2024 Volume 80 Issue 18 Article ID: 24-18141
Endowment of wave energy in the sea around Japan is estimated as 35,000,000 kW and is never small. But the wave energy technology has not become in practical use. All of the systems ever proposed and studied or developed are operated in seme-submerged condition, and therefore, they cannot keep the position against the wave force exerted with low cost. In this study, check valve type wave energy converter, which solved the above problem, is investigated. Hydraulic consideration was made about the energy available, and the model experiment was made supposing the operation at the sea off Niigata area. This study enabled us to evaluate the available energy considering the factor for the decay of pressure variation under water and the factor influenced by the fact that the length of the region of check valve array is shorter than the wave length. Also, the effective head in the theoretical hydraulic power calculation was found to be 0.7 times the total head. This result was applied to the calculation of the available energy in the real sea.
