Experimental Study on Operation Performance of Two-Body Wave Energy Generator

Abstract

The two-body oscillating type wave energy converter (WEC) is a hot research topic at present. A two-body device with damping disc was taken as the test model in this paper. The two bodies were connected by a hydraulic piston cylinder to realize the relative motion energy conversion. Physical experiments were carried out in a wave-making flume to study the operation performance. The effects of wave elements and load on the hydrodynamic characteristics and capture width ratio (CWR) of the model were analysed respectively. The results showed that wave frequency and external load were the main factors affecting the motion response and energy conversion of the device. With the increase of wave frequency and external load, the response amplitude operator (RAO) and the capture width ratio both increase first and then decrease. Wave height has little effect on system characteristics. There exists a best-matching wave period condition, and the optimal motion response and energy conversion are obtained.