Abstract
Ocean wave energy is a kind of clean, renewable and potential energy. Thus it is significant to develop and to design efficient wave power device. In the present study, a novel wave energy collection and conversion device that made of flexible material is proposed. The wave energy generation system is realized by using a half cylinder flexible tube with full of water laying on the flume bottom and aligning in the wave traveling direction, and an air chamber connecting at the tail of flexible tube. The bulge waves in the tube were generated under the excitation of free surface waves, and propagated toward the tail of flexible tube, and subsequently converted to available energy through the effects of oscillating water column in the air chamber. The present study will focus on the conversion rate of flexible capsule type wave energy generation system with different pre-set internal static head and chamber aperture when subject to different wave conditions through a series of experiment tests. The experimental results indicate that the flexible capsule has a wonderful ability to collect and convert ocean wave energy. It is also found that the design of air chamber has significant influences on the wave energy conversion rate.