Through iPrep WA initiative Bombora Wave Power has received more than USD 75.000 worth of consulting hours.
iPREP WA is an initiative to support research collaboration between the universities and industries of Western Australia (WA).
The program, developed by Edith Cowan University (ECU) in collaboration with four other WA universities and the Office of Premier and Cabinet, links PhD students with businesses to work on a six-week project during their thesis examination period.
Bombora Wave Power has signed up for the program to get additional expertise in order to accelerate the transition of their wave energy technology from concept to reality, ECU’s press release reads.
ECU PhD candidate Gary Allwood has been working with Bombora Wave Power on a way to monitor the performance and structural health monitoring of the membrane used to transform the energy from the wave to the air circuit.
Allwood said: “I am working on putting fibre optic sensors in to the membrane used in Bombora’s wave energy technology to measure the mechanical properties. This will allow them to generate real time information about how the membranes are performing. Fibre optic sensors are ideally suited to wave power because they require no electricity to run, or metal components which could rust.”
Bombora Wave’s Executive Director Shawn Ryan said iPrep was a fantastic way for business to tap into the expertise available at universities.
Shawn Ryan added: “Because our technology is world-first, there isn’t the data out there on failure rates and overall performance that we need. We need to look at new ways to measure and gain a greater understanding of the performance of the materials we are using in the laboratory and then real world conditions.”
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Image: Bombora Wave Power