1. Vinalhaven Tidal Power
WEST CHANNEL
Derek Bruno and Nathaniel House

2. Fall semester accomplishments…
Turbine research
Devices for measuring fluid velocities
Trip to Vinalhaven
Solidworks rendering of site
Rough estimates of flow rates
Tide modeling
Design of vane anemometer

3. Turbine Research- Finding the right turbine for this application
Types of turbines
Impulse turbine
Reaction turbine
Tidal turbine

4. Impulse Style Turbine Designed to extract kinetic energy from the flow
Suitable for low flow high head applications
Nozzle pointed toward “buckets” to drive rotor

5. Reaction style turbine
Follows Newton’s third law- for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction
Nozzle is attached to spinning rotor

6. Tidal Turbine Used in open flow channels
Extracts kinetic energy from tides and currents to produce power
Designed for all kinetic no head applications

7. Devices for measuring flow
Ultrasonic flow meters
Very reliable
To expensive for application
Pressure differential flow meters
Venturi - unsuitable used in pipe flow
Orifice plate - unsuitable used in pipe flow
Pitot tube - unavailable for water application
Vane anemometer
Being fabricated

8. Trip to Vinalhaven
A trip to Vinalhaven in October provided key visual information of how the site operates.

9. Solidworks rendering of site
Using the pictures and measurements from our trip in October a computer graphic of the site was created.
This graphic provided key information of how the site was constructed and functioned.

10. Rendering of Vinalhaven Site

11. Rough Estimates of Flow Rate
Estimated carvers pond to be 147 acres= ft2
A 6 foot drop of carvers pond was estimated from high tide to low tide
That makes the volume of the water exiting the pond to be 38,419, ft3
Estimated that the entire volume of water takes 8 hours to empty

12. Estimate of flow rate cont.
Flow rate Q is calculated Q=1334 ft3/sec
Divided into two channels Q=667 ft3/sec
These flow rates are a rough estimate and will be compared with the future data from our vane anemometer

13. Tide Model
Tide chart was drawn for the month of October in attempt to get an accurate flow rate.

14. Break through at meeting
Rich Kimball suggests using the other channel eastern channel
Much easier to block off cisterns while keeping it a historic site and utilizing other channel with tidal turbine
It is decided to build a vane anemometer to determine flow rate in each channel, then do power analysis.

15. Designing and Building a Vane Anemometer
Mostly built for reading air velocities
Need to make a custom made anemometer for our salt water application

16. Goals for Spring Fabricate Vane anemometer Return trip to Vinalhaven
Test and Calibrate anemometer in tow tank at university of Maine
Return trip to Vinalhaven
Collect data using anemometer in both channels
Collect visual data of eastern channel
Power analysis of both sites
Turbine sizing and efficiency for application
Feasibility of using either site for power generation