Abstract
DTOceanPlus will accelerate the commercialisation of the Ocean Energy sector by developing and demonstrating an open-source suite of design tools for the selection, development, deployment, and assessment of ocean energy systems (including sub-systems, energy capture devices, and arrays). The suite of tools will include a Structured Innovation tool, for technology concept selection, a Stage Gate tool, for the technology development process, and a set of Deployment Design and Assessment tools for the design of the system and its evaluation.
The Structured Innovation (SI) design tool comprises innovation methodologies that can enhance concept creation and selection in ocean energy systems, enabling a structured approach to address complex ocean energy engineering challenges where design options are numerous. Thus, it can facilitate efficient evolution from concept to commercialisation. The tool is one of a kind beyond the current state-of-the-art, that will enable the transfer and adaptation of the QFD/TRIZ and FMEA methodologies to the ocean energy sector.
Deliverable D3.3 “Testing and verification results of the Structured Innovation design tool – Beta version” of the DTOceanPlus project includes the details of the verification activities carried out to test the SI tool to verify that it meets the requirements defined in WP2 and the technical requirements defined in T3.1. This report describes:
- the Verification Cases (VCs), Software Evaluation Forms and associated Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and their creation,
- the demonstration and training sessions that were provided to the verifiers of the tool,
- the results of the verification, including quantitative and qualitative assessments of each VS and
- recommended changes or additional functionality that would add value to the tool.
At the end of this round of testing, a stable version (beta) of the tool is available, fully documented with a technical manual and a user manual, which will be further validated and demonstrated using real data from the first pilot experiences in WP7.
According to the quantitative results, the end-users involved in evaluating the SI tool are satisfied with the usability, user-friendliness, performance, and value of the software. The qualitative assessment feedback gathered some improvements compiled and categorised by functionality, evaluation characteristics, and the frequency of comments. As a result of this, 15 high priority improvement areas were selected to be implemented in the final release of the DTOceanPlus suite of design tools.