Swedish Centre for Renewable

In order to capture ocean wave energy and transform it into electric energy, Uppsala University has developed a point absorber wave energy converter (WEC) for electricity production. For a better understanding of a torus shaped buoy’s performance, this paper conducts a force analysis under linear conditions, to investigate the hydrodynamic characteristic and line force differences between the torus buoy that is going to be deployed, and two similar cylindrical buoys. The result reveals the line force from this torus buoy is roughly 5 % larger than from cylindrical buoys for the most energy dense wave climate in Lysekil test site, and negative added mass phenomena won’t have a significant impact for the line force. To measure the line force, a force measurement system has been designed. A detailed description is given on the design of the 500 kN force measurement system, and the major differences compared with former force measurement systems. Onshore test result has also been presented. With the force measurement experiment, hydrodynamic analysis for torus buoy can be validated when the system performs linearly, and extreme force for storm weather can be monitored to provide information for future WEC structure’s mechanical design