A wave foil with passive angle of attack adjustment for wave energy extraction for ships

Abstract

The application of new energy to augment a ship's propulsion is an effective way to achieve energy saving and emission reduction in ships. Wave foil is a promising device that can extract energy from sea waves to augment a ship's propulsion and reduce the ship's pitch motion in rough seas. This paper proposes a wave foil with a passive angle of attack adjustment, where the changes in angle of attack can promote the extraction of energy from the waves. As the wave foil moves up and down in the water, the angle of attack changes passively in response to the pitching of the ship. Spring damping is used to constrain the change in the angle of attack and in this way, the foil generates the propulsive force for the ships. The model of heave and pitch motion with the wave foil is derived and the simulation is carried out. The analysis shows that the proposed wave foil can extract wave energy to propel the ship and reduce the pitching motion of the ship.