Balitsky, Philip (2013) Modelling Controlled Arrays of Wave Energy Converters. Masters thesis, National University of Ireland Maynooth.
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Abstract
Given the great potential resource, the utilization of wave energy for
electricity production can make a signicant contribution to the renewable
energy portfolio of coastal nations such as Ireland and the UK. There are,
however, many challenges that must be overcome in order for wave energy
to be commercially viable. One of the key objectives of the wave energy
industry today is to produce commercially viable wave farms by placing
multiple wave energy converters (WECs) together in an array. In this thesis,
the WEC array problem is investigated from two dierent points of view:
control and layout of individual WECs in an array.
WEC arrays are modelled using hydrodynamic coecients from the
Boundary Element Method code WAMIT R
in the frequency domain, and
a discretized time-domain controller is then applied to calculate motion and
energy of the system. A new application of an energy equivalent linearization
procedure is developed to model viscous forces for a heaving cylinder.
Three control methods are subsequently applied to arrays of two and three
WECs in various sea states and the resulting power output of the array is
investigated. Results are presented which show the benet of using adaptive
control for arrays of WECs over a simple xed damping schemes.
Additionally, the layout of a controlled array of multiple WECs is investigated
given the objective of power maximization. It is shown that as
the number of devices in closely-spaced arrays increases, a control scheme
that is able to utilize radiation properties of devices can oset the net loss
of power eected by shadowing. Furthermore, the relationship between the
inter-device spacing and wave angle of incidence is derived for a two-body
array and shown to hold for multi-body arrays. A recommendation on the
optimal spacing and number of devices given a specic WEC geometry is
made for a controlled array.
Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
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Keywords: | Modelling Controlled Arrays; Wave Energy Converters; |
Academic Unit: | Faculty of Science and Engineering > Electronic Engineering |
Item ID: | 4487 |
Depositing User: | IR eTheses |
Date Deposited: | 13 Sep 2013 10:18 |
URI: | https://mu.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/4487 |
Use Licence: | This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here |
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