Tunable wave energy converter
First Claim
1. An apparatus for capturing energy from surface waves on a body of water comprising a pair of floats for out of phase bobbing motions in response to passing waves on a surface of the water body, one of said floats including a weight suspended from a spring mechanism having a selectively variable spring constant for changing the mechanical impedance of said one float in response to changing wave conditions, and an energy converter external to and connected between said floats for generating useful energy in response to said float bobbing motions.
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Abstract
In a wave energy converter (WEC) for capturing energy contained in surface waves on large bodies of water, one or both of the floats used in the WEC has an internal spring system including a weight suspended from a spring mechanism having a selectively variable spring constant for allowing vertical oscillations of the weight in response to bobbing motions of the float The mechanical impedance of the system is a function of the oscillations of the weight, hence the system is tunable to selected values of mechanical impedance for optimal coupling with the prevailing waves.
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Citations
6 Claims
- 1. An apparatus for capturing energy from surface waves on a body of water comprising a pair of floats for out of phase bobbing motions in response to passing waves on a surface of the water body, one of said floats including a weight suspended from a spring mechanism having a selectively variable spring constant for changing the mechanical impedance of said one float in response to changing wave conditions, and an energy converter external to and connected between said floats for generating useful energy in response to said float bobbing motions.
- 5. A method for capturing energy from surface waves on a body of water comprising disposing a pair of floats so configured for out of phase bobbing motions in response to passing waves on a surface of the water body, disposing within one of said floats a weight suspended from a spring mechanism having a selectively variable spring constant for changing the mechanical impedance of said one float in response to changing water conditions, and connecting both said floats to an energy converter external to said floats for generating useful energy in response to said float bobbing motions.
Specification