Control of a 420 kN Discrete Displacement Cylinder Drive for the Wavestar Wave Energy Converter

To improve the power production of their 1 MW wave energy converter, Wavestar is developing a new transmission based on discrete hydraulics. The discrete hydraulic system allows all cylinders to supply a common accumulator storage while maintaining low-loss individual force control of the 20 absorbers. The system is implemented using multi-chambered cylinders, where the different chambers may be switched between three pressure lines using a manifold with fast on/off valves. Resultantly, a Discrete Displacement Cylinder (DDC) is obtained, where force control is implemented by shifting between different area/pressure combinations. Currently, a 420 kN DDC prototype has been implemented and tested at the newly commissioned full size wave energy testbench at Aalborg University. The initial design and control of the DDC had poorly damped switching transients. These issues treated in this paper. This leads to a new control, which gives a smooth operating DDC, while meeting the requirements to the efficiency of the drive.