Globally the amount of electricity produced each year is increasing significantly. Between 1980 and 2010 the average increase was 407 billion kWh per year. To be able to meet this increasing electricity demand, without burdening the environment in a too large extent, the research and development of renewable energy production techniques is of great importance. In the light of this we wanted to dedicate our master thesis to help SubseaTechnology Scandinavia AB with the development of a vertical axis tidal current turbine. The project set out to do the initial design proposal of a 2 x 4 meter H-shaped Darrieus turbine by applying the Double Multiple Streamtube model. The optimization process was performed with the aid of MATLAB for four different foils. The study included two symmetrical foils; NACA 0012 and S-1046 together with two asymmetrical foils; S-1210 and E216. The parameters studied were the number of blades, chord length, tip speed ratio, fixed pitch and the operational range. In the project, effects such as blade to wake interaction, torque fluctuations etc. were also considered. From the simulations the two bladed turbine fitted with the S-1046 hydrofoil showed the highest performance but was struggling with an unfavorable oscillating torque. In the light of this the three bladed turbine fitted with the S-1046 hydrofoil with a chord of 0.13 m and an optimal tip speed ratio of 3.2 was determined. From the simulations the power coefficient reached 53.47 % for this case. This configuration also showed good performance in a relatively wide range of both tip speed ratios and free stream velocities. The model does not include several effects causing losses and the power coefficients calculated in this model are to be used as a comparison between the different turbine configurations and not as absolute values of performance. The simulations showed good potential for the use of asymmetrical foils in vertical axis turbines. The performance was evaluated for the upstream half of the turbine where the E216 foil exceeded the symmetrical foils in the range of ten percentage points.

The focus of this thesis is research on the performance of very low speed direct drive permanent magnet generators for energy conversion from marine and tidal currents. Various aspects involved in the design of these generators and their electromagnetic modelling using the finite element simulations are presented. For a detailed study, a 5 kW prototype generator has been designed and constructed based on finite element based simulations. Several experiments were conducted on the prototype generator. The experimental results were compared with the corresponding case simulations on the designed generator. The differences between the results predicted by the simulations and those predicted by the measurements were less than 10%. The part and overload performance of the generator has been investigated and it is found from both simulations and measurements that the generator is capable to efficiently operate at varying speeds. The tests on the experimental generator were made for speeds between 2 and 16 rpm and for load variations of 0.5 to 2 per unit. In this thesis it is shown that it is possible to design a very low speed direct drive generator for more or less any given marine current site and this is beneficial for projects aiming to develop a technical and economical viable marine current energy conversion system.

Sandstone bodies of the Lower and Middle Turonian well exposed in the northwestern part of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin represent deposits of the coarse-grained deltas. Aim of this paper is to interpret the architectures, stratigraphy and depositional regime of these bodies. The main architectural elements are clinoforms which show intermediate dip 4ř to 5ř of the delta slope and the direction of the progradation of the delta to the west-southwest. Correlation of the lithological profiles with the well - log data provided the stratigraphic classification of the outcrops in the studied area mostly to the genetic sequence TUR2. Correlations in one of the two stratigraphic cross - sections revealed the existence of the second delta body prograding into the basin from Most - Teplice Palaeohigh during TUR1. Detailed study of the sedimentary structures in the outcrops show high degree of reworking of foresets by tidal generated current. Two main directions of the paleocurrents results from the analysis - dominant current to the NW and subordinate current to the SE - SSE.