Optimal Control Parameter Determination for an Oscillating Body Type Wave Energy Converter for Japan

The purpose of this study is to determine the optimal parameters for a control strategy of an oscillating body type wave energy converter (WEC) for a WEC development and demonstration project in Japan. We plan to use a reactive control strategy for calm sea states, because wave heights in the seas near around Japan is about 1 m in summer. We also developed a combined and tuned control strategy with both reactive and resistive controls, in which the control parameters are changed to sea states. The proposed control system achieves both better performance and safer operation. In this numerical study, we determine the control parameters for the sea states by the time-domain simulation using the Newmark–β method.