Investigations into Balancing Peak-to-Average Power Ratio and Mean Power Extraction for a Two-Body Point-Absorber Wave Energy Converter

The power harnessed by wave energy converters (WECs) in oceans is highly variable and, therefore, has a high peak-to-average power (PTAP) ratio. To minimize the cost of a WEC power take off (PTO) system, it is desirable to reduce the PTAP ratio while maximizing the mean power extracted by WECs. The...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energies (Basel) 2021-06, Vol.14 (12), p.3489
Main Authors: Karayaka, Hayrettin Bora, Yu, Yi-Hsiang, Muljadi, Eduard
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Absorbers
Alternative energy sources
Control algorithms
Control theory
Converters
Design
efficiency
Electricity generation
Energy
Gear ratios
Hardware-in-the-loop simulation
high speed
Hydraulics
Hydroelectric power
Laboratories
Mathematical models
Numerical models
Ocean waves
Oceans
peak-to-average ratio
Renewable resources
Research methodology
Scale models
TIDAL AND WAVE POWER
unidirectional rotation
Wave energy
wave energy converter (WEC)
Wave power
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Summary:The power harnessed by wave energy converters (WECs) in oceans is highly variable and, therefore, has a high peak-to-average power (PTAP) ratio. To minimize the cost of a WEC power take off (PTO) system, it is desirable to reduce the PTAP ratio while maximizing the mean power extracted by WECs. The important issue of how PTAP ratio reduction measures (such as adding an inertia element) can affect the mean power extracted in a reference model has not been thoroughly addressed in the literature. To investigate this correlation, this study focuses on the integration of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Reference Model 3, a two-body point absorber, with a slider-crank WEC for linear-to-rotational conversion. In the first phase of this study, a full-scale numerical model was developed that predicts how PTO system parameters, along with an advanced control algorithm, can potentially affect the proposed WEC’s PTAP ratio as well as the mean power extracted. In the second phase, an appropriate scaled-down model was developed, and extracted power results were successfully validated against the full-scale model. Finally, numerical and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulations based on the scaled-down model were designed and conducted to optimize or make trade-offs between the operational performance and PTAP ratio. The initial results with numerical and HIL simulations reveal that gear ratio, crank radius, and generator parameters substantially impact the PTAP ratio and mean power extracted.
ISSN:1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI:10.3390/en14123489