The capability of the WITT wave energy converter to generate megawatts of offshore power at a competitive LCOE

WITT 波浪能转换器能够以具有竞争力的 LCOE 产生兆瓦级海上电力

• 批准号: EP/N508652/1
• 负责人: Philip Wilson
• 金额: $ 6.14万
• 依托单位: University of Southampton
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2015 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FN508652%2F1
• 关键词: capability; WITT; wave; energy; converter

The potential for harnessing significant amounts of clean renewable energy from ocean waves is vast. Commitments madeby the UK government and others to tackle climate change require an expansion in development and deployment ofrenewable technologies and it is widely recognised that ocean wave energy will play an important role in meeting futuretargets for the reduction of carbon emissions. Whilst significant advances have been made over the last 35 years indeveloping new ideas aimed towards producing robust and economically viable wave energy converters (WECs) thereremains no clear consensus on future direction of design and operation of WECs. In addition to supporting existingconcepts, it is important that promising new ideas for wave energy conversion continue to be explored. It is widelyaccepted that there are two key elements to a successful WEC design.First, the design should be driven by fundamental theoretical principles of wave energy absorption as these ultimatelydetermine the capacity for power conversion. Second, prospective designs must take account of the significantengineering challenges that arise when operating in harsh marine environments.In a recent paper "A submerged cylinder wave energy converter" Crowley, Porter & Evans, Journal of Fluid Mechanics,2013, vol 716, (hereafter CPE) advocated a WEC design which sought to address these two demands. In particular, thedesign was assumed to use an internal power take-off system consisting of a pendulum rotating on a horizontal axis whoserotation was damped to produce power.Such a design benefits by its isolation from the marine environment, mechanically robust by relying on few moving partsand free from end-stop problems associated with over-excitation of the device. A combination of theoretical and numericalresults demonstrated that the device of CPE extracts significant power over a broad range of energy-dense wave periods.Indeed, a mean capture factor more than double any existing WEC of its type was predicted.The WITT developed by WITT Limited under whom this TSB grant is being led is closely related to the device conceived inthe work of CPE. Instead of a linear device working in surge/pitch modes of motion enclosed within a long cylinder, theWITT is a device designed for use in buoys. It not only converts power in surge and pitch modes but also in sway and roll.The WITT has been developed by specialists in gear transmission systems and has been shown to have high efficiency inconversion of kinetic to electric power. It is scalable and robust. The project being led by WITT includes partnersspecialising in mooring systems and marine deployment, power take-off design and manufacture and experimentalmethods including wave tank testing. In Bristol, the project will develop a theoretical model for the operation of the WITTWEC device as a spherical buoy either floating or submerged, to include effect of the mooring lines, the device and itsinteraction with a model sea state and the internal power take-off system. The work will be based on the earlier work ofCPE, with changes implemented to account for the revised converter geometry, mooring line configuration and power take-off system.After verification tests have been completed, an optimisation method will be applied to determine parameters for optimalpower conversion for WITT WEC devices over a range of physical scales. The work will develop in tandem with otherpartners on the project, in particular in developing the optimal mooring system and through the validation of theoreticalpredictions by the experimental work performed in Southampton. The successful completion of this project will result in aset of experimentally-validated theoretical results for a WEC design with the potential to be developed a larger scale andeventually to full scale commercialisation.

从海浪中利用大量清洁可再生能源的潜力巨大。英国政府和其他国家应对气候变化的承诺需要扩大可再生技术的开发和部署，人们普遍认为海浪能将在实现未来碳排放减少目标方面发挥重要作用。虽然在过去的35年里已经取得了显着的进步，在开发新的想法，旨在生产强大的和经济上可行的波浪能转换器（WEC），仍然没有明确的共识，未来的方向设计和操作的WEC。除了支持现有的概念，重要的是，有前途的新的想法，波能转换继续探索。人们普遍认为，成功的WEC设计有两个关键因素：第一，设计应遵循波浪能吸收的基本理论原则，因为这些原则最终决定了能量转换的能力。其次，未来的设计必须考虑在恶劣的海洋环境中运行时出现的重大工程挑战。在最近的一篇论文“水下圆柱体波浪能转换器”中，Crowley，Porter & Evans，Journal of Fluid Mechanics，2013，第716卷（以下简称CPE）主张WEC设计寻求解决这两个需求。特别是，该设计假定使用内部动力输出系统，该系统由一个在水平轴上旋转的摆锤组成，该摆锤的运动被阻尼以产生动力。这种设计的好处是与海洋环境隔离，依靠很少的运动部件而机械坚固，并且没有与设备过激励相关的端部停止问题。理论和数值结果的结合表明，CPE的设备在能量密集的波浪周期的广泛范围内提取显着的功率。事实上，平均捕获因子超过任何现有的WEC的两倍，其类型被预测。由威特有限公司开发的WITT，在其领导下，这个TSB赠款是密切相关的设备在CPE的工作中构思。WITT不是在长圆柱体内以纵荡/俯仰运动模式工作的线性装置，而是专为浮标使用而设计的装置。它不仅能在纵荡和俯仰模式下转换动力，还能在横摇和横滚模式下转换动力。威特由齿轮传动系统专家开发，已被证明在动能到电能的转换中具有高效率。它是可扩展的和健壮的。该项目由威特牵头，合作伙伴包括专门从事系泊系统和海上部署、动力输出装置设计和制造以及实验方法（包括波浪水槽测试）的专业人员。在布里斯托，该项目将开发一个理论模型，用于WITTWEC装置作为漂浮或浸没的球形浮标的操作，包括系泊缆的影响、装置及其与模型海况和内部动力输出系统的相互作用。这项工作将以CPE的早期工作为基础，并对转换器的几何形状、系泊缆配置和动力输出系统进行修改。验证测试完成后，将采用优化方法确定威特WEC设备在一系列物理尺度上的最佳功率转换参数。这项工作将与该项目的其他合作伙伴一起发展，特别是在开发最佳系泊系统方面，并通过在南安普顿进行的实验工作验证理论预测。该项目的成功完成将导致一组实验验证的理论结果，WEC设计有可能开发更大规模，最终实现全面商业化。

项目成果

Modelling of the WITT wave energy converter

• DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2017.08.004
• 发表时间: 2018
• 期刊: Renewable Energy
• 影响因子: 8.7
• 作者: S. Crowley;R. Porter;D. Taunton;P. Wilson

Modelling the WITT energy converter

WITT 能量转换器建模

• 发表时间: 2016
• 作者: Crowley, Sarah