Nine engineering students from Cal Poly have launched an ocean-powered generator in Morro Bay.
The device, called the Expeditionary Ocean Power Generator, is made of aluminum and weighs about 30 pounds.
“It definitely takes two people to carry it safely,” said Otto Van Willigen, a mechanical engineering student at Cal Poly.
The students worked closely with the Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center to design, build, test, and deploy the generator.
“We aim to create a device that uses the ocean’s energy to generate electricity,” explained David Nyberg, another mechanical engineering student. “This is important because the Navy currently relies mostly on heavy diesel generators.”
The generator floats on the water’s surface.
“As waves pass, the buoy moves up and down. This motion powers the generator inside,” Nyberg said.
“Our target power output is about 10 watts,” said Hunter Herring-Alderete, an electrical engineering student at Cal Poly.
“That amount of power could run small devices like radio batteries or other low-power electronics,” added Judy Santa Cruz, the U.S. Navy Technical Program Manager for the Marine Energy Development Program.
Such devices could benefit the U.S. Navy during operations.
“They want to support their warfighters during reconnaissance missions, allowing them to charge batteries in the field,” Herring-Alderete said.
As the generator operates near the mouth of Morro Bay, the team will collect data on its power output.
“We want to see how much power the device can produce under different sea conditions,” Santa Cruz said.
