SeaLandAire provided engineering support services to Vortex Hydro Energy to design, develop, and test a large scale renewable energy device based on the principle of vortex induced vibrations – particularly at resonance of a high mass oscillating system.
Over the course of the effort, SeaLandAire successfully developed several iterations of the mechanical, electrical, and data collection subsystems, culminating in a 10 ton prototype deployed in a high current river environment. Based on SeaLandAire’s understanding and modeling of the resonant system with input from Vortex Hydro, cylinder oscillations were successfully achieved in the first test run at The University of Michigan Marine Hydrodynamics Lab Physical Modeling Basin. Since that point, Vortex Hydro Energy has utilized this hardware to collect extensive data, discovering new oscillation modes that could make this technology a viable green energy alternative.