Energy Extraction of Pontoon-Type Wave Energy Converter

Presented herein is the performance of a pontoon-type wave energy converter (WEC) similar to that of the ‘Floater Blanket’ WEC, which consists of a grid of interconnected floating elements. The current WEC design takes into account the elastic deformation of the structure under wave action and investigates its efficiency in generating wave energy as compared to its counterparts that achieve this via rigid body motions. The power take off (PTO) systems are installed at the seabed and attached to the WEC to generate energy via the vertical motions of the WEC’s structural modules. Three types of pontoon-type WEC designs are investigated, i.e. with hinges, with a reduced number of hinges and without hinges. In addition, the influence of the flexibility of the structural modules towards the energy generation is also investigated in order to assess its performance when behaving like an elastic material. The pontoon-type WEC’s structural modules with fewer or without hinge connections are preferable due to their ease in installation, while allowing for flexible deformation in the structural design would yield savings in material cost.