Date of Award
2023
Document Type
Open Access Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering (MS)
Administrative Home Department
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Advisor 1
Wayne W. Weaver
Committee Member 1
David Wilson
Committee Member 2
Flavio Costa
Committee Member 3
Gordon Parker
Abstract
Many governments around the world are pledging to reduce their consumption of fossil fuels as they look to curb the amount of green house gasses they release into the atmosphere. These green house gasses are what scientists blame for global warming and the recent increase in extreme weather events. Producing electricity is one of the largest producers of these gasses but utilizing renewable sources can greatly decrease the amount of green house gasses produced. Common forms of renewable energies are wind and solar and both of these green energies have reached a state of maturation where they are economically viable to implement into full scale electrical grids.
Wave energy is a less developed renewable energy and it has not yet reached the level of maturation where it can readily be implemented into the electric grid. Marine energy sources are a promising new source of energy as the majority of Americas population lives along the coast and the energy in water is more energy dense that of solar and wind powers. However, in order to implement full scale wave energy converters there needs to be additional development in wave forecasting, controls systems, power electronics, energy storage systems, grid integration, and the overall efficiency of the system.
In this study wave energy converters are modelled from the excitation force of the water interacting with the buoy to the grid current being injected into the onshore electrical grid. The power and the efficiency of the system is analyzed from wave to wire and a control system is implemented to increase the efficiency of the system in a multi-frequency irregular wave environment. Additionally, the positioning of wave energy converters is an array is studied to determine the optimal placement of each buoy in order to maximize the energy delivered to the onshore electrical grid.
Recommended Citation
Veurink, Madelyn G., "IMPLEMENTATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF MULTI-RESONANCE AND PHASE CONTROL OF THE ELECTRICAL POWER TAKE-OFF ON A WEC ARRAY FOR IMPROVED PERFORMANCE", Open Access Master's Thesis, Michigan Technological University, 2023.