Abstract

Many kinds of generation systems have been developed to use ocean energy. Among these, with the use of an oscillating water column (OWC) for power generation is attracting attention. The OWC-type wave power generation system converts wave energy into electricity by operating a generator turbine with the oscillating water level in a column of water. There are two ways to convert wave power into electricity using an OWC. One uses a cross-flow turbine using the water level inside the OWC. The other method uses the flow of air in a Wells turbine, which depends on the water level. An experiment was carried out using a 2-D wave tank in order to minimize the number of empirical tests. The design factors were taken from <xref>Koo et al. (2012)</xref> and the experimental environment assumed by free surface motion. This paper deals with characteristics of two types of wave energy conversion systems combine with a breakwater. One model uses an air-driven Wells turbine and a cross-flow water turbine. The other type uses a cross-flow water turbine. Wave energy converters with OWCs have mostly been studied using air-driven Wells turbines. The efficiency of the cross-flow turbine was about 15% higher than that of the other model, and the water level of the OWC internal chamber for the cross-flow water turbine and air-driven Wells turbine was less than about 40% lower than the one using only the cross-flow water turbine.

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