Testing and optimising a novel wave-energy device

In August 2013, preliminary tests were undertaken in which a working proof-of-principle was established of the novel wave-energy device, in a 1.2m by 0.2m x 0.2m tank, with a hand-driven wavemaker, a wave-activated buoy moving in the vertical, and by using deconstructed Faraday/shaking lights to create a linear direct-drive generator. The experiments were built and set-up in The Netherlands by Onno Bokhove together with inventor/ designer Ir. Wout Zweers and was inspired by their bore-soliton-splash. The generated power was visualized using an Arduinoscope (an oscilloscope built using Arduino technology) or LED-lights as loads. No further systematic tests were undertaken, because attention was first directed to establishing a complete mathematical and numerical wave-to-wire model of the set-up, which formulation was finished recently and reported in [1,2]. This comprehensive model includes the nonlinear water-wave motion, the (constrained) wave-activated buoy motion as well as the electro-magnetic generator; the latter model was derived directly from Maxwell’s equations based on first principles. The device was well-received at EWTEC2019 and the experts encouraged further modeling and testing, which is the purpose of the PhD project.

Figure 1: Sketches of the new wave-energy device. See [1,2]

[1] O. Bokhove, A. Kalogirou, D. Henry, and G. P. Thomas 2019: A novel wave-energy device with enhanced wave amplification and induction actuator. Proceedings European Wave and Tidal Energy Conf. (EWTEC2019), Aug. 30th to Sept. 6th, Napoli, Italy, 9pp. 

[2] O. Bokhove, A. Kalogirou, W. Zweers 2019: From bore-soliton-splash to a new wave-to-wire wave-energy model. Water Waves 1, 217-258. 

[3] A.F.O. Falcao 2010: Wave energy utilization: A review of the technologies. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 14, 899-918.