This paper will propose a concept of efficiently capturing the power of ocean waves. Many concepts have been pursued for over 100 years, but none have proven to be commercially viable for widespread operation. The waves offer 2 to 3 million megawatts of clean, renewable energy globally with up to 65 megawatts available per mile of coastline in favorable locations; furthermore, 60% of the world’s population lives within 100 miles of a coastline. Developing a cost-competitive system offers the potential to contribute to the world’s growing energy needs while preserving the environment. The proposed concept is designed to overcome the difficulties of competing concepts by preventing system destruction due to severe storms and bio fouling — the degradation of precision components in a corrosive environment. The author has developed a working model that has been deployed in the ocean, constructed of “low tech” building materials that demonstrated continuous turning of a large flywheel, moment of inertia of 250 kg m**2. The patented concept offers a means for rapidly constructing the energy capture mechanism and keeping the critical precision components protected from the ocean environment. Building on this success, a large-scale demonstration is proposed to assess performance of a commercially viable configuration.
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ASME 2004 Power Conference
March 30–April 1, 2004
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Conference Sponsors:
- Power Division
ISBN:
0-7918-4162-6
PROCEEDINGS PAPER
Capturing the Energy of Ocean Waves
Douglas E. Wolfe
Douglas E. Wolfe
Vienna, VA
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Douglas E. Wolfe
Vienna, VA
Paper No:
POWER2004-52170, pp. 699-702; 4 pages
Published Online:
November 17, 2008
Citation
Wolfe, DE. "Capturing the Energy of Ocean Waves." Proceedings of the ASME 2004 Power Conference. ASME 2004 Power Conference. Baltimore, Maryland, USA. March 30–April 1, 2004. pp. 699-702. ASME. https://doi.org/10.1115/POWER2004-52170
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