Construction and Tidal Current Testing of Field Scale Model of Breus Rotor

Maine Blue Stream Power proposes to construct a field scale (2m diameter) prototype of a hydrokinetic energy conversion device, the Breus Rotor (patent pending), and perform in-stream tidal testing.The problem that Main Blue Stream Power addresses in this proposal is the extraction of energy from a wide range of marine current speeds with low impact on the marine environment.In preliminary laboratory (tow tank) testing, the Breus turbine begins to produce power at .3m/s and reaches maximum efficiency at a tip-speed ration of .4.Low rotational speeds are much less likely to cause marine species mortality (fish-strike).Phase I testing will be done at the Tidal Energy Demonstration and Evaluation Center at Maine Maritime Academy, Castine Maine, in a .5m/s-2.5m/s tidal flow, collecting data on power generation and overall performance.