Design and Analysis of a Two-Body Wave Energy Converter With Mechanical Motion Rectifier

The design and dynamic analysis of a two-body wave energy converter with 50W average output power is presented in this paper. The wave energy is extracted through the relative motion between a floating buoy and a submerged body, both oscillating in the heave direction. A ball screw system is used to convert the linear relative motion into bidirectional rotation of the screw. Moreover, a mechanical motion rectifier (MMR) is used in the power take-off (PTO) design and convert the bidirectional rotation into unidirectional rotation of generator by using two one-way bearings in the gear system. The dynamic equation of this two-body wave energy converter is established by considering the engagement and disengagement of the one-way bearings in the PTO system. The simulation results in the regular and irregular waves are presented and the average output power of the proposed wave energy converter under different wave condition are estimated.