Micro-controller based emulation of a wave energy converter

Ocean wave energy has not yet gained popularity as a renewable energy source because of intermittent nature of available wave power. Still deriving a constant power at the output, requires embedding of energy storage devices of sufficient capacity into the wave energy converter. A Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator(PMSG) based adjustable speed energy extracting scheme is employed so as to operate the air-turbine close to its Maximum Power Point operation. The variable voltage variable frequency AC supply generated by the PMSG is processed by a diode bridge- VSI cascade, to generate usable regulated AC supply. In order to estimate the energy storage requirement, especially under different climatic conditions, the emulation of the DC bus voltage dynamics is required. Considering typical wave height, wave period and differential pressure/ wave power variation applicable to the site of Indian wave energy plant, off-line computation of the DC bus voltage dynamics is carried out using MATLAB based transient model of the complete wave energy converter. Finally, the results obtained from the emulation carried out employing micro-controller P89V51RD2 are given.