Preliminary Modeling and Analysis of a Horizontal Pressure Differential Wave Energy Converter

ABSTRACT Wave energy converters (WECs) have been proposed thattake advantage of spatially varying pressure differentials (PDs)in a wave field to drive a fluid flow. In order to accurately as-sess the pressure forcing on PD devices, physics-based relation-ships between major device parameters and device performanceneed to be determined. Herein, a transfer function is developedthat relates horizontally oriented PD device configurations andwave conditions to the amount of pressure forcing available tothe device. Investigation of the transfer function confirms intu-itive expectation, but also yields surprising results. The transferfunction can be applied to a wave spectrum to create a pressureresource spectrum. By manipulating the device length and ori-entation, an optimal configuration can be found that maximizesthe total harnessable pressure resource for a given wave condi-tion or a wave climate. Optimal device lengths for directionalseas are longer than those for non-directional seas, and a widerange of suboptimal configurations yields a reasonable pressureresource. The pressure resource transfer function is a fundamen-tal tool for understanding how horizontal PD WECs work anddesigning an optimal device.KEYWORDS: wave energy converter; pressure differential;horizontal; transfer function; modeling; optimization