Optimum mean power output of a point-absorber wave energy converter in irregular waves

2009 ◽  
Vol 223 (7) ◽  
pp. 773-781 ◽  
Author(s):  
A P McCabe ◽  
G A Aggidis
Keyword(s):  
Wave Energy ◽  
Power Output ◽  
Wave Energy Converter ◽  
Irregular Waves ◽  
Energy Converter ◽  
Mean Power ◽  
Point Absorber ◽  
Mean Power Output

Optimum Power Capture of a New Wave Energy Converter in Irregular Waves

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
George A. Aggidis ◽  
Mohammad T. Rahmati ◽  
Robert V. Chaplin ◽  
Andrew P. McCabe ◽  
Majid A. Bhinder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Control System ◽  
Wave Energy ◽  
Wave Spectrum ◽  
Wave Energy Converter ◽  
Irregular Waves ◽  
Energy Converter ◽  
Mean Power ◽  
Peak Period ◽  
Point Absorber ◽  
Power Capture

This paper presents the optimum power capture of a new point-absorber wave energy converter, in irregular waves. A stepwise control system for the wave energy converter (WEC) is developed. The control system is used to efficiently extract power from irregular waves where amplitudes vary from wave to wave. The Bretschneider spectrum is used in the experiment and the device is ‘tuned’ to the peak period of the sea state. It is shown that this WEC has a reasonable capture width in irregular waves. However, the optimum mean power depends on the wave spectrum, the shape of the collector body, its freeboard and the device pivot depth.

Performance Assessment of a Floating Coaxial Ducted OWC Wave Energy Converter for Oceanographic Purposes

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan C. C. Portillo ◽  
Joao C. C. Henriques ◽  
Luis M. C. Gato ◽  
Rui P. F. Gomes ◽  
Antonio F. O. Falcão
Keyword(s):  
Wave Energy ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Time Domain Analysis ◽  
Turbine Rotor ◽  
Wave Energy Converter ◽  
Energy Converter ◽  
Mean Power ◽  
Air Turbine ◽  
Mean Power Output ◽  
Frequency Domain Approach

This paper presents a numerical study on a floating coaxial ducted OWC wave energy converter equipped with a biradial air turbine to meet the requirements of an oceanographic sensor-buoy. The study used representative sea states of the Monterey Bay, California, USA. The geometry of the coaxial ducted OWC was hydrodynamically optimized using a frequency domain approach considering a linear air turbine. Afterwards, a time domain analysis was carried out for the system equipped with a biradial turbine. The turbine rotor diameter and the optimum generator’s control curves were determined, based on results for representative sea states. Results show that mean power output fulfills the requirement for oceanographic applications (300–500W) using a turbine rotor diameter of 0.25 m. Furthermore, the system’s performance is strongly influenced by the inertia of the turbine and the generator rated power. These results confirmed the suitability of using the coaxial ducted OWC as a self-sustainable oceanographic sensor-buoy.

scholarly journals Coupled Mooring Analyses for the WEC-Sim Wave Energy Converter Design Tool

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Senu Sirnivas ◽  
Yi-Hsiang Yu ◽  
Matthew Hall ◽  
Bret Bosma
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Method ◽  
Wave Energy ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
The Body ◽  
Wave Energy Converter ◽  
Irregular Waves ◽  
Lumped Mass ◽  
Energy Converter ◽  
Mooring Lines ◽  
Point Absorber

A wave-energy-converter-specific time-domain modeling method (WEC-Sim) was coupled with a lumped-mass-based mooring model (MoorDyn) to improve its mooring dynamics modeling capability. This paper presents a verification and validation study on the coupled numerical method. First, a coupled model was built to simulate a 1/25 model scale floating power system connected to a traditional three-point catenary mooring with an angle of 120 between the lines. The body response and the tension force on the mooring lines at the fairlead in decay tests and under regular and irregular waves were examined. To validate and verify the coupled numerical method, the simulation results were compared to the measurements from a wave tank test and a commercial code (OrcaFlex). Second, a coupled model was built to simulate a two-body point absorber system with a chain-connected catenary system. The influence of the mooring connection on the point absorber was investigated. Overall, the study showed that the coupling of WEC-Sim and the MoorDyn model works reasonably well for simulating a floating system with practical mooring designs and predicting the corresponding dynamic loads on the mooring lines. Further analyses on improving coupling efficiency and the feasibility of applying the numerical method to simulate WEC systems with more complex mooring configuration are still needed.

scholarly journals Design and Construction of a Novel Simple and Low-Cost Test Bench Point-Absorber Wave Energy Converter Emulator System

Inventions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Ephraim Bonah Agyekum ◽  
Seepana PraveenKumar ◽  
Aleksei Eliseev ◽  
Vladimir Ivanovich Velkin
Keyword(s):  
Wave Energy ◽  
Power Output ◽  
Test Bench ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Wave Energy Converter ◽  
Real Point ◽  
Energy Converter ◽  
Point Absorber ◽  
Laboratory Conditions ◽  
Wave Generator

This paper proposed a test bench device to emulate or simulate the electrical impulses of a wave energy converter (WEC). The objective of the study is to reconstruct under laboratory conditions the dynamics of a WEC in the form of an emulator to assess the performance, which, in this case, is the output power. The designed emulator device is programmable, which makes it possible to create under laboratory conditions the operating mode of the wave generator, identical to how the wave generator would work under real sea conditions. Any control algorithm can be executed in the designed emulator. In order to test the performance of the constructed WEC emulator, an experiment was conducted to test its power output against that of a real point-absorber WEC. The results indicate that, although the power output for that of the real WEC was higher than the WEC emulator, the emulator performed perfectly well. The relatively low power output of the emulator was because of the type of algorithm that was written for the emulator, therefore increasing the speed of the motor in the algorithm (code) would result in higher output for the proposed WEC emulator.

Experimental Assessment of the Performance of CECO Wave Energy Converter in Irregular Waves

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio A. Rodríguez ◽  
Paulo Rosa-Santos ◽  
Francisco Taveira-Pinto
Keyword(s):  
Wave Energy ◽  
Transfer Functions ◽  
Wave Energy Converter ◽  
Irregular Waves ◽  
Energy Converter ◽  
Energy Harvesters ◽  
Point Absorber ◽  
Model Scale ◽  
Absorbed Power ◽  
Incident Waves

The performance assessment of a wave energy converter (WEC) is a key task. Depending on the layout of the WEC system and type of power take-off (PTO) mechanism, the determination of the absorbed power at model scale involves several challenges, particularly when the measurement of PTO forces is not available. In irregular waves, the task is even more difficult due to the random character of forces and motions. Recent studies carried out with kinetic energy harvesters (KEH) have proposed expressions for the estimation of the power based only on the measured motions. Assuming that the WEC behaves as a KEH at model scale, the expressions for power estimation of KEHs have been heuristically adapted to WECs. CECO, a floating-point absorber, has been used as case study. Experimental data from model tests in irregular waves are presented and analyzed. Spectral analyses have been applied to investigate the WEC responses in the frequency domain and to derive expressions to estimate the absorbed power in irregular waves. The experimental transfer functions of the WEC motions demonstrated that the PTO damping is significantly affected by the incident waves. Based on KEH approach's results, absorbed power and PTO damping coefficients have been estimated. A linear numerical potential model to compute transfer functions has been also implemented and calibrated based on the experimental results. The numerical results allowed the estimation of combined viscous and losses effects and showed that although the KEH approach underestimated the absorbed power, qualitatively reproduced the WEC performance in waves.

Experimental and Numerical Study on Point Absorber Type Wave Energy Converter With Linear Generator

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomoki Taniguchi ◽  
Jun Umeda ◽  
Toshifumi Fujiwara ◽  
Hiroki Goto ◽  
Shunji Inoue
Keyword(s):  
Wave Energy ◽  
Power Output ◽  
Wave Energy Converter ◽  
Complex Conjugate ◽  
Vertical Force ◽  
Regular Waves ◽  
Energy Converter ◽  
Linear Generator ◽  
Point Absorber ◽  
Type Wave

This paper addresses experimental and numerical validation of power output efficiency about an approximate complex-conjugate control with considering the copper loss (ACL) method. A bottom-fixed point absorber type wave energy convertor (WEC) model was used for the experiments carried out at National Maritime Research Institute, Japan (NMRI). In order to model a power take-off (PTO) system constructed by a permanent magnet linear generator (PMLG), a liner shaft motor (LSM) was used for the model test. To investigate characteristics of the ACL method, the resistive load control (RLC) method and approximate complex-conjugate control (ACC) method were also tested by the WEC model. A simulation code based on WEC-Sim (Wave Energy Converter SIMulator) v2.0 written by MATLAB/Simulink, which is developed by collaboration works between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia), was used for the validation. The simulated results in regular waves have good agreement with measured ones in terms of the float heave motion, the vertical force and the control input force. Through the experiments and numerical simulations in regular waves, the ACL method has advantages in high power production compared with the RLC and the ACC methods for the WEC model. In addition, the power output characteristics of the ACL method in irregular waves were checked experimentally and numerically.

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