Design Parameters Analysis of Point Absorber WEC via an evolutionary-algorithm-based Dimensioning Tool

Marcos Blanco, Pablo Moreno-Torres, Marcos Lafoz and Dionisio Ramírez
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Marcos Blanco: Division of Electrical Engineering, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Avda. Complutense, 40, Madrid 28040, Spain
Pablo Moreno-Torres: Division of Electrical Engineering, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Avda. Complutense, 40, Madrid 28040, Spain
Marcos Lafoz: Division of Electrical Engineering, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Avda. Complutense, 40, Madrid 28040, Spain
Dionisio Ramírez: Department of Automatica, Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid 28006, Spain

Energies, 2015, vol. 8, issue 10, 1-31

Abstract: Wave energy conversion has an essential difference from other renewable energies since the dependence between the devices design and the energy resource is stronger. Dimensioning is therefore considered a key stage when a design project of Wave Energy Converters (WEC) is undertaken. Location, WEC concept, Power Take-Off (PTO) type, control strategy and hydrodynamic resonance considerations are some of the critical aspects to take into account to achieve a good performance. The paper proposes an automatic dimensioning methodology to be accomplished at the initial design project stages and the following elements are described to carry out the study: an optimization design algorithm, its objective functions and restrictions, a PTO model, as well as a procedure to evaluate the WEC energy production. After that, a parametric analysis is included considering different combinations of the key parameters previously introduced. A variety of study cases are analysed from the point of view of energy production for different design-parameters and all of them are compared with a reference case. Finally, a discussion is presented based on the results obtained, and some recommendations to face the WEC design stage are given.

Keywords: wave energy; point absorber; WEC dimensioning; differential evolution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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