An efficient hybrid integral-equation method for point-absorber wave energy converters with a vertical axis of symmetry

To assist in the prototyping and controller design of point-absorber wave energy converters (WECs), an easy-to-implement hybrid integral-equation method is presented for computing the frequency-domain hydrodynamic properties of bodies with a vertical axis of symmetry in waves. The current hybrid method decomposes the flow domain into two parts: an inner domain containing the body and an outer domain extending to infinity. The solution in the inner domain is computed using the boundary-element method, and the outer-domain solution is expressed using eigenfunctions. Proper matching at the domain boundary is achieved by enforcing continuity of velocity potential and its normal derivative. Body symmetry allows efficient computation using ring sources in the inner domain. The current method is successfully applied to three different body geometries including a vertical truncated floating cylinder, the McIver toroid, and the coaxial-cylinder WEC being developed in the authors’ laboratory. In particular, the current results indicate that, by replacing the flat bottom of the coaxial-cylinder WEC with the Berkeley-Wedge (BW) shape, viscous effect can be significantly reduced with only minor negative impact on wave-exciting force, thus increasing WEC efficiency. Finally, by comparing to experimental measurements, the current method is demonstrated to accurately predict the heave added mass and wave-exciting force on the coaxial-cylinder WEC with BW geometry. If a viscous damping correction factor is used, the heave motion amplitude can also be accurately computed.     

A comparative study of energy performance of hydrostatic seafloor sediment samplers and a new high-efficiency sampler

The hydrostatic energy of high-pressure seawater is a renewable and green energy source for ocean exploration and have been used to replace underwater electrical energy transmission through the cable and underwater battery pack to power seafloor equipment. The advantage of the energy supply method is the cost-effective and the robustness. In the paper, the energy performance of the existing hydrostatic seafloor sediment samplers powered by seawater hydrostatic energy are modelled and analyzed and compared. In view of the common shortcoming of existing technology, a novel hydrostatic seafloor sediment sampler is proposed. The model of energy conversion of the new sampler is built, and its energy performance is obtained. The analysis results indicate that the energy conversion efficiency of the novel sediment sampler is much higher than the existing ones, which means that the new sampler can collect much longer sample with the limited amount of hydrostatic energy. The seawater hydrostatic energy conversion system of the new sampler can also be used to power other seafloor equipment.     

CFD modelling of a small–scale fixed multi–chamber OWC device

Wave Energy Converters (WECs) have excellent potential as a source of renewable energy that is yet to be commercially realised. Recent attention has focused on the installation of Oscillating Water Column (OWC) devices as a part of harbor walls to provide advantages of cost–sharing structures and proximity of power generation facilities to existing infrastructure. In this paper, an incompressible three–dimensional CFD model is constructed to simulate a fixed Multi–Chamber OWC (MC–OWC) device. The CFD model is validated; the simulation results are found to be in good agreement with experimental results obtained from a scale physical model tested in a wave tank. The validated CFD model is then used for a benchmark study of 96 numerical tests. These investigate the effects of the PTO damping caused by the power take–off (PTO) system on device performance. The performance is assessed for a range of regular wave heights and periods. The results demonstrate that a PTO system with an intermediate damping can be used for all chambers in the MC–OWC device for most wave period ranges, except for the long wave periods. These require a higher PTO damping. An increased incident wave height reduces the device capture width ratio, but there is a noticeable improvement for long wave periods.     

Wave energy conversion under constrained wave-by-wave impedance matching with amplitude and phase-match limits

This paper investigates an approach to limit the fullness of ‘tuning’ provided by wave-by-wave impedance matching control of wave energy devices in irregular waves. A single analytical formulation based on the Lagrange multiplier approach of Evans [1] is used to limit the velocity amplitude while also limiting the closeness of the phase match between velocity and exciting force. The paper studies the effect of the present technique in concurrently limiting the device velocity and the required control/actuation force. Time domain application requires wave-profile prediction, which here is based on a deterministic propagation model. Also examined in the time domain is the effect of possible violation of the displacement constraint, which for many designs implies impacts at hard stops within the power take-off mechanism. Time domain simulations are carried out for a 2-body axisymmetric converter (with physical end-stops) in sea states reported for a site off the US east coast. It is found that the approach leads to effective power conversion in the less energetic sea states, while as desired, considerable muting of the optimal response is found in the larger sea states. Under the assumptions of this work, the end-stop collisions are found to have a minor effect on the power conversion. The present approach could be used to guide the design of power take-off systems so that their displacement stroke, maximum force, and resistive and reactive power limits are well-matched to the achievable performance of a given controlled primary energy converter.     

A 10-year wave energy resource assessment and trends of Indonesia based on satellite observations

Wave energy resource assessment and trends around Indonesian's ocean has been carried out by means of analyzing satellite observations. Wave energy flux or wave power can be approximated using parameterized sea states derived from satellite data. Unfortunately, only some surface parameters can be measured from remote sensing satellites, for example for ocean surface waves: significant wave height. Others, like peak wave period and energy period are not available, but can instead be estimated using empirical models. The results have been assessed by meteorological season. The assessment shows clearly where and when the wave power resource is promising around Indonesian's ocean. The most striking result was found from June to August, in which about 30–40 kW/m(the 90 th percentile: 40–60 kW/m, the 99th percentile: 50–70 kW/m) wave power energy on average has been found around south of the Java Island. The significant trends of wave energy at the 95% level have also been studied and it is found that the trends only occurred for the extreme cases, which is the 99th percentile(i.e.,highest 1%). Wave power energy could increase up to 150 W/m per year. The significant wave heights and wave power have been compared with the results obtained from global wave model hindcast carried out by wave model WAVEWATCH III. The comparisons indicated excellent agreements.     

三个台风对我国东部沿海风电的联合影响

基于CCMP(cross-calibrated multi-platform)再分析风场数据,研究了9907号, 9908号和9909号3个台风对中国沿海5个风电场的影响,分别从台风的形成以及路径,对沿海风电场风速的影响,台风期间的发电情况等详细地描述了台风对风电机组的影响。发现:台风对5个海上风电场的影响可以分为3个阶段,第一阶段是1999年8月1—4日,输出功率由南向北依次降低,此时主要受9907号台风的影响;第二阶段是8月6—9日,8月6日也呈现输出功率由南向北降低,主要是9909号台风由南海途径台湾海峡即将进入东海的影响;受9908号台风影响, 8月7日最大输出功率出现在S3风机。8月8日,受9908和9909号台风的叠加影响, S4风机的输出功率达到15天的最大值38.4 MW。第三个阶段是8月12—15日,受大气锋面的影响, S1—S5输出功率呈现波动。台风过境期间提高了各站点的运营能力和部分站点的额定容量,未对风电机组产生大的破坏。研究成果可为相关部门在台风期间海洋风力发电的决策提供参考。     

一种新型鲸鱼式潮流能发电装置的设计与试验研究

为了进一步提高潮流能的利用率,提出了一种新型鲸鱼式潮流能发电装置。借鉴风机叶片设计方法及水平轴水轮机的设计原理,利用结构力学、流体力学和CFD相关方法,对该装置的螺旋桨叶、导流筒和固定桩等部件进行了设计研究,从获能效果、装置可靠性和发电功率等方面进行了优化设计,并通过900 W样机试验验证了设计的有效性。试验结果显示,海流高潮期装置最大发电功率可达到980 W,一天内大约有4个缓潮期,此间发电功率明显下降,但持续时间不长,总体平均发电功率在800 W上下;同时潮流能轮机启动流速在0.41 m/s左右,有着良好的低速启动性能。     

Estimates of global M_2 internal tide energy fluxes using TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter data

TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter data from October 1992 to June 2002 are used to calculate the global barotropic M2 tidal currents using long-term tidal harmonic analysis. The tides calculated agree well with ADCP data obtained from the South China Sea (SCS). The maximum tide velocities along the semi-major axis and semi-minor axis can be computed from the tidal ellipse. The global distribution of M2 internal tide vertical energy flux from the sea bottom is calculated based on a linear internal wave generation model. The global vertical energy flux of M2 internal tide is 0.96 TW, with 0.36 TW in the Pacific, 0.31 TW in the Atlantic and 0.29 TW in the Indian Ocean, obtained in this study. The total horizontal energy flux of M2 internal tide radiating into the open ocean from the lateral boundaries is 0.13 TW, with 0.06 TW in the Pacific, 0.04TW in the Atlantic, and 0.03 TW in the Indian Ocean. The result shows that the principal lunar semi-diurnal tide M2 provides enough energy to maintain the large-scale thermohaline circulation of the ocean.     

Metabolism of pectenotoxins in brown crabs <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cancer pagurus</Emphasis> fed with blue mussels <Emphasis Type="Italic">Mytilus edulis</Emphasis>

We investigated the metabolism of pectenotoxins in brown crabs(Cancer pagurus).The crabs were fed with blue mussels(Mytilus edulis) for 21 d then depurated for 42 d.We extracted the toxins from the digestive glands of contaminated crabs,uncontaminated crabs(control group),and the meat of blue mussels using methanol.Extracts of the crab digestive glands were fractionated by liquid-liquid partitioning and solid phase extraction.The fractions were analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spec...     

The Effect of Temperature on Growth and Energy Budget of the Polychaete,Neanthes japonica Izuka

Growth and energy budget of the polychaete, Neanthesjaponica, at various temperatures (17, 20, 23, 26 and 29 ℃) were investigated in this study. The growth, as indicated by final dry weight and specific growth rate (SGR), increased with increasing temperature, with the maximum level at 26℃, and then decreased significantly at 29℃. A similar trend was observed in feeding rate, food conversion efficiency (FCE) and apparent digestive rate (ADR). However, no significant differences were detected in ADR among all the temperature treatments. In the pattern of energy allocation, faeces energy was only a small component of energy budget and had little influence on the proportion of food energy allocated to growth. The metabolic energy accounted for a large portion of energy intake for each temperature treatment. The nitrogen excretion was appreciable with changing temperature. The two expendi-ture terms (respiration energy and excretion energy) in energy budget were the major factors influencing the proportion of food en-ergy allocated to growth. These results revealed that temperature affected the growth of N. japonica mainly by influencing feeding rate and FCE. In addition, regression equations describing the relationship between feeding rate, faecal production, SGR, FCE and temperature were obtained. The optimum temperatures for feeding rate, FCE and SGR were estimated at 25.01 ℃, 24.24℃ and 24.73 ℃, respectively, from the regression equations.