and Rod Bromfield, a Senior Lecturer from the Faculty of Engineering, Kingston University have been busy fitting and testing the specialised test equipment to record the performance of the prototype in the tidal flows as part of their course work.
The first trials are already taking place at Isleworth, which is almost at the highest reaches of the tidal Thames, so the speed of the tidal flows are pretty slow, around the 0.5 m/s mark, but enough to test the equipment and method of deployment etc.
On completion of these trials, the complete pontoon and prototype will be moved down the Thames to the Trinity Buoy Wharf, opposite the O2 Dome, where further trials will take place from the Jubilee Pier in an area that has much more powerful tidal flows.
This has been made possible by the generous help and support from Urban Space Management Ltd who run this amazing site and are huge supporters of all aspects of renewable energy and recycling etc.
On completion of the specialised turbine efficency testing an electrical generator and lighting display will be added to the pontoon to show the public that visit the vast range of artistic studios and businesses at Trinity Buoy wharf, or travel by Thames Clipper service from Jubilee Pier, just how tidal energy can be used.
Hales Energy Ltd is also drafting a paper on Methods and Protocols for Testing and Evaluating Tidal Stream Turbine Prototypes , with the grateful assistance of John Jones from Leisurely Learning, a specialised internet service, which will explain the work and methods used for this sort of development and hope it will become a standard for all early stage TST prototype testing.
We hear also that the special Carbon Fibre turbine blades have been completed at the Engineering Materials Department of Sheffield University andthey will be a benefit to the performance and strength of this TST prototype. Hopefully it will also show if carbon fibre is a good material for use in marine energy generators operating in this harsh environment.
Prepared by Paul Hales
Hales Energy Ltd
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