Author(s): Andrea Cagninei; Mattia Raffero; Ermanno Giorcelli; Giuliana Mattiazzo; Davide Poggi
Linked Author(s): Davide Poggi
Keywords: ISWEC; Wave Energy; Gyroscope; WEC; Pantelleri
Abstract: Wave power is one of the most promising and resourceful sources of renewable energy for the future. About 2000 TWh/year can be produced through the exploitation of the wave energy potential. In the past four decades, hundreds of Wave Energy Converters (WECs) have been proposed and studied, but so far a final architecture to harvest wave power has not been identified. Many engineering problems are still to be solved, like survivability, durability and effective power capture in a variable wave climate. Amongst the large variety of floating WECs, the reacting body devices (RBD) use the inertia of a large mass to guarantee the reaction needed from the PTO. In the case of a simple inertial mass, the theoretically optimal control should adjust the dynamic parameters of the PTO, such as the spring constant, and energy absorbing damping, to maximize the energy absorption. ISWEC (Inertial Sea Wave Energy Converter) uses a gyroscope to create an internal inertial reaction able to harvest wave power without exposing mechanical parts to the harsh oceanic environment. In the past few years, ISWEC has been successfully tested using two scale models (scales 1: 45 and 1: 8) and several extensive laboratory experimental campaigns. In this paper the first full scale ISWEC prototype is presented along with its control system and a refined control strategy. The goal of this paper is to identify an optimal control strategy in order to maximize wave power exploitation of ISWEC. Here we present a new adaptive control technique and the results deriving from its application to the ISWEC full scale device with rated power of 60k W. ISWEC with the new control strategy are finally applied to the test case of Pantelleria, and the results in terms of power potential and yearly productivity are shown.
Year: 2014