Abstract
The raft-type wave energy converter (WEC), consisting of several hinged rafts and hydraulic power take-off (PTO) systems, captures wave power in a line absorber manner, whose scattered and radiated wave pattern is different from that of a point absorber. This paper focuses on the latching control of a raft-type WEC consisting of two rafts and a hydraulic PTO system. To reduce the complexity of finding the optimal latching duration, the hydraulic PTO system is modelled as a Coulomb damping and the optimal latching control law is derived from a Coulomb damping-based model using the optimal control theory. The effectiveness of latching control on improving power capture ability of the raft-type WEC with a hydraulic PTO system and the benefit introduced by latching control in terms of power improvement are investigated. Results show that the optimal latching control law derived from the Coulomb damping-based model can effectively improve the power capture ability of the raft-type WEC with a hydraulic PTO system. The benefit due to latching control can reach a peak value of 3.04, which is 2 times that introduced by load control. Moreover, latching control can further benefit the raft-type WEC where load control has been performed.