Flow Enabled Voltage Generation
University of California, San Diego
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
MAE 156B: Senior Design Project
University of California, San Diego
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
MAE 156B: Senior Design Project
Objective
Current Design of Bandaru's Unit Cell
For this project, our goal is to design, test and build a pre-commercial prototype of the voltage generating apparatus based of the Bandaru Unit Cell. In order to compete in the InDEEP competition, the new cell design must able to out perform the existing one (50mV) and be integral to one another while displaying additive properties (i.e. two cells attached together produce twice the amount of voltage).
Design Solution
Final Test Bed
The design solution (shown to the left) is the test fixture designed for the Bandaru lab. There are steel clamping plates with 3D-printed VeroClear manifolds on each side that are stackable to test multiple channels at a time and contain silver chloride electrodes for voltage testing. In the between the plates are the PVDF transducer chips with 0.5mm triangular channels for water to flow through. When flowing water through 1 channel, this design can generate around 1.7V at 16GPH as shown in the video below.
Video of Final Design
The final design is able to generate 1.7V when flow is at 16GPH.
Project Background
InDEEP Competition Logo
Palaemus Oceanic is an engineering contractor that specializes in deep sea maritime sensing technologies. They have partnered with the Bandaru lab at UCSD to compete in the Department of Energy’s InDEEP competition. This $2.3 million dollar competition seeks to develop novel technologies that convert wave energy into usable electricity, with the larger goal of being able to generate electricity at the grid scale.
Scientific Background
Scientific Principles Behind Device
A major limiting factor for ocean exploration is power availability and the need for persistent, expendable, survivable instruments that can reliably monitor the ocean for longer durations. Existing power systems have numerous issues, such as size, weight, unpredictability of power source and too much required maintenance.
A new approach to solve this issue is utilizing P.R. Bandaru's, a professor at UCSD, research in electrokinetic technology. This idea involves the relative motion of charged species (e.g., seawater flowing through a channel) with respect to the channel substrate (channel walls). When the substrate is charged, an electrical double layer (EDL) forms. On application of pressure, driven by wave or current energy, the charge separation and relative movement yields a voltage.
Final Poster
Final Presentation