US-based wave energy developer Columbia Power Technologies (CPower) has received its first European patent for its wave energy system.
The patent titled ‘Direct Drive Wave Energy Conversion’ is CPower’s 14th patent worldwide and covers the StingRAY direct-drive wave-power system, the company informed.
The StingRAY, intended for utility-scale applications, uses two floats to capture wave energy and two rotary permanent-magnet generators to convert the energy into electricity.
Each float is directly coupled to its own generator, which enables a single energy-capture/conversion cycle.
A land-based test of StingRAY’s generator and air-gap control system is currently underway at the National Wind Technology Center in Colorado, USA.
The rotary generator has a diameter of over 6m with a 4mm rotor-stator air-gap.
Following the trials, the large-scale StingRAY wave energy device will be deployed at the US Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site in Hawaii, USA in 2018.