GOALI: Energy Efficient and Reliable Motion Mechanism for Ocean Wave Energy Harvesting

据估计，2010年美国波浪能发电的潜力占总发电量的64%。超过53%的美国人口居住在距离海岸50英里的范围内，因此海浪提供了为人口提供电力的机会，而无需长距离输电。动力输出装置-将机械能转换为电能的机械-被认为是波浪能技术中最重要的元素，并且是迄今为止海洋波浪能系统的许多故障的基础。为了实现尚未开发的海浪的高电力潜力，迫切需要革命性的动力起飞。该项目的目标是通过实验和理论研究创新海洋动力起飞机制的设计，建模和控制，以解决波浪能收集中最根本的挑战。动力输出装置提供了更高的能量转换效率、更高的可靠性和无与伦比的紧凑性，并完全消除了可能造成环境污染的液压部件。它可以集成到点吸收器，波衰减器，波终端，或其他类型的波能转换器，只要涉及振荡波运动。因此，这项研究的成功将有助于确立美国在海洋波浪能领域的领导地位。预计该项目将开辟一条可持续的能源途径，利用巨大但尚未开发的海浪资源，以满足日益紧迫的国家能源和能源安全需求。 该项目将开展能源制造、海洋流体动力学、机电一体化设计、多物理场建模、控制和现场研究等多学科研究。目前最先进的海浪能技术要么采用直线电磁发电机直接驱动的动力输出装置，要么采用中间流体间接驱动的动力输出装置。直接驱动简单可靠，但需要笨重的永磁体;间接驱动更紧凑，但在复杂性、可靠性和效率方面存在严重缺点。该研究团队将创建和研究基于“机械运动整流器”的动力输出，以独特地将不规则的振荡波运动转换为发电机的规则单向旋转，具有直接和间接驱动的优点。研究团队还将从现代电气工程的新视角，包括二极管和晶体管，系统地研究振动能量收集合成。还将研究多体动态运动放大，以显着提高功率提取能力。

The potential of wave energy source in the US is estimated to be 64% of the total electricity generated in 2010. Over 53% of the US population lives within 50 miles of the coasts, so ocean waves offer ready opportunity to provide electricity for the population without long-distance electricity transmission. The power takeoff - the machinery to convert the mechanical energy into electricity - is considered as the single most important element in wave energy technology, and underlies many of the failures of ocean wave energy systems to date. Revolutionary power takeoff is urgently needed in order to realize the high electricity potential from the untapped ocean waves. The objective of this Grant Opportunity for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) project is to experimentally and theoretically investigate the design, modeling and control of an innovative ocean power takeoff mechanism to solve the most fundamental challenge in wave energy harvesting. The power takeoff offers much higher energy conversion efficiency, enhanced reliability, and unmatched compactness, and completely eliminates hydraulic components for potential environmental pollution. It can be integrated into the point absorbers, wave attenuators, wave terminators, or other type of wave energy converter whenever oscillatory wave motion is involved. Therefore, the success of this research will help establishing the leadership role of the US in the area of ocean wave energy. This project is expected to pave a sustainable energy pathway of harvesting vast but untapped ocean wave sources to meet the increasingly urgent national demand for energy and energy security. Multidisciplinary research on energy manufacturing, marine hydrodynamics, mechatronics design, multi-physics modeling, control, and in-field study will be conduct in this project. The state-of-the-art ocean wave energy technology either uses direct-drive power takeoffs with linear electromagnetic generator or indirect-drive power takeoffs using intermediate fluid. The direct drives are simple and reliable but require heavy and bulk permanent magnets; the indirect drives are more compact but suffer from serious shortcomings on the complexity, reliability, and efficiency. The research team will create and investigate a "mechanical motion rectifier" based power takeoff to uniquely convert the irregular oscillatory wave motion into regular unidirectional rotation of the generator, having the advantages of direct and indirect drives. The research team will also systematically study the vibration energy harvesting synthesis from new perspective of modern electrical engineering including diodes and transistors. Multi-body dynamic motion magnification will also be investigated to significantly enhance the power extraction capacity.