• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.189-202
• /
• 2012

An Oscillating Water Column (OWC) wave generation system uses the air flow induced by the vertical motion of water column in the air chamber as a driving force of turbine. It is well known that OWC is one of the most efficient devices to harness wave power. This study estimated the air flow velocity from the time variation of the water level fluctuation in the air chamber under regular wave conditions using 3-dimensional numerical irregular wave tank (3D-NIT) model that can simulate the 3-dimensional irregular wave field. The applicability of the 3D-NIT model was validated by comparing numerically predicted air flow velocities with hydraulic experimental results. In addition, the characteristics of air flow frequency spectrum variation due to the incident frequency spectrum change, and the variations of frequency spectrum and wave reflection due to the existence of converter inside the air chamber were discussed. It is found that the phase difference exists in between the air flow velocity and the water level fluctuation inside the air chamber, and the peak frequency of the spectrum in water level fluctuation is amplified by the resonance in the air chamber.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.171-181
• /
• 2011

Recently, many studies have been attempted to save the cost of production and to build the ocean energy power generating system. The low-reflection structure with the wall-typed curtain which has a wave power generation system of OWC is known as the most effective energy conversion system. A three-dimensional numerical model was used to understand the characteristics of velocity of flows about compressed air and to estimate the pressure acting on the low-reflection structure due to the short-period waves. The three-dimensional numerical wave flume which is the model for the immiscible two-phase flow was applied in interpretation for this. The numerical simulation showed well about the changes in velocity of compressed air and the characteristics of pressure according to the change in the wave height and depth of the curtain wall. Additionally, the results found that there was the point of the maximum velocity of the compressed air when the reflection coefficient is at its lowest point.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
• /
• 2014.10a
• /
• pp.17-18
• /
• 2014

Wave energy generation system is sorted as oscillating water chamber type, over topping device type and wave activating body type. The wave activating body type converts from wave energy to kinetic of the machine one and the power generation amount increases while the motion of a activating body increases. In this paper the wave energy convertor consists of a main body which has a generation system and the activating body. They are connected by a bar type bridge. The twisting moment and angular velocity at a shaft of convertor are calculated when various condition of the incident wave, a diversity of connection methods between the main body and the activating body. It can be used as basic idea for determining the design of wave activating body type convertor.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.91-98
• /
• 2010

The water elevation inside the air chamber and bi-directional air flow in the duct of Oscillating Water Column wave energy converter is one of the most important factors to evaluate the operating performance. The numerical wave tank based on the commercial software Fluent 6.2 in the present paper is employed to generate the incident waves. The numerical wave tank consists of the continuity equations, the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations and the two-phase VOF function. The oscillating amplitude of water column in the chamber and bi-directional air flow in the duct installed on the top of the chamber are calculated, and compared with experimental data to verify the validation of the present NWT. The nozzle effects of the chamber-duct system on the relative amplitudes of the inner free water surface and air flow rate in the duct are investigated.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
• /
• 2001.05a
• /
• pp.20-25
• /
• 2001

부유식 파랑에너지 변환시스템(Oscillating Water Column)에서 에너지 변환은 입력파와 챔버, 챔버내 공기의 상호작용으로 이루어진다. 이 논문은 파랑에너지를 기계적 운동으로 변환하는 기계적 특성을 해석한다. 단일 진동수 규칙파가 입력되었을 때에 파에 의하여 챔버의 상하운동이 선형적으로 발생하며, 이 상하운동은 챔버내의 압력 변화에 영향을 받는다. 상하운동과 챔버내로 투과한 파, 그리고 챔버내 압력에 의해 발생되는 파에 의해 챔버내의 상대운동을 정하고, 그 상대운동에 의한 공기의 압축 팽창과 온도상승을 근사적 열역학적 방정식으로 해석하여 오리피스를 통한 유량과 압력을 기준으로 에너지 변환요율을 결정하였다. 얻어진 식은 간단하면서도 관련요소의 영향을 전반적으로 표현한다. 개구율 변화에 따른 운동응답을 비교하였다.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.182-188
• /
• 2014

In an oscillating water column (OWC)-type wave energy conversion system, the performance of the OWC chamber depends on the chamber shape, as well as the incident wave direction and pressure drop produced by the turbine. Although the previous studies on OWC chambers have focused on wave absorbing performance in ideal operating conditions, incident waves do not always arrive normally to the OWC chamber in real sea conditions, especially in fixed devices. The present study deals with experiments and numerical calculations to investigate the effects of wave direction on the performance of the OWC chamber. The experiments were carried out in a three-dimensional wave basin for five different wave directions, including the effect of turbine using the corresponding orifice. The wave elevation inside the chamber was measured at the center point under various incident wave conditions. The numerical study was conducted by using a numerical wave tank-based volume-of-fluid model to compare the results with experimental data and to reveal the detailed flows around the chamber.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.111-117
• /
• 2012

Oscillating water column is the most widely used ocean energy converting systems all over the world. The operating performance is influenced by the efficiencies of the two converting stages in the OWC chamber-turbine integrated system. In order to consider the effects of the turbine, the orifice model are carried out. The VOF based Numerical Wave Tank (NWT) is utilized to simulate the water column oscillation inside the chamber and the results are compared with corresponding experimental data. This paper reviews the state of the art in interaction among wave elevation inside the chamber and air flow rate in the duct, which are considered the turbine effects. Effects of incident wave conditions and several shape parameters on the operating performance of OWC chamber are investigated numerically. The effects of the impulse turbine on the integrated system and interaction among the wave elevation, pressure and air flow velocities variations are investigated.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.29 no.4
• /
• pp.317-321
• /
• 2015

Many kinds of generation systems have been developed to use ocean energy. Among these, with the use of an oscillating water column (OWC) for power generation is attracting attention. The OWC-type wave power generation system converts wave energy into electricity by operating a generator turbine with the oscillating water level in a column of water. There are two ways to convert wave power into electricity using an OWC. One uses a cross-flow turbine using the water level inside the OWC. The other method uses the flow of air in a Wells turbine, which depends on the water level. An experiment was carried out using a 2-D wave tank in order to minimize the number of empirical tests. The design factors were taken from Koo et al. (2012) and the experimental environment assumed by free surface motion. This paper deals with characteristics of two types of wave energy conversion systems combine with a breakwater. One model uses an air-driven Wells turbine and a cross-flow water turbine. The other type uses a cross-flow water turbine. Wave energy converters with OWCs have mostly been studied using air-driven Wells turbines. The efficiency of the cross-flow turbine was about 15% higher than that of the other model, and the water level of the OWC internal chamber for the cross-flow water turbine and air-driven Wells turbine was less than about 40% lower than the one using only the cross-flow water turbine.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.401-409
• /
• 2023

Oscillating water column (OWC) type wave power generator system is a power generation system that uses wave energy, a sustainable and renewable energy source. Irregular cycles and wave heights act as factors that make it difficult to secure generation efficiency of the wave power generator system. Recently, research for improving power generation efficiency is being conducted by applying digital twin technology to OWC type wave energy converter system. However, digital twin using sensor data can predict erroneous performance due to uncertainty in the sensor data. Therefore, this study proposes an uncertainty analysis method for sensor data which is used in digital twin to secure the reliability of digital twin prediction results. Uncertainty quantification considering sensor data characteristics and future uncertainty information according to uncertainty propagation were derived mathematically, and confidence interval estimation was performed based on the proposed method.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
• /
• v.24 no.6_2
• /
• pp.801-808
• /
• 2021

In this paper, a numerical analysis was conducted on the effect of the flow control valve of a oscillation water column(OWC) type wave power generator turbine. The OWC wave power turbine operates with compressed air in the air chamber according to the change of wave height. When the wave height changes rapidly, a flow control valve is required due to overload of the turbine and reduced efficiency. Therefore, in this paper, a flow control valve with an opening angle of 60 degrees was installed in the front of the turbine, and the pressure drop, torque, and overall performance were calculated according to the change of turbine RPM and flow rate of turbine inlet. In conclusion, the flow control valve with an opening angle of 60 degrees affects when the turbine rotates at low rotation and the inlet flow rate is large. But it does not have a significant effect on overall turbine performance and it is necessary to find the optimal angle in the future works.