Review on the blade design technologies of tidal current turbine

Tidal current turbine (TCT) is a kind of device which converts the tidal current energy into electricity and its technology has got rapid progress in last decade. The design of TCT includes the blade, power train, electrical system and power converter, sealing system and foundation, etc. In spite of the principle similarity to the wind energy, the design of the blade should be specially carried on for its characteristics of cavitation, corrosion resistance and the big force on the blades. In this paper, the technology developments of the TCT blade design are reviewed, including the hydrodynamics design and the structure design. Subsequently the key technologies to be researched for the TCT blade design are concluded and forecasted. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.