Performance Period: 2016 – Ongoing
Advanced wave prediction and concurrent online adjustment of the operating parameters (such as hydraulic system pressure and generator load) of existing wave energy conversion (WEC) devices has the potential to increase the power extracted from ocean waves by such devices by at least 200% over presently used approaches. However, commercial devices under development today still use control strategies based largely on ‘slow-tuning’ approaches, which result in significantly reduced wave power extraction and poor economic viability. This is largely due to two major issues: (1) the difficulty of predicting the waves encountered by a WEC system 20-40 seconds in advance, which is required to effectively implement optimal tuning strategies, and (2) the challenges associated with optimizing the control system, given various nonlinear system behaviors and constraints.
Re Vision is developing a toolbox under funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that will allow for the development of optimal control systems for different WEC device topologies.
