Grant: Alliance Grants

Wind energy has been used for a long time, and efforts have been made over the past decade to improve their efficiency. For example, there are various wind turbine configurations (horizontal, vertical, and hybrid) that have been used both experimentally and commercially. Gravity-based energy harvesting is another clean energy technology that has advanced significantly over the past decade, through the development of pendulum-type energy harvesters, pendulum, water-wave hybrid systems, moving brick-mass systems, and spring-loaded gravity-based energy systems. To the best of our knowledge, no one has investigated the possibility of combining a pendulum-type gravity-based energy harvesting system with wind turbines. For instance, if a vertical turbine is pivoted over a hinge, the drag force from the wind could swing it, resulting in excess energy being induced through the oscillatory motion of the pendulum-type vertical wind turbine.In the proposed project, we will investigate the feasibility of using wind and gravity to generate electricity. We will collaborate with Dr. Mohsen Soltani, the Director of the Offshore Renewable Energy Systems research group at Aalborg University, Denmark. In this project, a dynamically coupled model for a wind-gravity energy harvesting system will be developed. We will conduct a comprehensive data collection within a realistic simulation environment and perform sensitivity analysis on the collected data through various scenarios. A machine learning approach based on the data collected will be used to optimize the performance of the proposed energy harvesting system. This international collaboration will strengthen Canada's research community and its potential leadership role at both the national and international levels. Our research results will pave the way for Canada to lead in the design and development of efficient renewable energy systems and their integration into the Canadian power grid.