Date of Award
2022
Document Type
Open Access Master's Report
Degree Name
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (MS)
Administrative Home Department
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Advisor 1
Wayne W. Weaver
Committee Member 1
Gordon G. Parker
Committee Member 2
John T. Lukowski
Abstract
Several studies have indicated that electricity production is the prime source of greenhouse emissions, more than flying and driving combined. Hence, over the past few decades, there has been a significant rise in the need for clean energy to achieve the targets in emissions reduction. It has been observed that the share of renewable energy sources in the percentage of total electricity production is rising, but, according to climate experts, the transition needs to speed up. Hence, it is significant to study and develop underutilized renewable energy sources.
One of these underutilized renewable energy sources is wave energy. It has been observed that wave energy is a source with very high potential and predictability but has been in the nascent development stage for a while now due to several technical challenges. One of them is the limitation in studying all the real-world scenarios in a laboratory and the cost of up-scaling it to the real world. A low-cost, efficient solution to study and validate such technologies is Hardware In the Loop (HIL) implementation.
In this study, an attempt has been made to develop a systematic wave energy converter (WEC) model using Typhoon HIL and Speedgoat. The developed model can act as a universal model to pick, study, test, and validate the individual components of the WEC in the HIL environment. Preliminary results show a reasonable trend in the behavior of the WEC. WEC system behavior for both single and multi-frequency wave tests has been discussed in the report. The stability/operating conditions for the current model configuration and a few insights on the energy storage system have also been discussed.
Recommended Citation
Nair, Pranav, "Hardware In The Loop Implementation and Simulations of a Wave Energy Converter using Typhoon HIL and Speedgoat", Open Access Master's Report, Michigan Technological University, 2022.