Fluidic Components for Oscillating Water Column Based Wave Energy Plants

Author(s):  
Prasad V. Dudhgaonkar ◽  
V. Jayashankar ◽  
Purnima Jalihal ◽  
S. Kedarnath ◽  
T. Setoguchi ◽  
...  

A bidirectional (oscillating) air flow is central to energy conversion from wave to wire in an oscillating water column based wave energy plant. Several classes of bidirectional turbines, which operate with such an oscillating flow, have been designed and tested with limited efficiencies. A topology which uses fluidic diodes in conjunction with unidirectional turbines is shown to significantly improve the efficiency. The design and test results from several fluidic diodes for such an application are discussed. It is shown that a combination of a fluidic diode and the unidirectional turbine can achieve a very high impedance to reverse flow while having a high efficiency in the forward direction, over a wide range of flow coefficients.

Author(s):  
Zhengzhi Deng ◽  
Zhenhua Huang ◽  
Adrian W. K. Law

An analytical theory is developed for an oscillating water column (OWC) with a V-shaped channel to improve the pneumatic efficiency of wave energy extraction. An eigenfunction expansion method is used in a cylindrical coordinate system to investigate wave interaction with the OWC converter system. Auxiliary functions are introduced to capture the singular behaviours in the velocity field near the salient corners and cusped edges. Effects of the OWC dimensions, the opening angle and length of the V-shaped channel, as well as the incident wave direction, on the pneumatic efficiency of wave energy extraction are examined. Compared with a system without the V-shaped channel, our results show that the V-shaped channel can significantly increase the conversion efficiency and widen the range of wave frequency over which the OWC system can operate at a high efficiency. For typical coastal water depths, the OWC converter system can perform efficiently when the diameter of the OWC chamber is in the range of 1 5 – 1 2 times the water depth, the opening angle of the V-shaped channel is in the range of [ π /2, 3 π /4] and the length of the V-shaped channel is in the range of 1–1.5 times the water depth.


2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piyush Mohapatra ◽  
K. G. Vijay ◽  
Anirban Bhattacharyya ◽  
Trilochan Sahoo

Abstract Oscillating water column (OWC) wave energy converters are one of the most widely researched devices for ocean wave energy harvesting. This study investigates the hydrodynamic performance of a shore-fixed OWC device for different bottom slopes using two numerical approaches, namely, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and boundary integral equation method (BIEM). In the BIEM method, the boundary value problem is solved in two-dimensional Cartesian coordinates using the linear water wave theory. The CFD model uses a numerical wave tank (NWT) built using the volume of fluid (VOF) method. Numerical computations are carried out for different sloped bottom geometries and front wall drafts to analyze the hydrodynamic efficiency. There is a general agreement between CFD and BIEM results in terms of resonating behavior of the device. It is observed that the front wall draft has a more significant effect, a lower draft leading to a wider frequency band for optimum conversion at high efficiency. While the BIEM-based analysis resulted in improved performance curve for few of the steeper slopes, the CFD study predicted a lower peak efficiency for the same slopes due to the consideration of real fluid characteristics. Detailed performance comparisons are presented using the time histories of free surface elevation, chamber pressure, and streamlines at different time instants within the OWC chamber.


2018 ◽  
Vol 121 ◽  
pp. 344-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rameez Badhurshah ◽  
Prasad Dudhgaonkar ◽  
Purnima Jalihal ◽  
Abdus Samad

Complexity ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erlantz Otaola ◽  
Aitor J. Garrido ◽  
Jon Lekube ◽  
Izaskun Garrido

Oscillating Water Column (OWC) based devices are arising as one of the most promising technologies for wave energy harnessing. However, the most widely used turbine comprising its power take-off (PTO) module, the Wells turbine, presents some drawbacks that require special attention. Notwithstanding different control strategies are being followed to overcome these issues; the use of other self-rectifying turbines could directly achieve this goal at the expense of some extra construction, maintenance, and operation costs. However, these newly developed turbines in turn show diverse behaviours that should be compared for each case. This paper aims to analyse this comparison for the Mutriku wave energy power plant.


2014 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 255-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongyao Luo ◽  
Jean-Roch Nader ◽  
Paul Cooper ◽  
Song-Ping Zhu

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