The Vectron Project - Final Report

@techreport{Culina-2022-40323,
author = {Culina, J and Taylor, C},
title = {The Vectron Project - Final Report},
institution = {Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE)},
year = {2022},
month = {jul},
url = {https://fundyforce.ca/document-collection/the-vectron-project-final-report},
keywords = {Current, Tidal, Field Data, Site Characterization},
}

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TY - RPRT
TI - The Vectron Project - Final Report
AU - Culina, J
AU - Taylor, C
AB - The in-stream tidal turbine industry requires high-resolution velocity data to inform the design, build, and operation of turbines. In the models used to design turbines and as determined from observations of turbines, turbine loading and power performance are dependent on the highresolution component of velocity, i.e., turbulence, through the key metrics of streamwise velocity variance, streamwise velocity power spectral density, and streamwise integral length scale (the industry focus is on streamwise (i.e., along stream) velocity), as well as through finer turbulence metrics. The acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) is the standard sensor for measuring velocity, but its divergent beams inherently limit, and limit through dependence of the ADCP on its orientation with respect to the flow direction, the turbulence information it can acquire. The convergent beam Vectron was built to address the need for collecting turbulence at turbine hub height, down to rotor-scale resolution. As a collaboration between Dalhousie University and the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE), the purpose of the present Vectron Project was to bring the Vectron to a state approaching industry-readiness.The key outcomes of this project include:The capability to deploy the Vectron and its (“FAST-1”) platform (for this project, the platform is O(5 m) in the horizontal and weighs 3.5 mT in air) from a vessel local to the 3 upper Bay of Fundy and, generally, the capability to deploy from any ‘mid-sized’ vessel with sufficient deck space and lifting capacity.The Vectron is energy efficient, such that there is sufficient on-board power to operate the Vectron and co-located ADCP continuously for 35+ days.The Vectron resolves the streamwise velocity to sub-1 metre length scales – a tremendous result.The Vectron is verified against turbulence theory and the co-located ADCP as capturing key turbulence metrics for turbine loading and power performance.It is now proven that the Vectron can be successfully and recovered in high flows and is capable to measure turbulence at turbine rotor scale. Hence, the Vectron is ready for deployment to directly support resource assessment towards determining turbine design parameters and for measurements in support of/during operations.FORCE would like to thank the following organizations for providing funding to this project: The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables (NRR) of Nova Scotia, Research Nova Scotia (RNS), and the Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Research Association (OERA), now Net Zero Atlantic (NZA).
DA - 2022/07//
PY - 2022
SP - 15
PB - Fundy Ocean Research Center for Energy (FORCE)
UR - https://fundyforce.ca/document-collection/the-vectron-project-final-report
LA - English
KW - Current
KW - Tidal
KW - Field Data
KW - Site Characterization
ER -

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Abstract

The in-stream tidal turbine industry requires high-resolution velocity data to inform the design, build, and operation of turbines. In the models used to design turbines and as determined from observations of turbines, turbine loading and power performance are dependent on the highresolution component of velocity, i.e., turbulence, through the key metrics of streamwise velocity variance, streamwise velocity power spectral density, and streamwise integral length scale (the industry focus is on streamwise (i.e., along stream) velocity), as well as through finer turbulence metrics. The acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) is the standard sensor for measuring velocity, but its divergent beams inherently limit, and limit through dependence of the ADCP on its orientation with respect to the flow direction, the turbulence information it can acquire. The convergent beam Vectron was built to address the need for collecting turbulence at turbine hub height, down to rotor-scale resolution. As a collaboration between Dalhousie University and the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE), the purpose of the present Vectron Project was to bring the Vectron to a state approaching industry-readiness.

The key outcomes of this project include:

The capability to deploy the Vectron and its (“FAST-1”) platform (for this project, the platform is O(5 m) in the horizontal and weighs 3.5 mT in air) from a vessel local to the 3 upper Bay of Fundy and, generally, the capability to deploy from any ‘mid-sized’ vessel with sufficient deck space and lifting capacity.
The Vectron is energy efficient, such that there is sufficient on-board power to operate the Vectron and co-located ADCP continuously for 35+ days.
The Vectron resolves the streamwise velocity to sub-1 metre length scales – a tremendous result.
The Vectron is verified against turbulence theory and the co-located ADCP as capturing key turbulence metrics for turbine loading and power performance.

It is now proven that the Vectron can be successfully and recovered in high flows and is capable to measure turbulence at turbine rotor scale. Hence, the Vectron is ready for deployment to directly support resource assessment towards determining turbine design parameters and for measurements in support of/during operations.

FORCE would like to thank the following organizations for providing funding to this project: The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables (NRR) of Nova Scotia, Research Nova Scotia (RNS), and the Nova Scotia Offshore Energy Research Association (OERA), now Net Zero Atlantic (NZA).

The Vectron Project - Final Report is located in Canada.