A Model and Experiment Study of an Improved Pendulor Wave Energy Converter

This paper proposes one improved design of pendulor wave energy converter (PWEC), which integrates a pendulor, two side-walls and a slope to concentrate wave power. The slope guides the incident wave upward, and the wave drives the pendulor to rotate upward. Different from previous pendulors, one end of present pendulor is hinged near the free water surface, and the other end swings upward and downward. The mechanical flapping energy is converted to hydraulic energy by the connected hydraulic pump, and then it is converted to electrical energy. The proposed design is verified by theoretical and model-experimental study. The energy conversion efficiency is estimated by a simple weight-lifting method. Experimental results show that the first level conversion efficiency is averaged at 35% under the condition of wave height 0.18m, wave period 1.11s and pendulor length 0.6m. In short, this system has various advantages including simple, compact, modularized, light-weight and low-cost structure, which can be generally installed on ocean shore, near-shore piles and offshore platform, especially for China sea conditions.