We have developed a way of harvesting electrical energy from ocean power, e.g. tide, current wave, breaking wave and vortex, using a Flexible PiezoElectric Device (FPED) consisting of polyvinyledene fluoride (PVDF) and elastic material such as rubber, silicon and resin. The proposed FPED has a multi-layered structure with a distance δ between FPEDs located away from centerline of the FPED. When the FPED can be easily deformed by ocean power, the PVDF laminated in the FPED can be expanded and compressed and then the internal strain energy can be stored in the FPED. The electric power is generated when the electric polarization occurs in the PVDF.
In this study, we have proposed an ocean power generator of EFHAS (Elastic Floating unit with HAnging Structures) consisting of floating unit and hanging unit using the FPEDs to obtain electric power from ocean energy. We investigated a structure of the EFHAS and also examined characteristics of motion and electric performance of the EFHAS (1/50–1/75 scale model. We made clear that the EFHAS could be useful as ocean power generator.
Wave-energy Absorption by a Rotating Electric-power Generator Set inside an Asymmetric Floating Body
