TIDAL TURBINE While the design of the turbine itself was initially a major deliverable of our group, the task was handed off to University of Maine Mechanical Engineering grad student Ronnie Oliver. With the help of Professors Rich Kimball (MMA) and Michael Boyle (UMO), Ronnie worked on converting the existing OpenProp open source computer code (initially intended to be used as optimization software for the design of ship propellers) to optimize tidal turbine design. The OpenProp code takes in flow parameters and a few prop size guidelines and creates a three dimensional prop design. This design can be taken directly from the program through an STL file and instantly created through one of various rapid prototyping methods. Because the OpenProp modification could not be completed within the time constraints of this project, Professor Kimball used the original OpenProp code and his expertise to design the three bladed 10 inch propeller (show below) that would become our first test turbine. Once the OpenProp-Turbine modification has been completed, turbine design will be simple. This will allow for a rapid turbine development system, where we start with a turbine design, rapid prototype the part, test it on our test bed, and return the results to OpenProp to improve upon the design.       Design with OpenProp           Rapid Prototype                             Test   Step 1                                      Step 2                                             Step 3