Analysis and development of a three body heaving wave energy converter

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dc.contributor.authorBeatty, Scott, J.
dc.contributor.supervisorBuckham, Bradley, Jason
dc.contributor.supervisorWild, Peter Martin
dc.date.accessioned2009-05-01T20:04:40Z
dc.date.available2009-05-01T20:04:40Z
dc.date.copyright2009en
dc.date.issued2009-05-01T20:04:40Z
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Mechanical Engineering
dc.degree.levelMaster of Applied Science M.A.Sc.en
dc.description.abstractA relative motion based heaving point absorber wave energy converter is being co-developed by researchers at the University of Victoria and SyncWave Systems Inc. To that end---this thesis represents a multi-faceted contribution to the development effort. A small scale two-body prototype wave energy converter was developed and tested in a wave tank. Although experimental problems were encountered, the results compare reasonably well to the output of a two degree of freedom linear dynamics model in the frequency domain. A two-body wave energy converter design is parameterized as a basis for an optimization and sensitivity study undertaken to illustrate the potential benefits of frequency response tuning. Further, a mechanical system concept for frequency response tuning is presented. The two degree of freedom model is expanded to three degrees of freedom to account for the tuning system. An optimization procedure, utilizing a Sequential Quadratic Programming algorithm, is developed to establish control schedules to maximize power capture as a function of the control variables. A spectral approach is developed to estimate WEC power capture in irregular waves. Finally, as a case study, the modeling, optimization, and spectral methods are applied to predict performance for a large scale wave energy converter deployed offshore of a remote Alaskan island. Using archived sea-state data and community electrical load profiles, a wave/diesel hybrid integration with the remote Alaskan community power system is assessed to be technologically feasible.en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/1401
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben
dc.subjectWave energy
dc.subjectPoint absorber
dc.subjectHeaving buoy
dc.subjectOcean energy
dc.subjectOptimization
dc.subjectRenewable energy
dc.subjectInstitute for Integrated Energy Systems (IESVic)
dc.subject.lcshUVic Subject Index::Sciences and Engineering::Engineering::Marine engineeringen
dc.subject.lcshUVic Subject Index::Sciences and Engineering::Engineering::Mechanical engineeringen
dc.subject.lcshUVic Subject Index::Sciences and Engineering::Engineering::Ocean engineeringen
dc.titleAnalysis and development of a three body heaving wave energy converteren
dc.typeThesisen

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