MODELING AND OPTIMIZATION OF A PCM-BASED OCEAN THERMAL ENERGY HARVESTER FOR POWERING UNMANNED UNDERWATER VEHICLES
- BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB)
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
As oceans cover over 70% of the planet’s surface, they represent a large reservoir of resources that remained vastly untapped. Uncrewed Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) are becoming key technology for ocean exploration. Ocean thermal gradient is a permanent and reliable energy source that can be used to power UUVs using phase change material (PCM)-based thermal engines. However, the main drawback of this technology is its low conversion efficiency. When using PCM-based thermal engines to power UUVs, there are different energy conversion stages, thermal-hydraulic, hydraulic-kinetic, kinetic-electrical, dependent of a wide variety of parameters. Thus, optimization of the overall energy conversion is still a challenge for powering the increasing energy demanding UUVs for long missions. The goal of this study is to propose a PCM-based ocean thermal energy harvesting system for powering the Solo II float. Using the ocean thermal energy reduces the cost for battery replacement and expands the float’s mission time. For this purpose, we developed a multiphysics model for a system consisting of thermal material, hydraulic, and electrical systems. This system is designed to provide the electrical power needed for the instruments aboard the underwater vehicle. The models of the hydraulic and the electric systems are implemented in MATLAB-Simulink/Simscape environment. The final model developed can provide 13.66 kJ of electrical energy, which is more than 1.5 times the energy requirement per cycle for the SOLO II float.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 2332938
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-181217
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Efficient Hydraulic-to-electric Energy Conversion for PCM-based Ocean Thermal Gradient Energy System to Power Uncrewed Underwater Vehicles
Predictive model using artificial neural network to design phase change material-based ocean thermal energy harvesting systems for powering uncrewed underwater vehicles
Extracting energy from ocean thermal and salinity gradients to power unmanned underwater vehicles: State of the art, current limitations, and future outlook
Conference
·
Tue Sep 12 00:00:00 EDT 2023
·
OSTI ID:2305511
Predictive model using artificial neural network to design phase change material-based ocean thermal energy harvesting systems for powering uncrewed underwater vehicles
Journal Article
·
Tue May 14 20:00:00 EDT 2024
· Energy
·
OSTI ID:2496206
Extracting energy from ocean thermal and salinity gradients to power unmanned underwater vehicles: State of the art, current limitations, and future outlook
Journal Article
·
Fri Mar 04 19:00:00 EST 2022
· Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
·
OSTI ID:1856207