Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 2

AXYS Technologies (AXYS) is a highly regarded Canadian company with over forty years' experience designing, manufacturing, and supplying remote real-time environmental monitoring systems that collect data via instrumented buoys or monitoring stations throughout the world. Camosun Innovates (CI), the Camosun College (CC) applied research and development hub, has a long history of working with marine industries, including those involved in remote data gathering and telemetry monitoring. Housed within CI is the Camosun Technology Access Centre (CTAC), one of sixty such centres across Canada and the first in BC, with more than a ten-year focus on advanced manufacturing.AXYS is embarking on the design and outfitting of a new product, the WindSeeker buoy, which utilizes the Sealite Atlantic 3000 hull, 3m diameter modular ocean platform. Important features of the center float section include 500-1000kg of concrete ballast (AXYS configuration dependent) and two large stainless-steel turnbuckle rods that support the mooring load and provide adequate strength for lifting. AXYS seeks to outfit the WindSeeker with a custom fuel system designed, built, and tested with the required monitoring instrumentation and able to run uninterrupted for at least twelve (12) months without being refueled or requiring any other intervention by the AXYS team. While deployed in an offshore marine environment, the WindSeeker buoy must be self-sufficient in the supply of electrical energy that is required by the instruments, sensors, and communication modules. Most of the energy will be generated using wind and solar power supplies built into the buoy, however a backup fuel system is required to ensure uninterrupted power when wind and solar are not available.AXYS and CI will work together to analyze the challenges associated with long term data gathering platforms, the difficulties of design and manufacturing, and the subsequent testing of the platform in real world situations. Specifically, this project will yield a custom fuel system tailored to the physical requirements of the new WindSeeker buoy, capable of providing the buoy with a minimum of twelve (12) months uninterrupted supplementary energy for AXYS' marine monitoring equipment