ECN publication
Title:
The Archimedes wave swing: a new way of utilising wave energy
 
Author(s):
 
Published by: Publication date:
ECN 1995
 
ECN report number: Document type:
ECN-I--95-030 Other
 
Number of pages: Full text:
17 Download PDF  

Abstract:
Many wave energy conversion systems have been invented of which some haveeven been built and tested. Projects now being evaluated are: a land based Oscillating Water Column (OWC) on the Azores funded by Portugal, a wave energy system installed on a floating platform off Japan and an OWC in Scotland. An OWC in Norway, which had been in use for 5 years, was recently put out of operation by a hurricane. Up until now, however, success has been limited. This arises from the strongly varying level of wave energy. At one time the sea can be a mass of high waves whereas some time later it may be calm again. Whilst the capacity of a wave power system is rated for the average energy level, the structural design has to take into account the loads from the highest waves expected which makes its construction very expensive. A second disadvantage of the varying supply of wave energy is the limited time it is used to its full capacity. For a considerable amount of time it is operating only at part load while the running costs tend to remain constant. Research is being performed all over the world in order to overcome these drawbacks. Recently the small Dutch company TEAMWORK TECHNIEK proposed a completely new principle which reduces these disadvantages. The principle of the 1993 patented Archimedes Wave Swing (AWS) system is based on the unstable behavior of an air-filled underwater vessel with an opening at the bottom. Attention is paid to the work done so far, how the development and testing of AWS will be proceeded. 9 figs.


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