Abstract
A fixed oscillating water column (OWC)-type wave energy converter is composed of an air chamber, an air turbine and a generator. In this unit, the energy conversion process is divided into two main steps, the primary conversion in an air chamber and the secondary conversion of the turbine. For the practical application of a fixed OWC-type wave energy converter, it is necessary to develop a design method which can consider the characteristics of incident wave motion, the motion of the internal free surface affected in the structure such as a partly submerged wall, the fluctuation of air pressure in an air chamber, and the rotation of the air turbine. On the other hand, the impulse turbine as the secondary conversion device in the OWC unit is expected to achieve high efficiency throughout a wide flow rate range. In this paper, the authors conducted the 2-dimensional wave tank tests in regular waves by means of the model OWC equipped with the impulse turbine and a generator to obtain the experimental data needed to make this design method. As the results, the effects of the electric resistor and the rotational speed ratio between the generator and the turbine on the primary conversion and secondary conversion efficiencies are clarified experimentally.