Underwater compressed air energy storage improved through Vortex Hydro Energy

A power generating energy storage system is presented. The proposed self-powered energy storage technology (UWCAES–VHE) is a hybrid of Underwater Compressed Air Energy Storage (UWCAES) and the Vortex Induced Vibration Aquatic Clean Energy (VIVACE) converter invented by Bernitsas and Raghavan [1] to harness Vortex Hydro Energy (VHE). The present technology significantly improves the roundtrip efficiency of conventional UWCAES. Through this hybridization, the energy conversion efficiency of the VIVACE converters performing as the accumulator–converters of the UWCAES–VHE is expected to be higher than that of the conventional VIVACE converters. It is further demonstrated that the round trip efficiency of the UWCAES–VHE and the VHE conversion efficiency of the VIVACE are linearly related. UWCAES–VHE and conventional UWCAES are quantitatively compared.