| 1. |
- Apelfröjd, Senad, et al.
(författare)
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Experimental Verification of a Back-to-Back 2L-3L Grid Connection System for a Marine Current Energy Converter
- 2016
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Rivers, tides and other ocean currents are renewable energy sources with great potential across the globe.A research group at Uppsala University is working on converting the power in rivers and ocean tidesusing a vertical axis turbine with a directly driven permanent magnet generator. The concept in focususes an omnidirectional, fixed pitch vertical axis turbine directly connected to a permanent magnetgenerator. Few moving parts and an overall low mechanical complexity is the main idea behind theconcept. A first full prototype was deployed in 2013 in the river Dalälven in the town of Söderfors. Thework presented here is a step towards grid connection of the marine current energy converter prototype.A back-to-back 2L-3L grid connection topology has been proposed. The system is adapted to the scaledprototype but is intended for larger turbines. The proposed grid connection system utilizes a three-levelcascaded H-Bridge voltage source converter (3L-CHBVSC) on the grid side together with a well knowtwo-level voltage source converter on the generator side. The use of a multilevel converter brings severaladvantages such as higher efficiency, more sinusoidal voltages and currents and smaller grid filtersamong other advantages. The proposed grid connection system has been constructed in the laboratory.The work presented here aims to evaluate the system in the laboratory. A synchronous generator with avery similar design to the on-site generator is used for the tests. The generator, driven by an inductionmotor, is connected to the system and power is successfully transferred to the grid. The conducted testsare used to verify the functionality of the system before installation at the research site.
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| 2. |
- Baudoin, Antoine, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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Thermal Rating of a Submerged Substation for Wave Power
- 2016
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Ingår i: IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy. - 1949-3029 .- 1949-3037. ; 7:1, s. 436-445
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The costs of offshore maintenance operations put high reliability-requirements on offshore equipment for ocean energy, especially on submerged ones. Thermal management is thus essential in the design of the prototypes of a marine substation, developed at Uppsala University, for grid interface of wave power parks. The cooling system itself should be efficient as well as reliable. Therefore, the feasibility of a completely passive cooling strategy was evaluated. The studied substation includes various power components, which dissipate heat and are installed in one pressurized vessel. Thermal cross-coupling was investigated with 3-D submodels and a thermal network model. An electric circuit was coupled to determine the rated power of the substation. The results depend mainly on the dc-voltage, the seawater temperature, and the thermal contact between the components and the hull.
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| 3. |
- Eklund, Petter, 1989-
(författare)
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Rare Earth Metal–Free Permanent Magnet Generators
- 2016
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Permanent magnet (PM) synchronous generators (SGs) are used in renewable energy production. The preferred PM material is neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB), which has very high performance and, until recently, low cost. In recent years there has emerged a cost and supply insecurity in NdFeB PMs due to export restrictions imposed by China, where the majority of the raw materials are produced. In this thesis various methods of avoiding the use of PM materials based on NdFeB, or other rare earth metals, are investigated.One approach is the use of the cheap and abundant ferrite PM. A ferrite PM rotor intended to be interchangeable with an NdFeB PM rotor is designed and built. Some initial investigation of the performance of the new rotor, and how this relates to manufacturing tolerances, is also made.Another approach is to make parameter studies in anticipation of new PM materials. A study of how three different rotor topologies perform with different PM materials, described by their remanence and recoil permeability, is made. The rotor topologies are: a spoke type PM rotor, a surface mounted PM rotor and a capped PM rotor.It is concluded that a viable replacement rotor can be designed using ferrite PMs. The new rotor will be heavier and mechanically more complex, and give slightly lower output voltage. Losses in the machine will increase slightly. A study is made on the impact of manufacturing tolerances on the performance of the resulting rotor.The different rotor topologies work best with different PM material properties. The surface mounted PM and capped PM rotors require higher remanence for good performance; the spoke type PM rotor works well with larger amounts of low remanence material. The recoil permeability should be low for the surface mounted and high for the capped PM rotor.
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| 4. |
- Francisco, Francisco, 1985-
(författare)
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Sonar for environmental monitoring of marine renewable energy technologies
- 2016
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Human exploration of the hydrosphere is ever increasing as conventional industries grow and new industries emerge. A new emerging and fast-growing industry is the marine renewable energy. The last decades have been characterized by an accentuated development rate of technologies that can convert the energy contained in stream flows, waves, wind and tides. This growth benefits from the fact that human society has become notably aware of the well-being of the environment that we all live in. This brings a human desire to implement technologies which cope better with the natural environment. Yet, this environmental awareness poses difficulties in approving new renewable energy projects such as offshore wind, wave and tidal energy farms. Lessons have been learned that lack of consistent environmental data can become an impasse when consenting permits for testing and deployments marine renewable energy technologies. An example is the European Union in which a majority of the member states requires rigorous environmental monitoring programs to be in place when marine renewable energy technologies are commissioned and decommissioned. To satisfy such high demands and to simultaneously boost the marine renewable sector, long-term environmental monitoring framework that gathers multi-variable data are needed to keep providing data to technology developers, operators as well as to the general public. Technologies based on active acoustics might be the most advanced tools to monitor the subsea environment around marine manmade structures especially in murky and deep waters where divining and conventional technologies are cost.The main objective of this PhD project has develop and test an active acoustic monitoring system for offshore renewable energy farms, by integrating a multitude of appropriate monitoring sonar, hydrophones and cameras systems to be developed with standards suitable for subsea environmental monitoring. In this project, a first task was to identify, secondly acquire and test sonar systems, then a platform was designed and built, a data acquisition device control systems were developed, finally additional instruments such as video cameras and sonars were added. This systems integration followed by calibration of devices was conducted. The sonar systems were used for quantitative measurements of the occurrence of e.g. large marine animals and schools of fish near marine renewable energy converters. The sonar systems were also used for seabed inspections, depth measurements and capitating flow observations.So far, the combination of multibeam and dual-beam sonar systems produced good results of target detection, bottom inspection, depth measurements and biomass estimation. The multibeam sonar system was capable of resolving isolated targets located near high acoustic retroreflective objects. Panoramic acoustic images of wave and instream energy converters were acquired using a multibeam sonar operating at frequencies near 1 GHz. The Dual-beam and split-beam sonar systems produced data referent to acoustic background intensity of targets that helps to classify targets according to its size, composition and 3-Dimensional location within the water column. The next phase of this project will deploy the platform for longer periods in order to gather consistent acoustic and optical backscattering data of marine animal behaviour within marine renewable energy farms.
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| 5. |
- Hai, Ling, et al.
(författare)
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A Methodology of Modelling a Wave Power System via an Equivalent RLC Circuit
- 2016
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Ingår i: IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy. - 1949-3029 .- 1949-3037. ; 7:4, s. 1362-1370
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The equivalent circuit method can be an effective modelling technique for system studies of point absorbing wave energy converters (WECs). For the continuously evolving design and study of WEC systems, an instruction on how to draw the corresponding equivalent RLC circuit model is needed. It is not only vital to make sure the model is correct, but to allow the model to be easily adapted for different cases and implemented by different researchers. This paper presents a force analysis oriented methodology based on a typical WEC unit composed of a heaving buoy and a linear generator. Three cases are studied in order to demonstrate the procedures: the generator with a retracting spring, the connection line with a rubber damper, and buoy motion in both heave and surge directions. The presented methodology serves as a guide to produce non-linear circuit models that give a reliable description of the dynamics of real wave energy systems.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Lejerskog, Erik, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Study of the operation characteristics of a point absorbing direct driven permanent magnet linear generator deployed in the Baltic Sea
- 2016
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Ingår i: IET Renewable Power Generation. - : Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). - 1752-1416 .- 1752-1424. ; 10:8, s. 1204-1210
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To experimentally study how a wave energy converter (WEC) behaves when parameters such as weight on the translator and buoy volume are changing is of significant importance when trying to optimise the WEC system. This study presents results from a WEC deployed at the Baltic Sea near the island of Åland. Compared with earlier experiments, the weight on the translator has been significantly increased to suit the buoy volume. Experimental results show that the power output between the upward and the downward motions are comparable up to the maximum speed for the downward motion of the translator. To study the speed of the translator in downward direction a model has been derived. The model has also been used to study the impact of having a changing active area. Moreover, finite element (FE) simulations done on the generator have been compared with experimental data and show a good agreement, but at high speeds of the translator the FE simulations start to deviate from the experiments.
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| 8. |
- Lejerskog, Erik, 1977-
(författare)
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Theoretical and Experimental Analysis of Operational Wave Energy Converters
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis studies wave energy converters developed at Uppsala University. The wave energy converters are of point absorbing type with direct driven linear generators. The aim has been to study generator design with closed stator slots as well as offshore experimental studies.By closing the stator slots, the harmonic content in the magnetic flux density is reduced and as a result the cogging forces in the generator are reduced as well. By reducing these forces, the noise and vibrations from the generator can be lowered. The studies have shown a significant reduction in the cogging forces in the generator. Moreover, by closing the slots, the magnetic flux finds a short-cut through the closed slots and will lower the magnetic flux linking the windings.The experimental studies have focused on the motion of the translator. The weight of the translator has a significant impact on the power absorption, especially in the downward motion. Two different experiments have been studied with two different translator weights. The results show that with a higher translator weight the power absorption is more evenly produced between the upward and downward motion as was expected from the simulation models. Furthermore, studies on the influence of the changing active area have been conducted which show some benefits with a changing active area during the downward motion. The experimental results also indicate snatch-loads for the wave energy converter with a lower translator weight.Within this thesis results from a comparative study between two WECs with almost identical properties have been presented. The generators electrical properties and the buoy volumes are the same, but with different buoy heights and diameters. Moreover, experimental studies including the conversion from AC to DC have been achieved.The work in this thesis is part of a larger wave power project at Uppsala University. The project studies the whole process from the energy absorption from the waves to the connection to the electrical grid. The project has a test-site at the west coast of Sweden near the town of Lysekil, where wave energy systems have been studied since 2004.
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| 9. |
- Li, Wei, et al.
(författare)
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Bivariate joint distribution modeling of wave climate data using a copula method
- 2016
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Ingår i: International Journal of Energy and Statistics. - World Scientific Publishing. - 2335-6812. ; 4:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The bivariate joint distribution of the significant wave height and the wave period is of great importance in characterizing the wave climate at a wave energy converter test site. In this paper, we investigate bivariate joint distribution modeling of the wave climate at the Lysekil wave energy converter test site off the Swedish west coast. This study is based on 9 years of wave observations at the test site from 2005 to 2013. Archimedean Copulas are used for the bivariate joint distribution modeling of the significant wave height and the wave period. Measured wave data is compared with simulated wave climate data for the Lysekil test site using three Archimedean Copula models, the Clayton, Frank and Gumbel copulas. The R-squared statistical test yields a better goodness of fit for the Gumbel copula compared to the other two copulas. In addition, the Archimedean Copula method is applied to the measured wave climate data from two other sites to illustrate the general applicability. It shows that the Archimedean Copulas exhibits stable performance with good accuracy in characterizing the wave climate and they can be employed for forecasting the wave energy resource and assessing the survivability of wave energy converters.
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| 10. |
- Li, Wei, et al.
(författare)
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Statistical Analysis of Wave Climate Data Using Mixed Distributions and Extreme Wave Prediction
- 2016
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Ingår i: Energies. - : MDPI AG. - 1996-1073. ; 9:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The investigation of various aspects of the wave climate at a wave energy test site is essential for the development of reliable and efficient wave energy conversion technology. This paper presents studies of the wave climate based on nine years of wave observations from the 2005-2013 period measured with a wave measurement buoy at the Lysekil wave energy test site located off the west coast of Sweden. A detailed analysis of the wave statistics is investigated to reveal the characteristics of the wave climate at this specific test site. The long-term extreme waves are estimated from applying the Peak over Threshold (POT) method on the measured wave data. The significant wave height and the maximum wave height at the test site for different return periods are also compared. In this study, a new approach using a mixed-distribution model is proposed to describe the long-term behavior of the significant wave height and it shows an impressive goodness of fit to wave data from the test site. The mixed-distribution model is also applied to measured wave data from four other sites and it provides an illustration of the general applicability of the proposed model. The methodologies used in this paper can be applied to general wave climate analysis of wave energy test sites to estimate extreme waves for the survivability assessment of wave energy converters and characterize the long wave climate to forecast the wave energy resource of the test sites and the energy production of the wave energy converters.
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