Design and testing of a laboratory scale test rig for wave energy converters using a double-sided permanent magnet linear generator

This study considers the design and testing of a laboratory scale test rig for wave energy converters (WECs). The main element of the test rig is a double-sided permanent magnet linear generator (PMLG). In this study, the authors describe the detailed design of the PMLG. The objective of the design is to find the detailed parameters of the PMLG to meet the targeted electromotive force (EMF) voltage with respect to the designed physical constraints. The design procedure is easy to follow and emphasises the practical aspects to construct the PMLG. A spreadsheet table was generated using the procedure to find the design parameters. Therefore, a designer can easily modify the parameters based on the physical constraints and the targeted EMF voltage. In addition to that, the authors explain the procedure to find the rating temperature for the generator. Finally, this PMLG is integrated with other components to form the test rig. The experiment is conducted to show how close the performance of the constructed PMLG is, in term of its EMF voltage and rated thermal, to the designed values. Additional tests were also conducted to test the performance of the test rig using various scenarios similar to ocean wave profiles.