CUR - The Council on Undergraduate Research

Titan Energy Generation System

Dominic Garcia, Albert Chavez, Benedict Tuazon, Caleb Douglas, Hassan Fawaz, Tyler Viers, Dr. Sagil James, Mechanical Engineering, California State University Fullerton, 800 N. State College Blvd. Fullerton, CA 92831-3599

The field of offshore renewable energy is still in its infancy, and there are many designs of energy converters that are large in scale. Our proposed design tackles offshore energy generation in a smaller form factor while utilizing additional renewable sources of energy. The system will use three existing forms of energy generation: wind, solar, and waves. It is designed to be a compact and modular offshore device. In this current climate, it is essential to look at all viable methods of renewable energy and make attempts to maximize the available space that our oceans provide. The system will have durable, lightweight solar panels that are capable of surviving the harsh environment of the ocean. The method of generating wind energy will focus on bladeless turbines, which are environmentally friendly, low cost, and lightweight. The wave generation will focus on an array of point absorbers, which will produce energy and ensure system floatation and stability. The culmination of these three systems will allow for dynamic offshore energy generation. The expected outcome for this offshore energy converter is to demonstrate the feasibility of a low cost, effective, small scale, environmentally friendly energy generation system. The findings of this project can be easily translated to low-cost commercial renewable energy harvesting systems for the benefit of coastal communities as well as areas that have been devastated by natural disasters where electricity is difficult to generate.

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