The Sandia wave energy power take-off (SWEPT) Lab grew out of experience gained with the WaveBot. Wave tank testing could be substantially de-risked and amplified by performing bench testing of the PTO and control system. Furthermore, if the bench test was designed to replicate the hydrodynamic elements of the system, much the benefit garnered from wave tank testing could be obtained on the bench (Bacelli et al., 2019). Based on these findings, the SWEPT Lab was designed to perform bench testing on a wide range of wave energy archetypes.
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References
2019
Wave tank and bench-top control testing of a wave energy converter
Giorgio Bacelli, Steven J. Spencer, David C. Patterson, and Ryan G. Coe
An increasing number of experiments are being conducted to study the design and performance of wave energy converters. Often in these tests, a real-time realization of prospective control algorithms is applied in order to assess and optimize energy absorption as well as other factors. This paper details the design and execution of an experiment for evaluating the capability of a model-scale WEC to execute basic control algorithms. Model-scale hardware, system, and experimental design are considered, with a focus on providing an experimental setup capable of meeting the dynamic requirements of a control system. To more efficiently execute such tests, a dry bench testing method is proposed and utilized to allow for controller tuning and to give an initial assessment of controller performance; this is followed by wave tank testing. The trends from the dry bench test and wave tank test results show good agreement with theory and confirm the ability of a relatively simple feedback controller to substantially improve energy absorption. Additionally, the dry bench testing approach is shown to be an effective and efficient means of designing and testing both controllers and actuator systems for wave energy converters.
@article{Bacelli:2019aa,author={Bacelli, Giorgio and Spencer, Steven J. and Patterson, David C. and Coe, Ryan G.},bibtex_show=true,date-added={2020-10-07 12:37:21 -0600},date-modified={2025-06-25 12:01:07 -0600},doi={10.1016/j.apor.2018.09.009},file={:Bacelli2019.pdf:PDF},groups={AdvWecCntrls Pubs},issn={0141-1187},journal={Applied Ocean Research},keywords={Wave energy converter (WEC), Control, Wave tank, Model-scale testing},owner={rcoe},pages={351 - 366},timestamp={2018.12.16},title={Wave tank and bench-top control testing of a wave energy converter},url={http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0141118717307484},volume={86},year={2019},bdsk-url-1={http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0141118717307484},bdsk-url-2={https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apor.2018.09.009}}