Summary
When Artemis Intelligent Power wanted to prove that its hydraulic transmission system could replace the gearboxes currently used in wind-turbines, it sought Carbon Trust help. Following research funding and commercialisation support, the company has now developed a 1.6 megawatt hydraulic power transmission, and become the overall winner of the 2009 Carbon Trust Innovation awards.
Business case
Gearboxes are heavy, expensive and prone to breakdown, but hydraulic transmissions haven’t traditionally been considered to be viable in wind-turbines because of their poor efficiencies at part-load. This is despite the fact that they otherwise offer an attractive means of capturing the most energy from the slowly turning rotor whilst allowing the electrical generator to be spun at a constant high speed.
Artemis has been able to dramatically increase the efficiency of hydraulic transmissions through the development of its Digital Displacement® technology. This replaces the mechanical valves of traditional hydraulic machines with computer-controlled, electro-magnetic flow-control.
As a result, the many separate pistons and cylinders in each Digital Displacement® pump or motor can be commanded at particular instants in time, to either actively contribute to the power flow of the complete transmission or to ‘idle’. An idling cylinder has very low losses and as a result, in low wind speed conditions with a large fraction of cylinders idling, the overall efficiency of the transmission can be remarkably high.
Approach
In developing its Digital Displacement® technology for large renewable energy applications Artemis has been supported by Carbon Trust through research funding and commercialisation support.
“There have been significant benefits of working with the Carbon Trust other than the grant funding. The projects made us focus and think about what we wanted to achieve in the timeframe and set clear milestones to report against. The association with the Carbon Trust also helped us with introductions, to raise our profile by speaking at conferences and getting our message out in public forums,” says Win Rampen, managing director, Artemis.
Innovator of the year
Artemis was named overall winner of the 2009 Carbon Trust Innovation Awards following rigorous assessment by an independent panel of highly-renowned clean technology-experts. The Artemis solution was felt to meet the criteria of genuine innovation, carbon saving potential, novel application and commercial potential across multiple industries. As a result the company also won the ‘Power’ award and was shortlisted in the green transport section.
Digital Displacement® is a generic technology that has many potential energy saving applications and Artemis has major partnerships with a number of international companies across a range of market sectors. Now the company’s renewable energy transmission work has attracted fresh interest from the wind industry and has secured new investment from the government’s Environmental Transformation Fund (ETF).
Find out more about Carbon Trust work with emerging technologies and Entrepreneurs Fast Track support for entrepreneurs.