Evaluation of the Double Snap-Through Mechanism on the Wave Energy Converter’s Performance

Abstract

Lower efficiencies induce higher energy costs and pose a barrier to wave energy devices’ commercial applications. Therefore, the efficiency enhancement of wave energy converters has received much attention in recent decades. The reported research presents the double snap-through mechanism applied to a hemispheric point absorber type wave energy converter (WEC) to improve the energy absorption performance. The double snap-through mechanism comprises four oblique springs mounted in an X-configuration. This provides the WEC with different dynamic stability behaviors depending on the particular geometric and physical parameters employed. The efficiency of these different WEC behaviors (linear, bistable, and tristable) was initially evaluated under the action of regular waves. The results for bistable or tristable responses indicated significant improvements in the WEC’s energy capture efficiency. Furthermore, the WEC frequency bandwidth was shown to be significantly enlarged when the tristable mode was in operation. However, the corresponding tristable trajectory showed intra-well behavior in the middle potential well, which induced a more severe low-energy absorption when a small wave amplitude acted on the WEC compared to when the bistable WEC was employed. Nevertheless, positive effects were observed when appropriate initial conditions were imposed. The results also showed that for bistable or tristable responses, a suitable spring stiffness may cause the buoy to oscillate in high energy modes.

Keywords

Wave energy converter / Point absorber / Double snap-through mechanism / Bistable dynamic behavior / Tristable dynamic behavior