scholarly journals On the Development of an Offshore Version of the CECO Wave Energy Converter

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1036 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianmaria Giannini ◽  
Paulo Rosa-Santos ◽  
Victor Ramos ◽  
Francisco Taveira-Pinto

Offshore locations present significant amounts of wave energy and free sea space, which could facilitate the deployment of larger numbers of wave energy converters (WECs) in comparison with nearshore regions. The present study aims to find a suitable design for an offshore floating version of CECO, a sloped motion WEC. For this purpose, a new design methodology is proposed in this paper for identifying and assessing possible floating configurations of CECO, which consists of four distinct set-ups obtained by varying the type of main supporting structure and the mooring system. Two options are based on spar designs and the other two on tension leg platform (TLP) designs. Based on outcomes of time-domain numerical calculations, the aforementioned configurations were assessed in terms of annual wave energy conversion and magnitude of mooring loads. Results indicate that a TLP configuration with an innovative mooring solution could increase the annual energy production by 40% with respect to the fixed version of CECO. Besides, the mooring system is found to be a key component, influencing the overall system performance.

Author(s):  
Pedro C. Vicente ◽  
Anto´nio F. O. Falca˜o ◽  
Paulo A. P. Justino

Floating point absorbers devices are a large class of wave energy converters for deployment offshore, typically in water depths between 40 and 100m. As floating oil and gas platforms, the devices are subject to drift forces due to waves, currents and wind, and therefore have to be kept in place by a proper mooring system. Although similarities can be found between the energy converting systems and floating platforms, the mooring design requirements will have some important differences between them, one of them associated to the fact that, in the case of a wave energy converter, the mooring connections may significantly modify its energy absorption properties by interacting with its oscillations. It is therefore important to examine what might be the more suitable mooring design for wave energy devices, according to the converters specifications. When defining a mooring system for a device, several initial parameters have to be established, such as cable material and thickness, distance to the mooring point on the bottom, and which can influence the device performance in terms of motion, power output and survivability. Different parameters, for which acceptable intervals can be established, will represent different power absorptions, displacements from equilibrium position, load demands on the moorings and of course also different costs. The work presented here analyzes what might be, for wave energy converter floating point absorber, the optimal mooring configuration parameters, respecting certain pre-established acceptable intervals and using a time-domain model that takes into account the non-linearities introduced by the mooring system. Numerical results for the mooring forces demands and also motions and absorbed power, are presented for two different mooring configurations for a system consisting of a hemispherical buoy in regular waves and assuming a liner PTO.


Author(s):  
Tunde O. Aderinto ◽  
Francisco Haces-Fernandez ◽  
Hua Li

Although theoretical available wave energy is higher than most of ocean energy sources, the commercial utilization of wave energy is much slower than other ocean energy sources. The difficulty of integration with the electrical grid system and the challenges of the installation, operation and maintenance of large energy generation and transmission systems are the major reasons. Even though there are successfully tested models of wave energy converters, the fact that wave energy is directly affected by wave height and wave period makes the actual wave energy output with high variation and difficult to be predicted. And most of the previous studies on wave energy and its utilization have focused on the large scale energy production that can be integrated into a power grid system. In this paper, the authors identify and discuss stand-alone wave energy converter systems and facilities that are not connected to the electricity grid with focus on small scale wave energy systems as potential source of energy. For the proper identification, qualification and quantification of wave energy resource potential, wave properties such as wave height and period need to be characterized. This is used to properly determine and predict the probability of the occurrence of these wave properties at particular locations, which enables the choice of product design, installation, operation and maintenance to effectively capture wave energy. Meanwhile, the present technologies available for wave energy converters can be limited by location (offshore, nearshore or shoreline). Therefore, the potential applications of small scale stand-alone wave energy converter are influenced by the demand, location of the need and the appropriate technology to meet the identified needs. The paper discusses the identification of wave energy resource potentials, the location and appropriate technology suitable for small scale wave energy converter. Two simplified wave energy converter designs are created and simulated under real wave condition in order to estimate the energy production of each design.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 8251
Author(s):  
Dongsheng Qiao ◽  
Rizwan Haider ◽  
Jun Yan ◽  
Dezhi Ning ◽  
Binbin Li

In recent decades, the emphasis on renewable resources has grown considerably, leading to significant advances in the sector of wave energy. Nevertheless, the market cannot still be considered as commercialized, as there are still other obstacles in the mooring system for wave energy converters (WECs). The mooring system must be designed to not negatively impact the WEC’s efficiency and reduce the mooring loads. Firstly, the overview of the types of wave energy converters (WECs) are classified through operational principle, absorbing wave direction, location, and power take-off, respectively, and the power production analysis and design challenges of WECs are summarized. Then, the mooring materials, configurations, requirements, and the modeling approaches for WECs are introduced. Finally, the design of mooring systems, including the design considerations and standards, analysis models, software, current research focus, and challenges are discussed.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1030-1032 ◽  
pp. 497-500
Author(s):  
Lin Feng Song ◽  
Li Ping Sun ◽  
Shang Mao Ai ◽  
Jia Yu Qian

In order to research the motion mechanism of floating multi-bodies, constraint matrix method (CMM) and potential flow theory are used. Compared to the other method, CMM is easier to model and faster in calculating. The Pelamis wave energy converter is modeled by deriving the system to separate rigid bodies. CMM is used to simulate the Pelamis wave energy converter in time domain with code in house by FORTRAN, some important conclusions are got.


Author(s):  
Ryan S. Nicoll ◽  
Charles F. Wood ◽  
André R. Roy

Development of wave energy conversion systems may yield many key benefits for society such as the production of electrical power or fresh water for remote communities. However, complex ocean dynamics make it difficult for technology developers to not only address the stability and survivability of their systems, but also to establish energy conversion rates that are fundamental to proving economic viability. Building physical prototypes presents many challenges in terms of cost, accessible facilities, and time requirements. The use of accurate numerical modelling and computer simulation can help guide design and significantly reduce the number of physical prototype tests required and as a result play a primary role in the development of wave energy conversion systems that have to operate in challenging marine environments. SurfPower is an ocean wave energy converter (WEC) that converts wave motion into useful energy through surge and heave motion of a point absorber. The system pumps seawater into a high pressure hydraulic network that generates electricity via a turbine or freshwater via desalination at a facility onshore. The system is nonlinear due to the significant change in draft and mooring reaction load through the energy capture cycle of the device. This makes the use of nonlinear time domain simulation ideal for analysis and design of the system. Furthermore, utilizing a simplified nonlinear hydrodynamic model available in the time domain results in a practical early-stage design tool for system refinement. The focus of this work is to compare the results of scale model testing completed at the Institute for Ocean Technology in St. John’s, Newfoundland, with results produced from an equivalent system simulated in the time domain simulation software ProteusDS. The results give an assessment of the range of error that can be used to assess other experiments of the SurfPower WEC at full scale.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 782
Author(s):  
Francesco Depalo ◽  
Shan Wang ◽  
Sheng Xu ◽  
C. Guedes Soares

The objective of this work is to develop an efficient method to carry out the preliminary design of the mooring system for a wave energy converter. A practical mooring design procedure is applied to a specific case of study, and it can be replicated for other cases. Firstly, the static analysis is performed for a configuration with three mooring cables with different pre-tensions on fairlead, diameters of the cables, and materials. Based on these configurations from the static analysis, a quasi-static analysis is carried out in the frequency domain and a preliminary design is conducted according to DNV rules. Then, a 3-h dynamic analysis in the time domain is performed on several selected configurations, considering the same environmental conditions in the quasi-static analysis using the finite element method. Extreme dynamic responses of the system, such as extreme surge motion and mooring tensions, are estimated by the global maximum method, which is performed by fitting 20 individual maximum observations by Gumbel distribution. The quasi-static method is validated by comparing the results of extreme tension and displacement with the coupled time domain analysis. In addition, the influence of pre-tensions and cable diameters on the static and dynamic responses of the mooring system are discussed.


2005 ◽  
Vol 128 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaelle Duclos ◽  
Aurelien Babarit ◽  
Alain H. Clément

Considered as a source of renewable energy, wave is a resource featuring high variability at all time scales. Furthermore wave climate also changes significantly from place to place. Wave energy converters are very often tuned to suit the more frequent significant wave period at the project site. In this paper we show that optimizing the device necessitates accounting for all possible wave conditions weighted by their annual occurrence frequency, as generally given by the classical wave climate scatter diagrams. A generic and very simple wave energy converter is considered here. It is shown how the optimal parameters can be different considering whether all wave conditions are accounted for or not, whether the device is controlled or not, whether the productive motion is limited or not. We also show how they depend on the area where the device is to be deployed, by applying the same method to three sites with very different wave climate.


2010 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 760-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Ruellan ◽  
Hamid BenAhmed ◽  
Bernard Multon ◽  
Christophe Josset ◽  
Aurelien Babarit ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
J. C. C. Portillo ◽  
J. C. C. Henriques ◽  
R. P. F. Gomes ◽  
L. M. C. Gato ◽  
A. F. O. Falcão

This work focuses on the initial performance assessment of an array of coaxial-duct (CD) oscillating-water-columns (owc’s) with potential to be used as multipurpose platform for the creation of value in a diverse range of offshore economic activities. The coaxial-duct owc (CD-owc) is an axisymmetric oscillating-water-column wave energy converter that has been studied for both small-size and large-size applications. This work focuses on buoys of 12 meter diameter distributed in an array of five devices, rigidly attached to each other, to form a cluster of owc’s. The objective of the study is to assess the performance of the array with this configuration and estimate the effect of parameters such as distance between devices, various modes of movements, and other constraints on the overall power output of the array. Results of different cases are compared to the performance of an isolated device to determine the interference effect of other devices. Some results validate previous research conclusions and new findings on the behavior coaxial-duct owc are presented.


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