Cost-effectively laboratory experimental techniques for performance assessment of scale-down wave energy converters.

Evaluating the hydrodynamic response, the electric power generation and the wave-to-wire efficiency of scale-down prototypes are critically crucial for developing wave energy converters (WECs). Experimental evaluation through dry and wet tests are commonly employed approaches, besides the numerical analysis. However, the current study heavily relies on expensive test platforms and lacks physical verification of control strategies. This study aims to comprehensively evaluate a scale-down oscillating-body-type WEC through newly developed cost-effectively experimental techniques and test rigs, where the influence of the electric load and the implementation of a control strategy are investigated. The newly-designed dry test rig provides a low-cost and generic approach to evaluate the mechano-electric conversion performance of the power take-off system, and an advanced real-time measurement and control system is assembled and employed to test the wave-excited performance of a WEC through flume experiments. More importantly, this real-time control system is used to physically implement a well-established control strategy under regular and irregular waves, to approach the required stable output power. • Propose a low-cost test rig to assess the mechano-electric conversion performance. • The system-wide performance is efficiently obtained by a high-integrated DAQ system. • The real-time control strategy implementation example of look-up table is shown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]