• DOI:10.1063/1.4794750
• Corpus ID: 92988257

On thermodynamics in the primary power conversion of oscillating water column wave energy converters

@article{Sheng2013OnTI,
  title={On thermodynamics in the primary power conversion of oscillating water column wave energy converters},
  author={Wanan Sheng and Raymond Alcorn and Anthony W. Lewis},
  journal={Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy},
  year={2013},
  volume={5},
  pages={023105}
}

• W. Sheng, R. Alcorn, A. Lewis
• Published 6 March 2013
• Engineering, Environmental Science
• Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy

The paper presents an investigation to the thermodynamics of the air flow in the air chamber for the oscillating water column wave energy converters, in which the oscillating water surface in the water column pressurizes or de-pressurises the air in the chamber. To study the thermodynamics and the compressibility of the air in the chamber, a method is developed in this research: the power take-off is replaced with an accepted semi-empirical relationship between the air flow rate and the oscillating water column chamber pressure, and the thermodynamic process is simplified as an isentropic process. This facilitates the use of a direct expression for the work done on the power take-off by the flowing air and the generation of a single differential equation that defines the thermodynamic process occurring inside the air chamber. Solving the differential equation, the chamber pressure can be obtained if the interior water surface motion is known or the chamber volume (thus the interior water surface motion) i...