Tension Technology International's (TTI) NetBuoy has started sea trials in the Cromarty Firth this month.
The trials will assess the effect of long-term exposure to sea water, environmental loading, biofouling and UV and ozone. Sea trials will be followed by additional tank testing to demonstrate NetBuoy's application to WECs other than point absorbers.
The long-term vision for the proposed solution is integration into wave energy converters, utilising the NetBuoy to provide the prime mover water plane, swept volume and buoyancy requirements.
NetBuoy integrates two enabling technologies for cost competitive wave energy – impermeable membranes to manufacture buoyant modules and fibre rope nets to encapsulate the buoyant modules. The net applies distributed restraint loads and agglomerates them back to structural ‘hard’ point(s). This is essential in enabling the use of membrane buoyant modules as they cannot be restrained otherwise.
TTI's NetBuoy was developed as part of WES's Structural Materials and Manufacturing Processes call. For more information about NetBuoy, visit the project page on our Knowledge Library.
Top photo credit: Xavier Wadbled - Other photos credit: Tom Mackay
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