The present invention is quite unlike the rest of the state of the art systems. Its uniqueness lays mainly in its principle of operation, as against the rest of the state of the art WEC systems, which mostly capture energy from the undulations of waves in the vertical axis or surge, the FFWEC of the present invention extracts energy from the wave propagation in the horizontal plane.
The Inlet and Pipe follow the waveform. Thus, energy is extracted due to propagation of the waves, thereby building up the pressure. Several such pipes could be grouped together; in series and or parallel, to make a wave energy form.
The pressure and flow can be directly converted into other forms of energy, such as electricity, through conventional turbines-generators or pump ocean water into reservoirs, etc.
Eventually, the wave dies down. According to the present invention, energy is extracted from the wave propagation in the horizontal plane whereas in the rest of the state of the art WEC systems mostly capture energy from the undulations of waves or surge, almost all in the vertical axis. A continuous flow of water and air is thus created. However, the above is true only when the water in the pipe is split up into distinct segments, with the water and air being in the troughs and crests, respectively.
Else, neither pressure nor flow can develop in the pipe. If some resistance is applied at the outlet, the water in the troughs will get pushed up the inclines of the previous crests, consequently increasing the pressure in the pipe. If the backpressure exceeds the total pressure head, the system stalls.
In case of inclement wave climate, the inlet functions to ingest only water so as to sink the flexible pipe or plurality thereof, wherein flow ceases. And whenever required, ingest only air so as to float the pipe wholly, wherein flow ceases. It is important to note that in the inside of flexible pipe there are no contacting components, appendages, non-return valves or check-valves, cavities, openings, holes, diaphragms and the like which exists in the conventional energy converters.
Contrary to belief the said non-return valves in the flexible pipe do not prevent the occurrence of surge or stall, hence they have not been provided in the present invention. The above, as well as other advantages of the present invention, will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment when considered in the light of the accompanying drawings in which:.
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below specifically with reference to accompanying drawings. As a surfer rides down a wave, it follows him, but not the water. In another example, say, if a thin and flexible sheet of impermeable material is spread out on a wave train and some water is poured on it, the water will immediately get collected in the troughs and start flowing along with the waves.
Now, instead of the sheet above, let us use a hollow flexible pipe, as described in paragraph below:. Whereas, under operating load the water slugs get pushed up the crest of the preceding wave all along the Flexible Pipe. This aspect has been illustrated at FIGS. Let us also assume that, initially, water is filled uniformly in all the trough segments of the pipe , with air being trapped in the crest segments It can be seen that, since all the segments are connected in series, any force applied at any point on the pipe will be transmitted throughout the length of the pipe.
In other words, a pressure head will be created, which will be equal to the sum total of all the height displacements of the water segments. For example, if there are 3 waves of H 1 mtr. The invention exploits this characteristic of the wave motion. This is the total power per length of the wave and as this energy is being extracted from the surface, the energy that is below the wave would rise up to replace it, till almost all of the energy that existed above and below the wave is progressively extracted.
During normal operating conditions, the Flexible Pipe can be made to float with the crests portion remaining above the water surface and the troughs going below it. By doing so the effective wave height can be increased from the actual wave to that assumed by the Flexible Pipe. This also helps when the actual wave heights increase. The Flexible Pipe absorbs the slack. It is preferable that the air and water slugs are ingested appropriate for the operating conditions.
As such, in each phase of the wave, normally water and air are alternately ingested from trough to crest and vice versa, respectively.
This does not pose any problem if the load is either turned off or varied during operation. To properly size an underwater wave energy converter, the wave power at the operating depth must be known. This invention exploits this characteristic of the wave motion.
The water mass on the surface of the ocean does not move along with the waves, only the waveform does. Further, ocean waves posses two types of energy—kinetic and potential. The former is by the virtue of the horizontal progression of waveform and the latter due to heaving motion or the height difference between the wave crest and trough—wave height.
This is achieved by making use of either one or both the types of the wave energy mentioned above. Before commencing operation flow , the flexible Pipe and the Inlet assembly are to be kept empty; else the inertia of the water already collected in the Flexible Pipe will impede zero speed start.
In both the above cases only water is ingested to sink the flexible pipe. This is achieved by completely deflating the flexible tanks or flooding the inflexible tanks of the Inlet, as applicable.
For stopping, flow the buoyancy of the Inlet buoyancy tank is increased to an extent where the mouth of the Inlet cannot enter the waves. Consequently, the flow will stop after all the water slugs flow out.
The flow must not be stopped either by cutting off the inflow or outflow. If resorted to it could cause severe damage to the Pipes. The apparatus need not essentially have any moving or contacting components. Whatever control devices required are preferably located on shore.
All components of the above apparatus are made of appropriate dimensions and material. Pressure in the Pipe is developed when some resistance is applied at the outlet; say for pumping the water up into a reservoir. Thus, water and air are alternately sucked in at the Inlet. With the rest of the conditions remaining constant, an increase in the number of Pipes and length would enhance the flow volume and pressure respectively.
The total pressure in a Pipe is the function of the cumulative differential pressure of all the water segments in that Pipe, but limited to the extractable wave energy acting on the Pipe, less losses due to friction and system inefficiency. During normal operating conditions, the length of the Flexible Pipe can be kept more than that of the length of the wave curves. This will make the Flexible Pipe float with the troughs remaining below the water surface crests portion remaining above.
By doing so, first, the effective wave height could be increased from the actual wave to that adopted by the Flexible Pipe and second, it will also help when the wave height increases. The slack in the Flexible Pipe will cater for the increase in the wave height, which consequently increases the length of the waves.
Energy can only be optimally extracted when the air and water Slugs are and uniformly distributed in the crests troughs along the length of the flexible pipe. The inflexible Pipe is made to float at an appropriate height above the water surface by adjusting the buoyancy of the buoy. Therefore, it enters near the trough and exists at the crest of each passing wave. Buoyancy Control. The Inlet is kept afloat by means of one or more number of buoyancy tanks located inside the buoy.
Under normal operating conditions the mouth of the Inlet remains sufficiently above the Still Water Level. Online IEEE floating point converter and analysis. Convert between decimal, binary and hexadecimal.
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