Publication: Design and development of sea wave point absorber: the dual-direction mechanism
Loading...
Date
2023-07-01
Authors
Muhammad Akmal Bin Hasnul Manan
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Wave energy has huge potential to become one of the competitors in terms of renewable energy sources as the category now is currently dominated by wind and solar energy. Point absorber (PA) is one of the types of many waves energy converters that are available currently in the market to harvest wave energy into electrical energy. Generally, the way point absorber works is by absorbing the crest and trough motion of the wave through a buoyant and convert that linear motion into electrical energy. Oscillating water column (OWC) is also one of the current available technologies to harvest wave energy. To put it simple, OWC works by utilizing the differential pressure produced by wave crest and trough. By installing a water column that traps a portion of water that still interacts with the wave, it allows for the trap air inside the column to be compressed or expand with the motion of the wave. The compressed and expanded air is what allows for the air flow to go in and out of the column through an exit that spins the turbine. Though, not many studies have conducted an experiment that involves fusing the two, PA and OWC. By taking the general shape of the PA and working concept of the OWC, it allows for the creation of a PA that utilizes pneumatic energy (power involving pressurized air). This concept allows for it to be placed in offshore region of the ocean instead of shoreline like a conventional OWC and eliminates the mechanical efficiency of linear motion of PA. With this, a prototype of PA-OWC with roughly scale of 1:50 is designed and fabricated for this investigation. Addition to this, with the existence of wells turbine that utilizes the NACA 0021 airfoil, the turbine installed would allow for dual-direction mechanism. For context, ‘dual direction’ refers to the air that flows in (downward) and out (upward) of the water column. With the NACA 0021 airfoil, the turbine would only spin in one direction, hence in theory improving the efficiency of the system.