Biography
Maximising the power capture from cyclorotor wave energy converters (MaxRotorWEC)
Dr. Andrei Ermakov earned his PhD in 2020 from the University of Southern Queensland, Australia, with a focus on the Development of Rigorous Methods in Fluid Mechanics and Theory of Water Waves. He also holds a Candidate of Science degree (2011) and a Master's degree (2009) in Mechanical Engineering from Saint Petersburg State University, as well as a Bachelor's degree (2007) in Marine Engineering & Applied Mathematics from Saint Petersburg State Marine Technical University, Russian Federation.
In January 2020, Andrei joined the Centre for Ocean Energy Research (COER) at NUI Maynooth as a postdoctoral researcher, contributing to the LiftWEC project supported by Horizon 2020, the EU's research and innovation funding programme. The LiftWEC project focuses on the development of a novel type of wave energy converters (WECs) that harness ocean wave energy using rotating hydrofoils in a Cyclorotor (horizontal cycloidal rotor).
Following the successful completion of the LiftWEC project in 2023, Andrei secured independent funding to further advance cyclorotor WECs. His new initiative, "MaxRotorWEC," is partially funded by a research grant from Science Foundation Ireland and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland under the SFI-IRC Pathway Programme. Additionally, he serves as an external lecturer in the Department of Electronic Engineering at Maynooth University.