scholarly journals A Control System For Constrained Wave-Powered Oceanographic Buoys

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1 (Nov)) ◽  
pp. 51-61
Author(s):  
Shangyan Zou ◽  
Ossama Abdelkhalik

Wave energy can be used to power oceanographic buoys. A new switching control strategy is developed in this paper for a two-body heaving wave energy converter that is composed of a floating cylinder and two rigidly connected submerged hemispheres. This control strategy is designed to prevent excessive displacement of the floating buoy that may occur due to the actuator force. This control strategy switches the control between a multi-resonant controller and a nonlinear damping controller, depending on the state of the system, to account for displacement constraints. This control strategy is developed using a one-degree-of-freedom dynamic model for the relative motion of the two bodies. Estimation of the relative motion, needed for feedback control, is carried out using a Kalman filter. Numerical simulations are conducted to select the proper mooring stiffness. The controller is tested with stochastic models of irregular waves in this paper. The performance of the controller with different sea states is discussed. Annual power production using this control strategy is presented based on real data in 2015 published by Martha's Vineyard Coastal Observatory.

1999 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Falnes

Wave-energy converters (WECs) need a reaction source against which the wave forces can react. As with shore-based WECs, sometimes also floating WECs react against a fixed point on the seabed. Alternatively, for a floating WEC, force reaction may be obtained by utilizing the relative motion between two bodies. A load force for energy conversion is assumed to be applied only to this relative motion. It is assumed that either body oscillates in one mode only (mostly, the heave mode is considered here). The system, if assumed to be linear, is proved to be phenomenologically equivalent to a one-mode, one-body system, for which the wave excitation force equals the force which is necessary to apply between the two bodies in order to ensure that they are oscillating with zero relative motion. It is discussed how this equivalent excitation force and also the intrinsic mechanical impedance of the equivalent system depend on the mechanical impedances for the two separate bodies, including the radiation impedance matrix (which combines radiation resistances and added masses). The equivalent system is applied for discussing optimum performance for maximizing the absorbed wave energy. It is shown that, for an axisymmetric system utilizing heave modes, it is possible to absorb an energy amounting to the incident wave power on a crest length which equals the wavelength divided by 2π, even though the power take-off is applied to the relative motion only. Moreover, it is shown that it is possible to obtain an equivalent excitation force which exceeds the wave excitation force on either body.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 2865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinming Wu ◽  
Zhonghua Ni

In this paper, we investigate the design of an integrated system consisting of two non-rigidly connected bodies: A floating buoy and an emerged offshore structure. When waves excite the buoy to oscillate, the relative motion between the two bodies are converted to useful energy through a spring damper system, resulting in wave energy being absorbed. The parameter to design includes the mass and underwater shape of the buoy. The spring stiffness of the power take-off (PTO) system is constrained to be non-negative with the concerns of complexity in implementation and system stability. Results suggest that a larger mass of the buoy is advantageous due to smaller optimal spring stiffness and damping coefficient of the PTO system, more absorbed wave power, and less motion amplitude of the two bodies. A favorable underwater shape of the buoy is characterized by large diameter to draft ratio, with the section profile preferring a circle or square rather than an equilateral triangle. Investigations on the designed buoy in irregular waves show that the integrated system presents its peak power absorption within the common range of energy period, and the motion amplitude of the offshore structure is larger than the wave amplitude in a certain range of sea states.


Author(s):  
STEFANO MERLER ◽  
BRUNO CAPRILE ◽  
CESARE FURLANELLO

In this paper, we propose a regularization technique for AdaBoost. The method implements a bias-variance control strategy in order to avoid overfitting in classification tasks on noisy data. The method is based on a notion of easy and hard training patterns as emerging from analysis of the dynamical evolutions of AdaBoost weights. The procedure consists in sorting the training data points by a hardness measure, and in progressively eliminating the hardest, stopping at an automatically selected threshold. Effectiveness of the method is tested and discussed on synthetic as well as real data.


Author(s):  
Jason C. Wilkes

Dry-friction whip and whirl occurs when a rotor contacts a stator across a clearance annulus. In a general sense, the relative motion between the two bodies is described by a circular precessing motion. While this problem is generally well understood, the author is unaware of any papers that discuss the problem for systems having asymmetric rotor or stator supports. The current work will investigate a general model to describe dry-friction whip and whirl for the case of continuous contact between a rotor and stator in the presence of asymmetry. This paper will show that for light asymmetry, the rotor and stator motions are elliptical; however, the relative motion between the two bodies remains circular.


Author(s):  
Shaowu Ou ◽  
Shixiao Fu ◽  
Wei Wei ◽  
Tao Peng ◽  
Xuefeng Wang

Typically, in some side-by-side offshore operations, the speed of vessels is very low or even 0 and the headings are manually maneuvered. In this paper, the hydrodynamic responses of a two-body system in such operations under irregular seas are investigated. The numerical model includes two identical PSVs (Platform Supply Vessel) as well as the fenders and connection lines between them. A horizontal mooring system constraining the low frequency motions is set on one of the ships to simulate maneuver system. Accounting for the hydrodynamic interactions between two bodies, 3D potential theory is applied for the analysis of their hydrodynamic coefficients. With wind and current effects included, these coefficients are further applied in the time domain simulations in irregular waves. The relevant coefficients are estimated by experiential formulas. Time-varying loads on fenders and connection lines are analyzed. Meanwhile, the relative motions as well as the effects of the hydrodynamic interactions between ships are further discussed, and finally an optimal operation scheme in which operation can be safely performed is summarized.


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