Analysis of the Power Extraction Capability for the Wave Energy Converter BOLT®

AbstractThe goal of this paper is to investigate the power extraction capability for the Wave Energy Converter (WEC) concept BOLT®. Specifically, the impact of different control strategies on the power extraction and their high sensitivity to the incoming waves will be presented. The BOLT® concept is based on a flat point absorber designed with a small mass and a Power Take-Off (PTO) solely controlling the amplitude of the WEC's motion, passive loading. It is reported that the small weight of the device makes passive loading suitable for most sea states. As the device is still on the pilot stage, there is room for exploring the potential improvement of the power extraction for different sea states by determining the optimal control strategy for sinusoidal waves of different amplitudes and frequencies. In addition, when considering realistic designs of PTOs, the constraint on the peak power should be taken into account. The power handled by the electro-mechanical system is limited by the ratings of the electrical components and the mechanical force limits. Imposing a constraint on the peak power will greatly affect the control strategies’ impact and thus the average extracted power