This project was sponsored by the United States Coast Guard Academy and consists of two teams, one of Mechanical Engineers (ME Team 69) and another of Electrical Engineers (ECE Team 2305). Our project's goal was to design and develop a Hydrokinetic Electric Generator for deployment in Connecticut's waterways. Taking into consideration the local environment and using inspiration from a popular vertical axis H-Darrieus wind turbinei, the Mechanical team began to do CFD simulations on a selection of known airfoil profiles to decide which one will be the best for our design. Meanwhile the ECE team came up with solutions to connect the turbine's main shaft to a generator to produce a constant voltage with the hopes of powering small devices. Our circuit was tested in simulation and constructed on a breadboard to visualize the result generated from the generator. We are utilizing a lightbulb to demonstrate a physical generation of power along with providing data from the oscilloscope. Because the lightbulb is powered by DC and our generator outputs AC, we utilized a full wave bridge design on our circuit to convert the power to DC while also utilizing a capacitor to help provide that steady output.Our final design is a 4-blade vertical axis H-Darrieus turbine that hangs from a wooden platform and is submerged under water. On top of the platform, the turbine's shaft connects to a mounted generator to produce power from the turbine's rotational momentum. Using the circuit developed by the ECE department and the turbine design from the ME department we will be able power up small appliances rated for about 24V, 300W.

Our team collaborated with Mechanical Engineering 69 on this project.