• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.15-24
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• 2009

The results of a simulation study of variable liquid column oscillations in U-tanks with a novel control scheme are presented. The configuration under investigation is analogous to that of the tuned liquid-column damper used to suppress oscillatory motion in large structures like tall buildings and cargo ships. However, by virtue of an adequate controller, the response of amplitude of the U-tanks becomes larger in a desired frequency range. The motion of wave energy conversion system equipped with a variable liquid column oscillator is described by a series of nonlinear differential equations. The equations describe the motion of body under ocean wave excitation, and the motion of liquid with an air-spring effect caused by the compression and expansion of air in vertical liquid columns and air chambers. It is shown that the effect of the air-spring has a vital role to maintain the natural frequency of oscillation in the system to synchronize with the frequency of the ocean wave, thus the system provides the most effective mode for energy extraction from the ocean.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2005.07a
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• pp.483-486
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• 2005

국내에서 대체에너지 공급 비율을 보면 청정에너지로 분류할 수 있는 태양열에너지, 태양광 에너지, 풍력에너지를 모두 합하여 대체에너지의 10% 이하이며, 대체에너지 비율의 90% 이상을 폐기물로부터 얻은 에너지가 차지하고 있는 실정이다. 신재생에너지원에는 여러 종류가 있지만 해양에너지원에 대해 대상을 설정하고 이에 대한 부존량을 살펴보면 진도 주변의 해역에서 조류발전 부존량이 약 362만 kW가 되며, 시화호와 새만금 등지에서의 조력발전 부존량이 650만 kW, 동해안 후포 연안을 비롯한 파력발전 부존량이 20만 kW가 되는 것으로 알려져 있다. 이에 따라 해양에너지를 실용화하기 위한 연구가 국내외에서 연구되고 있다. 본 논문은 권선형유도발전기를 갖는 조류발전 시스템을 대상으로 연구한 결과로 권선형유도발전기를 제어하기 위한 전력변환장치 개발과 관련한 내용이다. 신재생에너지원이 발전 단가 측면에서 경제성을 갖기 위해서 발전기 용량은 5MW 급까지 대용량화 되어 있는 단계이지만 국내에서는 아직 MW급 이상이 되는 권선형유도발전기와 권선형유도발전기를 제어하는 전력변환장치에 대한 연구 실적이 없는 상황이다. 이에 본 논문에서는 IMW급의 권선형유도발전기에 대한 개발 사례를 소개하면서 유효전력제어, 역률제어 특성과 운전 속도에 따라 변동되는 회전자 측에서의 피상전력 제어 특성에 대해 고찰하고자 한다.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.189-202
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• 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 the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.318-328
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• 1991

The present paper describes the experimental study on the fixed-type wave-energy conversion system, consisting of the OWC-type wave-energy absorbing chamber and the duct for the air turbine. For simplicity, a screen of wire mesh was employed in place of an air turbine in order to simulate its effects on OWC chamber. Experiments were performed at the towing tank in regular waves with the frequency range of 0.22-0.75Hz. Comparison wish the numerical prediction using a potential flow-based method [4] was made to validate the capability of numerical code. It was shown that the agreements between measured and calculated results are quite good, giving a confidence in prediction method. Simulation of air turbine using a wire-mesh screen was successful, at least in a qualitative sense, to investigate the inter action between the OWC chamber and an air turbine. Results also showed that the effects of a wire-mesh screen on chamber efficiency are negligible, and the present model can be effectively utilized for the practical use in ocean waves with the frequency range under 0.3Hz.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.116-122
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• 2019

Among the various wave power systems, Salter's duck (rotor) is one of the most effective wave absorbers for extracting wave energy. The rotor shape is designed such that the front part faces the direction of the incident wave, which forces it to bob up and down due to wave-induced water particle motion, whereas the rear part, which is mostly circular in shape, reflects no waves. The asymmetric geometric shape of the duck makes it absorb energy efficiently. In the present study, the rotor was investigated using WAMIT (a program based on the linear potential flow theory in three-dimensional diffraction/radiation analyses) in the frequency domain and verified using OrcaFlex (design and analysis program of marine system) in the time domain. Then, an experimental investigation was conducted to assess the performance of the rotor motion based on the model scale in a two-dimensional (2D) wave tank. Initially, a free decay test (FDT) was carried out to obtain the viscous damping coefficient. The pitch response was extracted from the experimental time series in a periodic regular wave for two different wave heights (1 cm and 3 cm). In addition, the viscous damping coefficient was calculated from the FDT result and fluid forces, obtained from WAMIT, are incorporated into the final response of the rotor. Finally, a comparative study based on experimental and numerical results (WAMIT & OrcaFlex) was performed to confirm the performance reliability of the designed rotor.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.242-252
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• 2018

It is well known that an Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Converter (OWC-WEC) is one of the most efficient wave absorber equipment. This device transforms the vertical motion of water column in the air chamber into the air flow velocity and produces electricity from the driving force of turbine as represented by the Wells turbine. Therefore, in order to obtain high electric energy, it is necessary to amplify the water surface vibration by inducing resonance of the piston mode in the water surface fluctuation in the air chamber. In this study, a new type of OWC-WEC with a seawater channel is used, and the wave deformation by the structure, water surface fluctuation in the air chamber, air outflow velocity from the nozzle and seawater flow velocity in the seawater channel are evaluated by numerical analysis in detail. The numerical analysis model uses open CFD code OLAFLOW model based on multi-phase analysis technique of Navier-Stokes solver. To validate model, numerical results and existing experimental results are compared and discussed. It is revealed within the scope of this study that the air flow velocity at nozzle increases as the Ursell number becomes larger, and the air velocity that flows out from the inside of the air chamber is larger than the velocity of incoming air into the air chamber.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.85-92
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• 2013

This paper deals with the resonant type of a WEC (wave energy converter) and the determination method of its geometric parameters which were obtained to construct the robust and optimal structure, respectively. In detail, the optimization problem is formulated with the constraints composed of the response surfaces which stand for the resonance period(heave, pitch) and the meta center height of the buoy. Use of a signal-to-noise ratio calculated from normalized multi-objective results with the weight factor can help to select the robust design level. In order to get the sample data set, the motion responses of the power buoy were analyzed using the BEM (boundary element method)-based commercial code. Also, the optimization result is compared with a robust design for a feasibility study. Finally, the power efficiency of the WEC with the optimum design variables is estimated as the captured wave ratio resulting from absorbed power which mainly related to PTO (power take off) damping. It could be said that the resultant of the WEC design is the economical optimal design which satisfy the given constraints.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.38-45
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• 2008

Development of high efficiency turbine with good performance is one of the main topics in the field of developing wave energy converter. For the development and improvement of the turbine performance, the effect of wave condition on the turbine performance should be considered in detail. Also, water depth is an important factor because incident wave power to the turbine is considerably influenced by the wave particle amplitude of motion and the amplitude is closely related with the water depth. Therefore, in this study, the effect of water depth on the performance of a direct drive turbine(DDT) for wave energy converter is investigated using the DDT which is installed in two types of wave channel. The experimental results show that the DDT captures more wave energy under the condition of relatively shallow water depth. When the water depth is shallow, the horizontal water particle amplitude of motion becomes wider and thus, the water power toward the turbine becomes larger.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.208-218
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• 2017

The performance of a wave energy converter (WEC) that uses the rolling motion of a partially submerged pendulum plate in front of a quay wall was analyzed. The wave exciting moment and hydrodynamic moment were obtained using a matched eigenfunction expansion method (MEEM) based on the linear potential theory, and then the roll motion response of a pendulum plate, time averaged extracted power, and efficiency were investigated. The optimal PTO damping coefficient was suggested to give the optimal extracted power. The peak value of the optimal extracted power occurs at the resonant frequency. The resonant peak and its width increase as the submergence depth of the pendulum plate decreases and thickness of the pendulum plate increases. An increase in the wave incidence angle reduces the efficiency of the wave energy converter. In addition, the WEC using a rolling pendulum plate contributes not only to the extraction of the wave energy, but also to a reduction in the waves reflected from the quay wall, which helps to stabilize ships going near the quay wall.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.388-397
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• 2010

A two-dimensional time-domain, potential-theory-based fully nonlinear numerical wave tank (NWT) was developed by using boundary element method and the mixed Eulerian-Lagrangian (MEL) approach for free-surface node treatment. The NWT was applied to prediction of primary wave energy conversion efficiency of a bottom-mounted oscillating water column (OWC) wave power device. The nonlinear free-surface condition inside the chamber was specially devised to represent the pneumatic pressure due to airflow velocity and viscous energy loss at the chamber entrance due to wave column motion. The newly developed NWT technique was verified through comparison with given experimental results. The maximum energy extraction was estimated with various chamber-air duct volume ratios.