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Copyright © 2017 Xuanlie Zhao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

An oscillating buoy wave energy converter (WEC) integrated to an existing box-type breakwater is introduced in this study. The buoy is installed on the existing breakwater and designed to be much smaller than the breakwater in scale, aiming to reduce the construction cost of the WEC. The oscillating buoy works as a heave-type WEC in front of the breakwater towards the incident waves. A power take-off (PTO) system is installed on the topside of the breakwater to harvest the kinetic energy (in heave mode) of the floating buoy. The hydrodynamic performance of this system is studied analytically based on linear potential-flow theory. Effects of the geometrical parameters on the reflection and transmission coefficients and the capture width ratio (CWR) of the system are investigated. Results show that the maximum efficiency of the energy extraction can reach 80% or even higher. Compared with the isolated box-type breakwater, the reflection coefficient can be effectively decreased by using this oscillating buoy WEC, with unchanged transmission coefficient. Thus, the possibility of capturing the wave energy with the oscillating buoy WEC integrated into breakwaters is shown.

Details

Title
Analytical Study on an Oscillating Buoy Wave Energy Converter Integrated into a Fixed Box-Type Breakwater
Author
Zhao, Xuanlie; Dezhi Ning; Zhang, Chongwei; Liu, Yingyi; Kang, Haigui
Publication year
2017
Publication date
2017
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
ISSN
1024123X
e-ISSN
15635147
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
1908329199
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 Xuanlie Zhao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.