Abstract
Oceans, and particularly waves, offer a huge potential for energy harnessing all over the world. Nevertheless, the performance of current energy converters does not yet allow us to use the wave energy efficiently. However, new control techniques can improve the efficiency of energy converters. In this sense, the plant sensors play a key role within the control scheme, as necessary tools for parameter measuring and monitoring that are then used as control input variables to the feedback loop. Therefore, the aim of this work is to manage the rotational speed control loop in order to optimize the output power. With the help of outward looking sensors, a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) technique is employed to maximize the system efficiency. Then, the control decisions are based on the pressure drop measured by pressure sensors located along the turbine. A complete wave-to-wire model is developed so as to validate the performance of the proposed control method. For this purpose, a novel sensor-based flow controller is implemented based on the different measured signals. Thus, the performance of the proposed controller has been analyzed and compared with a case of uncontrolled plant. The simulations demonstrate that the flow control-based MPPT strategy is able to increase the output power, and they confirm both the viability and goodness.
Highlights
Sensors have been widely used in power generation plants during the last centuries
The rotational speed of the turbo-generator is used as closed-loop element, which is necessary in addition to the pressure drop measurement from the sensor to estimate the reference rotational the surroundings of the breakwater of Mutriku
The rotational speed of the turbo-generator is used as closed-loop element, which is necessary in addition to the pressure drop measurement from the sensor to estimate the reference rotational speed
Summary
Sensors have been widely used in power generation plants during the last centuries. The main role of most of the sensors has been the continuous monitoring of the plant parameters, until recent years. According to a recent report from the European Union, the annual O&M costs of ocean energy devices can be as high as 5.8% of capital expenditures In this context, the use of sensors will help mitigate O&M expenses and anticipate failures. In this paper an Oscillating Water Column-based wave energy system is presented. Novel advanced control methods are needed to make needed to make the technology profitable [18,19,20,21,22] In this context, the Maximum Power Point the technology profitable. Section implements the control strategy that maximizes the power extraction in OWC devices.
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