The Wave Energy Converter Control Competition: Overview

Abstract

Over the past two years, a wave energy converter control systems competition (WECCCOMP) has been in progress, with the objective of comparing different wave energy converter (WEC) control paradigms on a standard benchmark problem. The target system is a point absorber, corresponding to a single float with an absolute reference, of the WaveStar WEC prototype. The system was modelled in WEC-Sim, with the hydrodynamic parameters validated against tank test data. Competitors were asked to design and implement a WEC control system for this model, with performance evaluated across six sea states. The evaluation criteria included a weighted combination of average converted power, peak/average power, and the degree to which the system physical constraints were exploited or temporarily exceeded. This paper provides an overview of the competition, which includes a comparative evaluation of the entries and their performance on the simulation model. It is intended that this paper will act as an anchor presentation in a special session on WECCCOMP at OMAE 2019, with other papers in the special session contributed by the competitors, describing in detail the control algorithms and the results achieved over the various sea states.

Model Predictive Energy-Maximising Tracking Control for a Wavestar-Prototype Wave Energy Converter

“…The scaled Wavestar-prototype device is a kind of wave-activated body WEC, as shown in Figure 1. A hemispherical float is mechanically connected to an arm that can rotate around a fixed hinge point A [11], which has three independent motions (surge, heave and pitch). At the other side of the arm, a linear motor (power take-off system) is attached on the rotating arm to provide the power take-off force, and it only has one degree of freedom.…”

“…For example, there have been numbers of related works in the literature based on a special form of point absorber device known as the Wavestar-prototype WEC [7][8][9][10]. This was selected in an open competition [11] to compare different WEC control systems on a standard benchmark, the WEC-SIM software and experimental tests. This paper focuses on the use of a wavestarlike system to perform energy-maximizing control design [12] based on a very good WEC-SIM numerical model.…”

Next-Generation Marine Energy Software Needs Assessment

“…WEC-Sim has become a popular tool for WEC numerical modeling across academia and industry, for a variety of different wave energy device types [15] -and even for some non-wave energy applications [16] such as floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs), and hybrid FOWT-WEC systems [17]. Furthermore, experimental validation studies have been conducted with a range of different device types, building confidence in WEC-Sim's versatility and ability to accurately model physical systems [18]. WEC-Sim's success was recognized with the second best score at WPTO Peer Review in 2019, a perfect score at the 2022 WPTO Peer Review [19], and through a R&D 100 Award 14 in the fall of 2021 [20].…”

“…Figure 25 shows the breakdown of marine energy software by programming language. 18 Python is used the most, a reflection of its success in the science and engineering space. Fortran is used second most, a reflection of its performance advantages over Python, and of legacy packages.…”

Desarrollo de estrategias de control avanzado para sistemas de extracción de energía undimotriz

“…0.063 1.412 3.3 SS2 0.104 1.836 3.3 Tabla 8.6: Climas de ola considerados [213]. H s , T p y γ representan la altura significativa y el período de pico de la ola, y el factor de incremento máximo, respectivamente.…”