Goal
The goal of the project is to produce a fully self-sustaining wave energy harvesting device. All economic, environmental, and legal restrictions must be applied to the design to ensure quality and functionality. The target market will be scientific buoys, sensor buoys and light buoys.
Team
Engineering students: Genevieve Lipp, Clark McGehee, Brian Moy and Taylor Rhyne. Trinity College of Arts & Science students James Kendall, Jenny Lin, Angela Nicholas, Connor Smith and Justin Wickett.
Solution
An encased platform pendulum design has been chosen to convert mechanical rotation into electrical power. The LOOP system will be tethered to a buoy and its electrical output will be used to power onboard sensors/lights or recharge existing batteries. Testing will provide realistic power output expectations and design optimization data. Prototype electricity price per kilowatt – hour is significantly higher than that of current market products, but mass production will drastically reduce the price of LOOP electricity. The LOOP system is a worthwhile investment because it provides many economic and environmental advantages over current buoy powering systems.