Investigation of Moving Angle of Power Take off Mechanism on the Efficiency of Wave Energy Converter

The hydraulic power-take-off mechanism (HPTO) is one of the most popular methods in wave energy converters (WECs). However, the conventional HPTO with only one direction motion has a number of drawbacks that limit its power capture capability. This paper proposes an adjustable moving angle wave energy converter (AMAWEC) and investigates the effect of the moving angle on the performance of the wave energy converter to find the optimal moving angle in order to increase the power capture capability as well as energy efficiency. A mathematical model of components from a floating buoy to a hydraulic motor was modeled. A small scale WEC test rig was fabricated to verify the power capture capability and efficiency of the proposed system through experiments.