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Senior Design 04-05: Team 6

The Bobbers

Team 6, "The Bobbers," has chosen a Senior Design project to harness wave energy. Team 6 consists of Tunde Cole, Thomas Totoe, Thomas Vander Puy, and Andrew Van Noord. We are all Senior Mechanical Engineering Students at Calvin College. During the Fall Semester we looked into the feasibility of such a project, and this site publishes our findings. Check out our Project Proposal and Feasibility Study.

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team picture

Our first design was focused on converting wave energy into electrical energy. We have stopped further investigation of this project due to impracticalities determined during the first semester.

Electrical Generation: The Float would drive a small electric generator located inside the housing. A series of gears would increase the angular speed up to 350 rpm for the generator. Problems with this design are Housing Location, Overall Large Size vs. Small Electrical Output, and No Practical Small Scale Application

After our study during the Fall Semester, we have decided to change directions and shift our focus onto converting wave energy into a water pump. We have identified a specific task of pumping a low volume of water but at a high pressure. New Project - Water Pump.

Water Pump: Float drives the water pump. This small design will be easily installed and removed based on needs.

 

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