Dynamic analysis of wave energy converter by incorporating the effect of hydraulic transmission lines

A heaving-buoy wave energy converter equipped with hydraulic power take-off is studied in this paper. This wave energy converter system is divided into five subsystems: a heaving buoy, hydraulic pump, pipelines, non-return check valves and a hydraulic motor combined with an electric generator. A dynamic model was developed by considering the interactions between the subsystems in a state space form. The transient pressures caused by starting/stopping the buoy or closing/opening the check valves were predicted numerically using the established model. The simulation results show that transmission line dynamics play a dominant role in the studied wave energy converter system. The length of the pipeline will not only affect the amplitude of the transient pressures but also affect the converted power. The variation of the time-averaged converted electric power with the pipeline length is estimated using the simulation method for the buoy exposed to one irregular sea state. Finally, it is suggested how reduced power efficiency due to the pipelines may be ameliorated.     

Near-optimal control of a wave energy device in irregular waves with deterministic-model driven incident wave prediction

This paper investigates wave-by-wave control of a wave energy converter using incident wave prediction based on up-wave surface elevation measurement. The goal of control is to approach the hydrodynamically optimum velocity leading to optimum power absorption. This work aims to study the gains in energy conversion from a deterministic wave propagation model that accounts for a range of group velocities in deriving the prediction. The up-wave measurement distance is assumed to be small enough to allow a deterministic propagation model, and further, both wave propagation and device response are assumed to be linear. For deep water conditions and long-crested waves, the propagation process is also described using an impulse response function (e.g. [1]). Approximate low and high frequency limits for realistic band-limited spectra are used to compute the corresponding group velocity limits. The prediction time into the future is based on the device impulse response function needed for the evaluation of the control force. The up-wave distance and the duration of measurement are then determined using the group velocity limits above.A 2-body axisymmetric heaving device is considered, for which power capture is through the relative heave oscillation between the two co-axial bodies. The power take-off is assumed to be linear and ideal as well as capable of applying the necessary resistive and reactive load components on the relative heave oscillation. The predicted wave profile is used along with device impulse response functions to compute the actuator force components at each instant. Calculations are carried out in irregular waves generated using a number of uni-modal wave spectra over a range of energy periods and significant wave heights. Results are compared with previous studies based on the use of instantaneous up-wave wave-profile measurements, both without and with oscillation constraints imposed. Considerable improvements in power capture are observed with the present approach over the range of wave conditions studied.     

Modelling of a wave energy converter array with a nonlinear power take-off system in the frequency domain

This paper presents a nonlinear frequency domain model and uses this to assess the performance of a wave energy converter (WEC) array with a nonlinear power take-off (PTO). In this model, the nonlinear PTO forces are approximated by a truncated Fourier series, while the dynamics of the WEC array are described by a set of linear motion equations in the frequency domain, and the hydrodynamic coefficients are obtained with the boundary element method. A single heave absorber is firstly investigated to establish the accuracy of the new model in capturing the nonlinear behaviour of the pumping system. Subsequently, simulations of a 2D array with 18 WECs and a pillar in the centre (representing the tower of a wind turbine) are carried out to understand wave interference effects. Several optimisation strategies are proposed to improve the overall performance of the WEC array. These results demonstrate a computationally effective method for accounting for nonlinear effects in large WEC arrays. The proposed approach may potentially be applied for developing control algorithms for the adaptability of a 2D array to incoming wave excitation.     

Design of a hydraulic power take-off system for the wave energy device with an inverse pendulum

This paper describes a dual-stroke acting hydraulic power take-off （PTO） system employed in the wave energy converter （WEC） with an inverse pendulum. The hydraulic PTO converts slow irregular reciprocating wave motions to relatively smooth, fast rotation of an electrical generator. The design of the hydraulic PTO system and its control are critical to maximize the generated power. A time domain simulation study and the laboratory experiment of the full-scale beach test are presented. The results of the simulation and laboratory experiments including their comparison at full-scale are also presented, which have validated the rationality of the design and the reliability of some key components of the prototype of the WEC with an inverse pendulum with the dual-stroke acting hydraulic PTO system.