Testing and control of a power take-off system for an oscillating-water-column wave energy converter

J.C.C. Henriques, R.P.F. Gomes, L.M.C. Gato, A.F.O. Falcão, E. Robles and S. Ceballos

Renewable Energy, 2016, vol. 85, issue C, 714-724

Abstract: The paper concerns the development of the PTO (power take-off) control of an OWC (oscillating-water-column) spar-buoy wave energy converter. The OWC spar-buoy is an axisymmetric device consisting of a submerged vertical tail tube open at both ends, rigidly fixed to a floater that moves essentially in heave. The oscillating motion of the internal free surface relative to the floater-tube set, produced by the incident waves, makes the air flow through a novel self-rectifying air turbine: the biradial turbine. To reduce the losses of the PTO system at partial load, an electrical generator with a rated power twice the maximum expected average power conversion of the buoy was adopted. The control of the turbine-generator set under highly energetic sea-state conditions was experimentally investigated by means of tests performed in a PTO test rig. In the reported tests, the hydrodynamics of the OWC spar-buoy and the aerodynamics of the air turbine were numerically simulated in real-time and coupled with the experimental model of the turbine/electrical generator set in a hardware-in-the-loop configuration. The experimental results allowed the dynamic behaviour of the PTO to be characterized and provided validation of the proposed control algorithms that ensure operation within safe limits.

Keywords: Wave energy; Oscillating-water-column; Spar-buoy; Power take-off; Control; Biradial turbine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (28)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:85:y:2016:i:c:p:714-724

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2015.07.015

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