Technology From Ideas (TFI)

Technology From Ideas (TFI) are an SME technology developer and consultancy based in Ireland.

TFI has developed two innovative mooring components which were deployed at EMEC’s Shapinsay Sound test site from August – December 2021.

D400

Developed primarily for floating wind devices, the D400 SeaSpring is a load bearing spring that provides a high performance, load reducing, mooring option that can be deployed in deep waters.

Gator

Jointly owned by TFI & Exceedence, the Gator is a polymer spring pump driving a hydro-electric power take-off (PTO) system. The polymer spring has been designed with a wide range of non-linear response curves allowing tailoring of the stress strain response. The Gator essentially acts as a pump by compressing internal fluid (such as sea-water) and driving a hydro-electric PTO system.

EMEC’s role

During testing at EMEC, both devices were installed onto EMEC’s test support buoy’s mooring lines to measure how each performed in real sea conditions. To capture the relevant data, EMEC built a bespoke wind and solar power system on the test support buoy which powered EMEC’s data acquisition (DAQ) system and instrumentation. Mooring tension and GPS position were logged and monitored through the EMEC DAQ, and wave resource data collected separately using a Waverider buoy nearby.