Experimental investigation of the mooring system of a wave energy converter in operating and extreme wave conditions

A proper design of the mooring systems for Wave Energy Converters (WECs) requires an accurate investigation of both operating and extreme wave conditions. A careful analysis of these systems is required to design a mooring configuration that ensures station keeping, reliability, maintainability, and low costs, without affecting the WEC dynamics. In this context, an experimental campaign on a 1:20 scaled prototype of the ISWEC (Inertial Sea Wave Energy Converter), focusing on the influence of the mooring layout on loads in extreme wave conditions, is presented and discussed. Two mooring configurations composed of multiple slack catenaries with sub-surface buoys, with or without clump-weights, have been designed and investigated experimentally. Tests in regular, irregular, and extreme waves for a moored model of the ISWEC device have been performed at the University of Naples Federico II. The aim is to identify a mooring solution that could guarantee both correct operation of the device and load carrying in extreme sea conditions. Pitch motion and loads in the rotational joint have been considered as indicators of the device hydrodynamic behavior and mooring configuration impact on the WEC

Fast nonlinear Froude–Krylov force calculation for prismatic floating platforms: a wave energy conversion application case

Computationally fast and accurate mathematical models are essential for effective design, optimization, and control of wave energy converters. However, the energy-maximising control strategy, essential for reaching economic viability, inevitably leads to the violation of linearising assumptions, so the common linear models become unreliable and potentially unrealistic. Partially nonlinear models based on the computation of Froude–Krylov forces with respect to the instantaneous wetted surface are promising and popular alternatives, but they are still too slow when floaters of arbitrary complexity are considered; in fact, mesh-based spatial discretisation, required by such geometries, becomes the computational bottle-neck, leading to simulations 2 orders of magnitude slower than real-time, unaffordable for extensive iterative optimizations. This paper proposes an alternative analytical approach for the subset of prismatic floating platforms, common in the wave energy field, ensuring computations 2 orders of magnitude faster than real-time, hence 4 orders of magnitude faster than state-of-the-art mesh-based approaches. The nonlinear Froude–Krylov model is used to investigate the nonlinear hydrodynamics of the floater of a pitching wave energy converter, extracting energy either from pitch or from an inertially coupled internal degree of freedom, especially highlighting the impact of state constraints, controlled/uncontrolled conditions, and impact on control parameters’ optimization, sensitivity and effectiveness

Combining pendulum and gyroscopic effects to step-up wave energy extraction in all degrees of freedom

The fight against the global threat of climate change requires, among other actions, to increase the penetration of renewable energy technologies and diversify the energy mix in order to support a resilient energy system that can reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. Offshore energy is expected to drive the energy transition, with wave energy having the major role to provide a reliable baseload and reduce the need for storage; however, its techno-economic feasibility requires reduction of costs and increase of energy conversion efficiency. This paper tackles a fundamental innovation of a device’s working principle which, jointly exploiting pendulum and gyroscopic effects, steps-up the overall conversion efficiency in real operational conditions. A recent patent proposes a technological solution that conveniently combines pendulum and gyroscopic effects in order to effectively exploit motion also outside the plane, namely in the three-dimensional space and from all degrees of freedom (DoFs). This paper tackles the endeavour of the analytical formulation of the electro-mechanical conversion system dynamics, considering at first the fully-nonlinear equation of motion, obtained through a Lagrangian approach. Consequently, incremental simplifications are applied to accommodate practical application, based on the study on the relative importance of each term in the equation of motion. Furthermore, preliminary results are produced and discussed, comparing the behaviour in response to 3-DoF to 6-DoF exploitation

Excitation forces estimation for non-linear wave energy converters: A neural network approach

Investigating optimal control algorithms is a continuing concern within the Wave Energy field. A considerable amount of literature has been published on optimal control architectures applied to Wave Energy Converter (WEC) devices. However, most of them requires the knowledge of the wave excitation forces acting on the WEC body. In practice such forces are unknown and an estimate must be used. In this work a methodology to estimate the wave excitation forces of a non-linear WEC along with the achievable accuracy, is discussed. A feedforward Neural Network (NN) is applied to address the estimation problem. Such a method aims to map the WEC dynamics to the wave excitation forces by training the network through a supervised learning algorithm. The most challenging aspects of these techniques are the ability of the network to estimate data not considered in the training process and their accuracy in presence of model uncertanities. Numerical simulations under different irregular sea conditions demonstrate accurate estimation results of the NN approach as well as a small sensitivity to changes in the plant parameters relative to the case study presented

Data-based control synthesis and performance assessment for moored wave energy conversion systems: the PeWEC case

With a model-based control strategy, the effectiveness of the associated control action depends on the availability of a representative control-oriented model. In the case of floating offshore wave energy converters (WECs), the device response depends upon the interaction between mooring system, any mechanical parts, and the hydrodynamics of the floating body. This study proposes an approach to synthesise WEC controllers under the effect of mooring forces building a representative data-based linear model able to include any relevant dynamics. Moreover, the procedure is tested on the moored pendulum wave energy converter (PeWEC) by means of a high-fidelity mooring solver, OrcaFlex (OF). In particular, the control action is computed with and without knowledge of the mooring influence, in order to analyse and elucidate the effect of the station-keeping system on the harvested energy. The performance assessment of the device is achieved by evaluating device power on the resource scatter characterising Pantelleria, Italy. The results show the relevance of the mooring dynamics on the device response and final set of control parameters and, hence, a significant influence of the station-keeping system on control synthesis and extracted mechanical power

Real-time wave excitation forces estimation: An application on the ISWEC device

Optimal control strategies represent a widespread solution to increase the extracted energy of a Wave Energy Converter (WEC). The aim is to bring the WEC into resonance enhancing the produced power without compromising its reliability and durability. Most of the control algorithms proposed in literature require for the knowledge of the Wave Excitation Force (WEF) generated from the incoming wave field. In practice, WEFs are unknown, and an estimate must be used. This paper investigates the WEF estimation of a non-linear WEC. A model-based and a model-free approach are proposed. First, a Kalman Filter (KF) is implemented considering the WEC linear model and the WEF modelled as an unknown state to be estimated. Second, a feedforward Neural Network (NN) is applied to map the WEC dynamics to the WEF by training the network through a supervised learning algorithm. Both methods are tested for a wide range of irregular sea-states showing promising results in terms of estimation accuracy. Sensitivity and robustness analyses are performed to investigate the estimation error in presence of un-modelled phenomena, model errors and measurement noise

Analysis of a gyroscopic-stabilized floating offshore hybrid wind-wave platform

The energy innovation scenario sees hybrid wind-wave platforms as a promising technology for reducing the variability of the power output and for the minimization of the cost of offshore marine renewable installations. This article presents a model that describes the installation of a 5 MW wind turbine on a floating platform designed by Fincantieri and equipped with gyroscopic stabilization. The use of gyros allows for the delivery of platform stabilization by damping the wave and wind induced motion on the floater and at the same time producing extra power. Shetland Island was chosen as the reference site because of its particularly harsh weather. Final results show that the total production of power in moderate and medium climate conditions is considerable thanks to the installation of the gyro, together with a significant stabilization of the platform in terms of pitching angle and nacelle acceleration

The simulation of action disorganisation in complex activities of daily living

Action selection in everyday goal-directed tasks of moderate complexity is known to be subject to breakdown following extensive frontal brain injury. A model of action selection in such tasks is presented and used to explore three hypotheses concerning the origins of action disorganisation: that it is a consequence of reduced top-down excitation within a hierarchical action schema network coupled with increased bottom-up triggering of schemas from environmental sources, that it is a more general disturbance of schema activation modelled by excessive noise in the schema network, and that it results from a general disturbance of the triggering of schemas by object representations. Results suggest that the action disorganisation syndrome is best accounted for by a general disturbance to schema activation, while altering the balance between top-down and bottom-up activation provides an account of a related disorder - utilisation behaviour. It is further suggested that ideational apraxia (which may result from lesions to left temporoparietal areas and which has similar behavioural consequences to action disorganisation syndrome on tasks of moderate complexity) is a consequence of a generalised disturbance of the triggering of schemas by object representations. Several predictions regarding differences between action disorganisation syndrome and ideational apraxia that follow from this interpretation are detailed