Experimental investigations on a low frequency horizontal pendulum ocean kinetic energy harvester for underwater mooring platforms

Abstract

In the interest of extending the operation time of underwater mooring platforms, it is promising and feasible to harvest energy from ocean. A low frequency horizontal pendulum ocean kinetic energy harvester for underwater mooring platforms was presented in this paper. Several series of experimental tests on energy harvesting were carried out. The present research investigates the influence of parameters including excitation frequency, excitation amplitude, inertia modification (ballasting) and pendulum rod length, on the energy harvesting performance. Results show that this type of horizontal pendulum energy harvester has the best performance at resonant frequencies 0.2, 0.25 and 0.3 Hz, with the pendulum pitch angle 3°, 4° and 5°, respectively. It is indicated that the energy harvester can slightly tune the natural frequency to meet the prominent excitation frequency through varying the pendulum pitch angle. The test results also show that the optimal output power take off damping is 30 or 40 Ω in most case, and the maximum average output power can reach 0.3 W, with high normalized power density of 3453.8 kg/m3. Similarly, the results show that three parameters, excitation amplitude, inertia modification (ballasting), and pendulum rod length, have a significant influence on the energy harvesting. This work constitutes a preliminary step towards the development of a low frequency horizontal pendulum ocean kinetic energy harvester for underwater mooring platforms.