On a near-optimal control approach for a wave energy converter in irregular waves

•Improved cost effectiveness through time-domain control in irregular waves.•Up-wave surface elevation for near-optimal smooth control; long-crested waves.•Right-shifted impulse response functions and surface elevation sufficiently upwave [Naito and Nakamura [2]; Falnes [22]].•Single-mode submerged device in range of energy periods and significant wave heights.•Superior to single-frequency tuning and constant damping: longer energy periods.

Real-time smooth reactive control and optimal damping of wave energy converters in irregular waves is difficult in part because the radiation impulse response function is real and causal, which constrains the frequency-dependent added mass and radiation damping according to the Kramers–Kronig relations. Optimal control for maximum energy conversion requires independent synthesis of the impulse response functions corresponding to these two quantities. Since both are non-causal (one being odd and other even), full cancellation of reactive forces and matching of radiation damping requires knowledge or estimation of device velocity into the future. To address this difficulty and the non-causality of the exciting force impulse response function, this paper investigates the use of propagating-wave surface elevation up-wave of the device to synthesize the necessary forces. Long-crested waves are assumed, and the approach is based on the formulations of Naito and Nakamura [2] and Falnes [22]. A predominantly heaving submerged device comprised of three vertically stacked discs driving a linear power take-off is studied. The overall formulation leads to smooth control that is near-optimal, given the approximations involved in the time-shifting of the non-causal impulse response functions and the consequent up-wave distances at which wave surface elevation is required. Absorbed power performance with the near-optimal approach is compared with two other cases, (i) when single-frequency tuning is used based on non-real time adjustment of the reactive and resistive loads to maximize conversion at the spectral peak frequency, and (ii) when no control is applied with damping set to a constant value. Simulation results for wave spectra over a range of energy periods and significant wave heights are compared for the three situations studied. While practical implementation presents engineering challenges, in terms of time-averaged absorbed power, unconstrained near-optimal control is found to perform significantly better than single-frequency tuning in the spectra with longer energy periods (>10 s for the present device), and somewhat better in the spectra with shorter energy periods (here ≤10 s).