Energies 2018, 11(4), 735; https://doi.org/10.3390/en11040735
Design and Experiment Analysis of a Direct-Drive Wave Energy Converter with a Linear Generator
1
School of Electrical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
2
Department of Electrical Engineering, Jinling Institute of Technology, Nanjing 211169, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 10 February 2018 / Revised: 16 March 2018 / Accepted: 22 March 2018 / Published: 23 March 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Energy)
Abstract
Coastal waves are an abundant nonpolluting and renewable energy source. A wave energy converter (WEC) must be designed for efficient and steady operation in highly energetic ocean environments. A direct-drive wave energy conversion (D-DWEC) system with a tubular permanent magnet linear generator (TPMLG) on a wind and solar photovoltaic complementary energy generation platform is proposed to improve the conversion efficiency and reduce the complexity and device volume of WECs. The operating principle of D-DWECs is introduced, and detailed analyses of the proposed D-DWEC’s floater system, wave force characteristics, and conversion efficiency conducted using computational fluid dynamics are presented. A TPMLG with an asymmetric slot structure is designed to increase the output electric power, and detailed analyses of the magnetic field distribution, detent force characteristics, and no-load and load performances conducted using finite element analysis are discussed. The TPMLG with an asymmetric slot, which produces the same power as the TPMLG with a symmetric slot, has one fifth detent force of the latter. An experiment system with a prototype of the TPMLG with a symmetric slot is used to test the simulation results. The experiment and analysis results agree well. Therefore, the proposed D-DWEC fulfills the requirements of WEC systems. View Full-TextKeywords:
wave energy conversion; tubular permanent magnet linear generator; finite element analysis; computational fluid dynamics
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Zhang, J.; Yu, H.; Shi, Z. Design and Experiment Analysis of a Direct-Drive Wave Energy Converter with a Linear Generator. Energies 2018, 11, 735.
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