Industrialisation of Patents

In 2012, KYMANER acquired from IST the rights to develop 2 patents: a new biradial turbine concept, later named KymanAIR®, and a sparbuoy for offshore wave energy conversion, named KymanOS®. Their respective lives turned out to be different but fruitful, nevertheless.

KymanOS® followed a consistent path of development in IST, with a series of tank model tests with scales of 1:125, 1:35, 1:16 that demonstrated its ability to convert wave energy in different sea states. KYMANER self-funded a pre-design, defined a system structure and a weight estimate for the spar-buoy, enabling a budgeting exercise to be carried out, as a pre-requisite to seek funding from an emerging opportunity. 

Unfortunately, this opportunity did not materialize and the focus of Kymaner’s engineering team was directed to the development of the concept of the biradial turbine. This decision would constitute a turning point in the company’s strategy, that would henceforth concentrate all efforts in developing air turbines for Oscillating Water Column and unidirectional inshore and offshore wave energy converters. 

The spar-buoy concept was further developed by IST as a multi-function oceanographic buoy and a scaled model was built to test offshore near Faial, Azores. The device is equipped with a set of sensors to collect and store data from sea related parameters and can also be fit to operate as a ROV docking/charging station.

KymanAIR® early development steps were financially supported by an initiative from EIT-Innoenergy, known as the Offshore Test Platform. KYMANER designed the test rig, that would be set up in the Pico Wave Power Plant in Pico, Azores; designed the first version of the turbine with a horizontal axis; and qualified the Supply Chain for the fabrication. 

The preparation of the OPERA H2020 project application and the successful award that followed, provided the right setting for the subsequent and thorough development and extensive testing of the novel biradial concept (see OPERA project).