Oscillating Body Design for A 3-DOF Wave Energy Converter

Ocean wave energy converters (WECs) are obtaining more and more attentions in the world. So far, many types of converters have been invented. Oscillating body systems are a major class of WECs, which typically have one degree of freedom (DOF), and the power absorption efficiency is not quite satisfactory. In this paper, a 3-DOF WEC is proposed and a simplified frequency-domain dynamic model of the WEC depending on the linear potential theory is conducted. The performances of three geometries of the oscillating body including the cone, the cylinder and the hemisphere have been compared, and the results show that the hemisphere is more suitable for the 3-DOF WEC. Subsequently, the relationship among the parameters of the hemisphere is established based on the equal natural frequencies of the heave and pitch (or roll) motions, and the results show that lowering the center of gravity leads to the better power absorption in the pitch (or roll) motion. In the end, the power matrixes of different sizes of the hemispheres under different irregular waves are obtained, which can give a size design reference for engineers.