a b s t r a c tA system for using offshore wind energy to generate electricity and simultaneously extract thermal energy is proposed. This concept is based on an offshore wind turbine driven hydraulic pump supplying deep seawater under high pressure to a land based plant consisting of a hydroelectric power generation unit and heat exchanger. A steady-state system model is developed using empirical formulae. The mathematical model comprises the fundamental system sub-models that are categorised as the rotor, hydraulic pump, pipeline, hydroelectric turbine and heat exchanger. A means for modelling the seawater temperature field across a two-dimensional bathymetry is also discussed. These mathematical models are integrated into a computational tool and a brief parametric static analysis is undertaken. The results illustrate the effect of pipeline diameter, rotational speed of the grid connected hydroelectric turbine, and the turbine distance from shore on the overall performance of the system. Through adequate parameter selection, the total rate of energy output for such a system, consisting of both electricity and thermal energy, is shown to increase by as much as 84%, when compared to a conventional wind turbine having an identical rotor diameter but which supplies only electrical energy.
Current research in offshore wind turbines is proposing a novel concept of using seawater-based hydraulics for large-scale power transmission and centralized electrical generation. The objective of this paper is to investigate the control of such an open-loop circuit, where a fixed line pressure is desirable for the sake of efficiency and stability. Pressure control of the open-loop hydraulic circuit presents an interesting control challenge due to the highly fluctuating flow rate along with the nonlinear behavior of the variable-area orifice used by the pressure controller. The present analysis is limited to a single turbine and an open-loop hydraulic line with a variable-area orifice at the end. A controller is proposed which uses a combination of feed-forward compensation for the nonlinear part along with a feedback loop for correcting any errors resulting from inaccuracies in the compensator model. A numerical model of the system under investigation is developed in order to observe the behavior of the controller and the advantages of including the feedback loop. An in-depth analysis is undertaken, including a sensitivity study of the compensator accuracy and a parametric analysis of the actuator response time. Finally, a Monte Carlo analysis was carried out in order to rank the proposed controller in comparison to a simple feed-forward controller and a theoretical optimally tuned controller. Results indicate an advantageous performance of the proposed method of feedback with feed-forward compensation, particularly its ability to maintain a stable line pressure in the face of high parameter uncertainty over a wide range of operating conditions, even with a relatively slow actuation system.
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