DESIGN AND MODELLING OF CONVERTER FOR WAVE ENERGY

World energy consumption is increasing by year. This fact has led to extensive researches conducted in utilizing renewable energy all around the world as the alternative. Wave energy is one of the alternative energies that have high potential to be developed. However because of the nature of ocean wave which is random in term of amplitude and frequency, the generated voltage from Wave Energy Converter (WEC) will be non-uniform and unstable. This non-uniform voltage output from WEC cannot be directly used and thus an intermediate system between the WEC and load is needed. This project entitled “Design and Modelling of Converter for Wave Energy” is focusing on developing the intermediate system which is voltage conversion system. It aims to design wave energy converter in stabilizing the output voltage from the generator so that it is suitable to be used with load and at the same time conduct extensive literature review on the previous technologies. WEC that will be considered in this project is Resen Wave LOPF Buoy that is available in UTP Offshore Lab with the maximum output AC voltage of 15 V. Literature review is conducted onto the type of converters that can be implemented to convert AC voltage. From the study carried out, AC-DC-AC converter is the most suitable converter type to be used with renewable energy. Next, extensive literature review on three previous technologies has also been completed and from the review done; a proposed design of converter is introduced

Direct Drive Linear Generator Designs with Aluminium Spacer and Alternate Slot Winding for Wave Energy Conversion System

This paper presents the study on direct drive linear generator designs with aluminium spacer and alternate slot winding for wave energy conversion system. The study involved the development of permanent magnet linear generator designs with the variation on aluminium spacer utilization as part of magnet assembly and alternate slot winding usage instead of conventional winding arrangement. The proposed designs were simulated using Finite Element Method (FEM) software to attain the results on flux distribution, air-gap flux density and open circuit results. The total weight and material cost of each design were also estimated. These results are significant in finding the acceptable design’s alternatives to counter the need of huge and heavy linear generator in wave energy converter system. Comparative studies on simulation results and calculated data were conducted between the alternative and conventional design. It is found out that alternate slot winding design improves the performance of conventional design with no impact on design’s weight and material cost while aluminium spacer design yields more significant negative results on the performance than the positive effects in term of design’s weight and material cost

DESIGN OF LINEAR GENERATOR FOR WAVE ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM IN MALAYSIA

Wave energy is one of the available renewable energy resources with vast availability worldwide. The lower wave power density in Malaysia compared to other countries with progressive development in Wave Energy Converter (WEC), leads to the need for a specific direct drive linear generator design that suit the local wave characteristics (i.e. wave height and period)

DESIGN OF LINEAR GENERATOR FOR WAVE ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEM IN MALAYSIA

Wave energy is one of the available renewable energy resources with vast availability worldwide. The lower wave power density in Malaysia compared to other countries with progressive development in Wave Energy Converter (WEC), leads to the need for a specific direct drive linear generator design that suit the local wave characteristics (i.e. wave height and period)

Design and Analysis of Tubular Slotted Linear Generators for Direct Drive Wave Energy Conversion Systems

Linear generator utilization in a wave energy converter (WEC) is an attractive alternative to a rotary generator. This paper presents the design of a permanent magnet linear machine (PMLM) for WEC applications in low wave power areas. In this paper, the wave height and vertical speed of Malaysian water is used for the simulation and design. Two design variants are introduced which are tubular PMLM with no spacer (TPMLM-NS) and tubular PMLM with spacer (TPMLM-S). Finite element analysis (FEA) has been conducted to investigate the performance and to refine the main dimensions of the design in terms of split ratio, pitch ratio and tooth width. The FEA results are then validated using an analytical method which is established according to the design’s magnetic field distribution. Based on main dimension refinement, it can be deduced that both the split ratio and the pitch ratio have a significant influence on the airgap flux density and back EMF of the design. The obtained FEA results also reveal that the TPMLM-NS variant is capable of producing 240 V back EMF, 1 kW output power with satisfactory efficiency. Consequently, this indicates the capability of the design to convert wave energy with good performance. Additionally, good agreement between the analytical predictions and FEA results was obtained with a low percentage of error, thus providing concrete assurance of the accuracy of the design