WAVE POWER
ELFORSK
Technology type
Attenuator
Point Absorber
Oscillating Surge
Wave Converter
Oscillating Water
Column
Overtopping Devise
Submerged Pressure
Differential
Other
All
Working principle
Attenuators are often hinged multi body devices where different parts of the device
experiences different phases of a wave. The reaction force is a buoyancy- vs. buoy-
ancy force derived from the phase difference.
Point absorbers can look very different, but common is that
they consists of two sepa-
rate systems. One system usually riders the wave whilst the other supplies a reference
to react against. The reference is in some cases a fixed point i.e. the seabed and
in other cases inertia. The reaction force is either derived from buoyancy vs. fixed
reference or buoyancy vs. inertia.
An OSWC is typically a hinged flap type device standing on the bottom rather close
to shore. In the nearshore the otherwise circular water particle orbit becomes el-
liptical and this horizontal wave motion component (surge) is utilised to move a flap
back and forth.
An OWC uses an air chamber in which a water column oscillates up and down as
the device interacts with the waves. This causes air to be pushed and pulled in and
out of the air chamber and through a bidirectional air turbine.
An overtopping device consists of three main parts –
a collector, a reservoir, and a
PTO. The collector is wider at the wave inlet and narrower at the reservoir – causing
the waves to grow vertically. The waves overtop into the reservoir at the end of the
collector, and the water is let back out to the sea again through low-head water
turbines.
These devices are generally standing on the seabed. As the sea level varies the pres-
sure on the device varies. One part of the machine oscillates as the pressure varies,
whilst another part of the machine is still and the relative motion between the two
machine parts is utilised for electricity generation by means of e.g. direct drive (linear
generator) or hydraulics.
Various other technologies have been proposed. None
of these approaches to wave
energy conversion has however advanced far in the development process to date.
Go to the EMEC website (http://www.emec.org.uk/wave_energy_devices.asp) to see
animations of the different approaches to wave energy conversion
Example WECs
Pelamis, Dexa
Seabased Wavebob
WaveRoller, Oyster
Oceanlinx, Wavegen
Wave Dragon, WavePlane
AWS
CETO, Anaconda
Sweden
Seabased
Seabased is a Swedish WEC developer
based in Uppsala.
The company is an
offspring from research at Uppsala
University.
Seabased is a two-body system; the reac-
tion force between the gravity founda-
tion and the buoyancy of the buoy drives
the conversion to electric power, which is
accomplished with a linear generator.
Several Seabased machines connect to an
underwater substation, where electricity
is converted, transformed, and carried to
shore.
The technology has been tested since
2006 off the Swedish west coast as a
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