Nearshore Tests of the Tidal Compensation System for Point-Absorbing Wave Energy Converters

Valeria Castellucci, Johan Abrahamsson, Tobias Kamf and Rafael Waters
Additional contact information
Valeria Castellucci: Swedish Centre for Renewable Electric Energy Conversion, Division for Electricity, Uppsala University, Box 534, Uppsala 751 21, Sweden
Johan Abrahamsson: Swedish Centre for Renewable Electric Energy Conversion, Division for Electricity, Uppsala University, Box 534, Uppsala 751 21, Sweden
Tobias Kamf: Swedish Centre for Renewable Electric Energy Conversion, Division for Electricity, Uppsala University, Box 534, Uppsala 751 21, Sweden
Rafael Waters: Swedish Centre for Renewable Electric Energy Conversion, Division for Electricity, Uppsala University, Box 534, Uppsala 751 21, Sweden

Energies, 2015, vol. 8, issue 4, 1-20

Abstract: The power production of the linear generator wave energy converter developed at Uppsala University is affected by variations of mean sea level. The reason is that these variations change the distance between the point absorber located on the surface and the linear generator located on the seabed. This shifts the average position of the translator with respect to the center of the stator, thereby reducing the generator output power. A device mounted on the point absorber that compensates for tides of small range by regulating the length of the connection line between the buoy at the surface and the linear generator has been constructed and tested. This paper describes the electro-mechanical, measurement, communication and control systems installed on the buoy and shows the results obtained before its connection to the generator. The adjustment of the line was achieved through a linear actuator, which shortens the line during low tides and vice versa. The motor that drives the mechanical device was activated remotely via SMS. The measurement system that was mounted on the buoy consisted of current and voltage sensors, accelerometers, strain gauges and inductive and laser sensors. The data collected were transferred via Internet to a Dropbox server. As described within the paper, after the calibration of the sensors, the buoy was assembled and tested in the waters of Lysekil harbor, a few kilometers from the Uppsala University research site. Moreover, the performance of the sensors, the motion of the mechanical device, the power consumption, the current control strategy and the communication system are discussed.

Keywords: wave energy; tidal compensation; nearshore tests; measurement technique (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 (7)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/8/4/3272/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/8/4/3272/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:8:y:2015:i:4:p:3272-3291:d:48547

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().