Cascadia Coast Research, in collaboration with the University of Victoria and Aalborg University, is making their methods for actively controlled physical model wave energy converter power take-offs (PTOs) publicly available.
Detailed descriptions and validation of the methods as well as real-time control codes for two separate WECs (1:25, and 1:20 scale) will all be available, Cascadia Coast Research informed.
PTO simulation in model testing is an identified barrier to the development of WECs worldwide, and the work output is aimed at removing this barrier for early stage WEC developers and researchers.
The PTO simulators developed by Cascadia Coast Research, UVic, and AAU, use force/torque-controlled feedback systems with suitable instrumentation enabling the PTOs to exert any desired time and/or state dependent force – a key requirement when developing control systems that maximize wave energy conversion, according to Cascadia Coast Research.