Experimental and simulative study on throttle valve function in the process of wave energy conversion

Abstract

In wave energy converters, it is hard to achieve efficient and stable energy generation because of wave instability. Based on a hydraulic transmission system of single float wave power generation equipment, this article studies the effect of throttle valve opening on power generation quality by AMESim simulation and semi-physical experiment. Results show that it is feasible to adjust throttle valve opening to improve the conversion efficiency. Besides, a hydraulic variable damping control technology is proposed to control the opening of throttle valve by monitoring wave amplitude and wave period, so as to increase the output power stability and energy conversion efficiency.