Timeline

Conference Presentations

Following deployment of the full-scale prototype device at Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head, North Carolina, USA. the Water Bros Desalination team presented on the challenges and lessons learned preparing for and during a wave energy converter deployment at the 2022 UMERC+METS+OREC Conference in Portland, Oregon, USA.

Water Bros Desal team with members for the North Carolina Renewable Energy Program at the Marine Energy Technology Symposium in Portland, OR (Sep 2022)

Waves to Water DRINK Stage

In April 2022, the four finalist teams from the DOE Waves to Water Prize along with experts from NREL, DOE, and the Coastal Studies Institute convened in Nag Head North Carolina to deploy 4 wave-powered desalination devices in a single day.

Water Bros buoy deployed off the coast of North Carolina for the Waves to Water Prize Drink Stage Finale

Waves to Water CREATE Stage

During the Create Stage, the team leveraged the TEAMER Program to facilitate Wave tank testing of an early-stage prototype for full-scale hydrodynamic stability, PTO certification, and model validation.

Full-scale, partial functionality prototype tested in the wave tank at the University of New Hampshire

Waves to Water ADAPT Stage

Throughout the ADAPT Stage the team developed several small-scale pathfinder prototypes of the device to test hydrodynamic stability and the function of the point absorber power takeoff (PTO)

Hank Wolfe (high school summer intern) working with the 1/3 scale prototype

Waves to Water DESIGN Stage

The Design stage focused on computer-aided design (CAD), and simulation through WECSim and Simulink/Simscape to design the components, subsystems, and full system and model performance.

Preliminary Water Bros device design submitted for the Design Stage of the competition

Waves to Water CONCEPT Stage

The initial concept for the WATER BROS device was proposed in the Fall of 2019 at the introduction of the Department of Energy Water Power Technology Office’s “Wave to Water Prize.”

Conceptual diagram created for the first stage of the Waves to Water Prize Competition

Earlier Inspiration

A University of North Carolina at Charlotte design project and later IndieGoGo campaign called “Surge Actuated Reverse Osmosis” SAROS provided some of the original inspiration for the Water Bros Concept. The prior team and UNC Charlotte were both pleased to have Water Bros continue to build on the early foundations of the SAROS Project.