Spin Acceleration Mechanism for Wave Energy Convertor Using Gyroscopic Effect and Geared Feedback

Abstract To realize a small-sized floating-type wave energy converter, a vibrational power generator that uses the gyroscopic effect and a geared acceleration mechanism is presented. First, equations of motion for the spin acceleration mechanism are derived. Next, numerical analyses are presented to show that the spin velocity of the gyro-flywheel is accelerated or decelerated by the rotating vibration, and the convergent power generations at various vibration frequencies are calculated. In addition, a simple equation that expresses the relationship between the vibration and equipment parameters and the convergent power generation is derived. The result shows that the generated power is 10 W when the flywheel diameter is 600 mm, the weight is 20 kg, the input frequency is 0.2 Hz, and the amplitude is 10°. Finally, an experimental apparatus with a spin acceleration mechanism containing a flywheel 300 mm in diameter is fabricated to show that the experimental and calculated steady-state spin and precession velocities agree when the vibration period is 1.5 and 2.0 s.