A Flap-Type Seabed-Mounted Wave Energy Converter With Hydraulic PTO: Analytical Investigation & Experimental Analysis

TL;DR

This paper presents an analytical and experimental study of a flap-type seabed-mounted wave energy converter with hydraulic PTO, demonstrating its efficiency and potential for optimization through prototype testing and analysis.

Contribution

It introduces a new analytical model and experimental validation for a flap-type wave energy converter with hydraulic PTO, including optimal pressure settings and efficiency analysis.

Findings

Average wave-to-fluid efficiency of about 15% across wave periods

Maximum efficiency of 26% at a wave period of 6.71 seconds

Prototype experiments validated the analytical model and identified optimization pathways.

Abstract

This paper provides a study of a flap-type wave energy converter with a hydraulic power-take-off (PTO) system. This study includes the derivation of its equation of motion along with an analysis of natural frequencies of the device. A prototype was built using fillable cylinders and a series of experiments were performed in a wave flume. In these experiments, the pressure values of the hydraulic circuit were changed to investigate the optimal value for the system's pressure for a range of wave periods. The average wave-to-fluid efficiency (of about 15%) was achieved for a broad range of wave periods. It was also found that a 26% wave-to-fluid efficiency can be reached for waves with a period of 6.71 s. Based on the results of this analytical study, this device can be further optimized by filling its compartments with seawater.