Design of oscillating-water-column wave energy converters with an application to self-powered sensor buoys

Henriques, J.C.C.; Portillo, J.C.C.; Gato, L.M.C.; Gomes, R.P.F.; Ferreira, Denise de Brum; Falcão, A.F.O.

doi:10.1016/j.energy.2016.06.054

Cited by 84 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…By introducing artificial viscous terms into the dynamic free surface boundary conditions and the Bernoulli equation, the authors built a fully nonlinear numerical model based on a higher-order boundary element method (HOBEM) to model the wave dynamics of an OWC device. Application of an OWC wave energy conversion system to buoys for sensors has also been studied [13].…”

Section: Of 22mentioning

confidence: 99%

Parametric Study for an Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Conversion System Installed on a Breakwater

Lee

Chen

2020

Energies

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This study focuses on the analysis of the parameters of an oscillating water column (OWC) wave energy conversion system and wave conditions. Interactions between the dimensions of the OWC chambers and wave conditions are all taken into account to design an alternative OWC converter, called caisson-based OWC type wave energy converting system. A numerical method using an unsteady Navier-Stokes equations theorem in conservation form is used to analyze the proposed analytical model. The objective of this study is to try to apply an OWC wave energy converter to a caisson breakwater, which has been constructed in a harbor. The structure proposed in this study is a series of sets of independent systems, in which each set of converters is composed of three chambers to capture the wave energy, while better ensuring the safety of the caisson breakwater. Responses to be analyzed related to the conversion efficiency of the caisson-based OWC wave energy converting system include the airflow velocity from the air-chamber, the pneumatic power and the conversion efficiency in terms of a ratio between the pneumatic power and the energy of the incident waves. Parameters examined in this study include the dimensions of the OWC chamber features such as the orifice of the air-chamber allowing airflow in/output, the chamber length along the direction of incident waves, the size of the opening gate for incident waves and the submersion depth of the air-chamber. As found from the results, a best conversion efficiency from incident waves of 32% can be obtained for the extreme case where the orifice is very small, but for most other cases in the study, the best efficiency is about 15%.

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Section: Of 22mentioning

confidence: 99%

Parametric Study for an Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Conversion System Installed on a Breakwater

Lee

Chen

2020

Energies

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“…The relative movement between the water and the structure of the device drives an oscillatory air flow in the air chamber. The selected geometry, designed following the wave energy development methodology presented in Henriques et al (2016) and Gomes et al (2012), has a floater diameter of 12 m and a generator rated power of 150 kW. The power take-off system consists of a biradial selfrectifying impulse turbine coupled to a generator, as shown in Fig.…”

Section: Case Study: Wecs Farmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multivariate analysis of the reliability, availability, and maintainability characterizations of a Spar–Buoy wave energy converter farm

Rinaldi

Portillo

Khalid

et al. 2018

J. Ocean Eng. Mar. Energy

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Quantitative reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) assessments are of fundamental importance at the early design stages, as well as planning and operation of marine renewable energy systems. This paper presents an RAM framework adaptable to different offshore renewable technologies, conceived to provide support in the choice of the device components and subsequent planning of the O&M strategies. A case study, characterizing a pilot farm of oscillating water column (OWC) wave energy converters (WECs), is illustrated together with the method used to obtain reliable estimate of its key performance indicators (KPIs). Based on a fixed feed-in-tariff for the project, economic figures are estimated, showing a direct relationship with the availability of the farm and the cost of maintenance interventions. Consequently, the probability distributions of the most relevant output variables are presented, and the mutual correlations between them investigated using principal components analysis (PCA) with the aim of discovering the relationships influencing the performance of the offshore farm. In this way, the contributions of the individual factors on the profitability of the project are quantified, and generic guidelines to support the decision-making process are derived. It is shown how this type of analysis provides important insights not only to ocean energy farm operators after the deployment of the devices, but also to device developers at the early design stage of wave energy concepts.

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“…The WECs are not necessary to be designed and installed in the deep seas. Only a small amount of literature has studied the energy supply of small monitoring buoys [40]. Since the power needs of drifters are relatively small and most of them work in deep seas, it is difficult to directly apply the existing wave energy technology to drifters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Analysis of a Novel Adaptively Counter-Rotating Wave Energy Converter for Powering Drifters

Luo

et al. 2019

JMSE

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Nowadays, drifters are used for a wide range of applications for researching and exploring the sea. However, the power constraint makes it difficult for their sampling intervals to be smaller, meaning that drifters cannot transmit more accurate measurement data to satellites. Furthermore, due to the power constraint, a modern Surface Velocity Program (SVP) drifter lives an average of 400 days before ceasing transmission. To overcome the power constraint of SVP drifters, this article proposes an adaptively counter-rotating wave energy converter (ACWEC) to supply power for drifters. The ACWEC has the advantages of convenient modular integration, simple conversion process, and minimal affection by the crucial sea environment. This article details the design concept and working principle, and the interaction between the wave energy converter (WEC) and wave is presented based on plane wave theory. To verify the feasibility of the WEC, the research team carried out a series of experiments in a wave tank with regular and irregular waves. Through experiments, it was found that the power and efficiency of the ACWEC are greatly influenced by parameters such as wave height and wave frequency. The maximum output power of the small scale WEC in a wave tank is 6.36 W, which allows drifters to detect ocean data more frequently and continuously.

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Design of oscillating-water-column wave energy converters with an application to self-powered sensor buoys

Cited by 84 publications

References 27 publications

Parametric Study for an Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Conversion System Installed on a Breakwater

Parametric Study for an Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Conversion System Installed on a Breakwater

Multivariate analysis of the reliability, availability, and maintainability characterizations of a Spar–Buoy wave energy converter farm

Experimental Analysis of a Novel Adaptively Counter-Rotating Wave Energy Converter for Powering Drifters

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