Multi-Mode Wave Energy Converter
The ocean is a significant resource of reliable, consistent, and predictable clean energy that is more energy-dense than solar and wind energy. Harvesting only 1/10th of the available wave energy can cover 5.7% of the electricity generation in the United States. However, the high variability of the wave environment creates a challenge against efficient wave energy extraction. This project investigates a Multi-Mode Wave Energy Converter (MWEC) to enable efficient energy harvesting over a broad range of wave properties. MWEC's versatility stems from a re-configurable pendulum system that is attached to a rocking platform, which oscillates through wave-structure interaction. The platform is, in turn, connected to vertical pistons, allowing different dynamic modes to be excited, including pitching, heaving, and surging. In MWEC, electricity can be generated directly via the axial motion of the piston and via a Scotch-Yoke mechanism that converts the piston's axial motion into rotation. This page discusses the conceptualization and development of the MWEC with associated lab manufacturing and wave-MWEC simulations.
The investigation of MWEC started in 2021 with preliminary work by Vasileios Kotzamanis, PhD student at UH, with the support of John Alvey and Brandt Bechtel, who were funded by the PURS and SURF undergraduate research programs at UH. In 2023, the Water Power Technologies Office funded a project to engineer a wave-powered seawater desalination device that is based on the MWEC. The project will integrate an MWEC with a novel reverse osmosis membrane system engineered by Dr. Devin Shaffer to remove salt from seawater. In the meantime, the UH Energy Scholars Program awarded a scholarship to David Ferrer, undergraduate student at UH, to optimize MWEC’s PTO mechanism.
Publications
Student Assistants:
Vasileios Kotzamanis, PhD Student
Brandt Bechtel, Undergraduate Student
John Alvey, Undergraduate Student
David Ferrer, Undergraduate Student
Funded by
