Design and Construction of a 1/15th Scale Wave Tank Model of the Azura Commercial Wave Energy Converter

Conference · Mon Jun 10 04:00:00 EDT 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1115/OMAE2019-95538· OSTI ID:1600030

Ling, Bradley A ^[1]; Lettenmaier, Terry; Fowler, Matthew; Cameron, Matthew; Viselli, Anthony M.

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1. Northwest Energy Innovations; Northwest Energy Innovations

The design of a 1/15th geometrically scaled wave tank model of the Azura(TM) commercial-scale wave energy device is presented. The objectives of the wave tank tests, conducted at the University of Maine Harlod Alfond Wind/Wave Ocean Engineering Lab (W2), included verification of the Azura's energy capture in irregular waves, evaluation of performance in survival wave conditions, and testing of two advanced control algorithms. Due to the difficulty in properly Froude Scaling a hydraulic system, the model used a direct-drive rotary motor/generator power take-off (PTO), with the dynamics of the hydraulic PTO included via a hardware-in-the-loop simulation. This PTO implementation led to additional design requirements being imposed on the model drivetrain. In addition to the model PTO design, the instrumentation design, structural design, and test plans are presented. The resulting model and PTO achieved a high level of controllability, and accurately emulated the dynamics of the hydraulic PTO of the full-scale Azura prototype.

• Research Organization: Northwest Energy Innovations
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Water Power Technologies Office (EE-4WP)
• Contributing Organization: Williwaw Engineering, University of Maine's Advanced Structures and Composites Center.
• DOE Contract Number: EE0007693
• OSTI ID: 1600030
• Report Number(s): DOE-NWEI-07693-3; OMAE2019-95538
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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