Proposition and Experiment of a Sliding Angle Self-Tuning Wave Energy Converter
Proposition and Experiment of a Sliding Angle Self-Tuning Wave Energy Converter
Source title:
Ocean Engineering, 132: 1-10,
2017
(ISI)
Academic year of acceptance:
2017-2018
Abstract:
The hydraulic power-take-off mechanism (HPTO) is one of the most popular methods in wave energy converters (WECs). However, the conventional HPTO with a fixed direction motion has some drawbacks which limit its power capture capability. This paper proposes a sliding angle self-tuning wave energy converter (SASTWEC) to find the optimal sliding angle automatically, with the purpose of increasing the power capture capability and energy efficiency. Furthermore, a small scale WEC test rig was fabricated and a wave making source has been employed to verify the sliding angle performance and efficiency of the proposed system throughout experiments