For the west coast of North America, from northern California to southern Washington, a habitat suitability prediction framework was developed to support wave energy device siting. Concern that wave energy devices may impact the seafloor and benthos has renewed research interest in the distribution of marine benthic invertebrates and factors...
Much like wind energy in its early years, marine energy has vast potential, and wave energy converter (WEC) concepts are constantly in development. Consequently, wave energy faces many challenges for expansion and has a wide-ranging design space of WEC concepts. The large design space demands new methods for understanding the...
Commonly proposed ocean wave energy converters (OWEC) use inefficient and maintenance demanding intermediate hydraulic and pneumatic systems. We propose a novel rotary direct-drive OWEC that eliminates these intermediate stages. The new device employs a contactless force transmission system (CFTS) comprising a “piston” and a “cylinder” and a ball screw to...
Wave energy converter (WEC) devices are complicated systems containing hydrodynamic, mechanical, and electrical elements. WEC design efforts are primarily focused in the time-domain, using frequency-based energy analyses and numerical problem solving approaches that are staples in hydrodynamic design efforts to form the basic information set used in these time-domain development...
Successful prediction of nearshore sediment migration is important in determining the vulnerability of a coastline. During energetic wave climates (storm events) sediment rapidly erodes from beaches and is deposited offshore. In subsequent milder wave conditions, the sediment migrates shoreward, accreting on the beach and helping to protect the coastline. It...
Determining the performance characteristics of various ocean wave energy converters (OWEC) has proven to be difficult due to problems replicating a baseline motion profile in the ocean or wave tank to compare these devices. The linear test bed seeks to mechanically simulate the relative linear motion between the active components...
Ocean wave energy is rapidly becoming a field of great interest in the world of renewable energy. Significant advancements in design and technology are being made to make wave energy a viable alternative for our growing energy demands. The two major hurdles for ocean wave energy to make a significant...
With the increasing effort to identify alternative methods of energy generation, extraction of ocean energy has gathered a large interest. Research and industry have begun considering wave energy as the next new alternative energy. The unique challenges of ocean energy requires a wave energy converter to be both robust and...
The potential for electric energy generation from ocean waves is substantial and much research is being conducted on the conversion process as a renewable, grid-connected, power source. Some of the same attributes that make wave energy harvesting attractive as a grid-connected source also make it attractive as a remote, or...
As the negative impacts of a fossil fueled electricity market are becoming more prevalent and destructive, the necessity for alternative energy techniques increases as well. However, before commercial implementation is underway, these alternatives must be assessed from three important perspectives: environmentally, economically, and socially, which are known as the three...