Low-Power Autonomous Wave Energy Capture Device for Remote Sensing and

Communications Applications

Deanelle Symonds1

Edward Davis1

IEEE Member

IEEE Member

R. Cengiz Ertekin2
IEEE Member
1

Trex Enterprises Corporation

10455 Pacific Center Court
San Diego, CA 92121-4339
dsymonds@trexenterprises.com
edavis@trexenterprises.com
2

University of Hawaii
Department of Ocean and Resources Engineering
School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST)
ertekin@hawaii.edu
Abstract Ocean remote sensing techniques often rely on
autonomous buoys to measure and transmit real-time
oceanographic and meteorological data. The operating lifetime,
payload capacity, and sampling rate of such platforms are
limited by onboard battery power. Here, we describe a rotarydrive, wave energy conversion device which utilizes the heaving
motion of a surface buoy to generate power over a broad range
of sea-states. The device was demonstrated to generate over
50W of power in moderate seas at the Kilo Nalu Nearshore Reef
Observatory.
Index Termsenergy harvesting, heaving buoy, marine
electronic equipment, marine harbors and ports, marine
technology, ocean energy, remote sensing, wave spectra, wave
energy conversion

I. INTRODUCTION
Remote sensing techniques in the ocean often rely on buoy
platforms which utilize instrumentation and communication
equipment to measure and transmit real-time oceanographic
and meteorological data. For example, NOAA and its
international partners maintain over 2000 moored and drifting
buoys worldwide for accurate environmental characterization,
climate modeling and forecasting, disaster monitoring and
warning, and correlation of anthropogenic influence on the
ocean environment [1], [2].

Financial support was received from the Navy Small Business

Technology Transfer (STTR) Program; Office of Naval Research (ONR).
Additional financial support for the Phase I At-sea Demonstration was
received from the Hawaii Small Business Innovation Research Assistance
Program; High Technology Development Corporation (Honolulu, HI).

978-1-4244-5287-3/10/$26.00 2010 IEEE

The operating lifetime, payload capacity, and sampling rate

of such platforms are limited by onboard battery power, since
typical systems can draw between tens to a few hundred
Watts of continuous power during operation. It is often
expensive to maintain these buoys, especially those that are
remotely deployed thousands of miles from shore. Increasing
buoy self-sufficiency is highly desirable to reduce logistical
and safety costs associated with buoy maintenance, as well as
to minimize interruptions in operation and data acquisition.
While some buoy platforms utilize solar energy to tricklecharge onboard batteries or provide a small amount of
supplementary power (5-10W), solar harvesting is less power
dense and ineffective at night or during periods of cloudy or
stormy weather.
Wave energy conversion (WEC) devices can provide power
to increase system reliability, operational availability and
payload capacity---complementary, even, to those buoys
equipped with solar harvesters. This is because wave energy
is the most concentrated form of renewable energy (up to
1000 times more power dense than wind and 2-3 times as
dense as solar) [11], [13], [15]. Wave power is also
predictable and dependable, with the ability to accurately
forecast the wave power spectrum days in advance.
Most commercial wave energy capture devices (WEC) are
designed to produce power greater than 1kW and have
complicated designs that are impractical for downscaling [3][5], [11], [13], [15]. At the same time, commercially available
low-power (< 1kW) WEC systems, as well as those currently
in development, are too large or have demonstrated limited

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power generation capacity to be practically utilized for

remote sensing buoy applications [4], [6]-[9].
Recently, a WEC prototype was developed for the Office of
Naval Research that generates energy from the wave-induced
heaving motion in shallow-water environments [10]. The
heaving-body design, simulation of the dynamic response,
laboratory characterization and demonstrated at-sea
performance are described in this paper. In its first sea
demonstration, the WEC device successfully generated
between 23-53W of peak power at the Kilo Nalu Nearshore
Observatory. The compact design of the prototype system
makes it more power dense per unit weight (up to a factor of
5) and volume (up to a factor of 3) than its low-power,
commercially available peers across a broader range of sea
states and wave periodicities.
II. WAVE ENERGY CAPTURE PROTOTYPE DESIGN
The prototype WEC falls into the buoy-type class of systems
known as point absorbers, since it harvests energy from all
directions at a single point in the ocean [3], [5], [11]-[17].
Typical buoy-type point absorbers consist of a float at or near
the ocean surface which oscillates with one or more degrees
of freedom to engage a drive belt, hydraulic system, or
generator (linear or rotary) to convert mechanical motion to
electricity [3]-[17]. The device that we describe here utilizes
the wave-induced heaving motion of the surface buoy to
capture energy via a rotary-drive power take off system [10].

the seafloor. During initial deployment, the systems tether is

pre-tensioned taut. As the buoy rises with a passing wave
crest, the tether unwinds about a spooling mechanism. The
tension in the tether is equal to the upward buoyancy force
exerted on the device by the buoy. The spool is externally
coupled to a proprietary contactless transmission system. This
coupling engages an internal gear system and the rotary-drive
generator within the housing to create electricity. Once the
crest passes, a restoring mechanism (i.e. electronic retract,
mechanical spring, or both) reels in the tether payout to reset
the system for the next wave crest. A schematic of the WEC
device in operation is described in Fig. 1 and a block diagram
of the power take off system is shown in Fig. 2.
For the sea-going prototype, a standard A5-size inflatable
float was selected with a maximum buoyancy of ~1800N.
From preliminary calculations, we determined that a pullforce of ~700N is necessary to generate 100W of average
power in Sea States 3 (~1m-high waves with an average
period of 7s). Dynamometer measurements of power as a
function of RPM for varying resistive loads were made to
compare the performance of several candidate generators to
determine the necessary gearing, load characteristics, and
components which optimize power generating capacity.

In recent years, an increased interest in autonomous ocean

remote sensing and communication platforms has opened
developmental paths for low-power (<1kW) WEC devices.
Until now, low-power WEC development focused on
progressing innovation in linear-drive spar buoys [6]-[9].
This is because their designs are less complex, directly couple
power take off systems to vertical wave motion, and
completely seals power take off components from the ocean
environment. One disadvantage of such direct-drive devices
is their highly resonant design. This prohibits high energy
density and efficiency across sea-states since energy capture
is limited by the maximum travel distance along the buoy
spar length.
Unlike its linear-drive contemporaries, the WEC described
here utilizes mechanical gears and proprietary contactless
transmission systems to convert the slow, linear motion of the
buoy to high rotary speeds for energy production. Key
advantages of using rotary-drive generators are that they: (i)
are more power dense (per size and weight) than their linear
counterparts, (ii) are cost-effective and commercially
available for various power ratings (i.e. no need to design a
custom generator), and (iii) enable efficient energy capture
across sea-state through the use of variable gearing systems.

Fig. 1. During initial deployment, the systems tether is pre-tensioned taut

(1). As the buoy rises with a passing wave crest, the tether unwinds about the
spool with a counter force equal to the upward buoyancy force exerted on the
prototype by the buoy (2). The spool is coupled to a generator via a
proprietary contactless transmission system to create electricity. Once the
crest passes, a retract mechanism (mechanical, electric, or both) reels in the
tether payout to reset the system for the next wave (3).

The first generation prototype is comprised of a surface float

that is attached to a submerged housing, which contains
power take off components of the system. The housing is
anchored via a stainless steel tether to a bottom mooring on

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The motions of the moored buoy and submerged housing

were simulated by the computer program OCI/HydroMOB,
which solves the wave dynamics of multiple moored bodies
[10],[18]. The wave forces are based on linear potential
theory. The constant panel, Green function method is used to
determine wave exciting forces, added mass, and
hydrodynamic damping on the individual buoy, the
submerged housing and anchoring mechanism. The module
motions are coupled through the mooring lines only. The
dynamic analysis is completely linear and it does not take
into account any viscous effects that may be present.
HYDRAN, another simulation-software which considers the
full interaction between the bodies, is used in conjunction
with OCI/HydroMOB, to compute the heave motion response
amplitude operator (RAO) of the submerged housing for
various wave heights and headings [10],[19]. The analysis is
carried out in the frequency domain for a range of wave
frequencies with significant energy content as defined by the
typical shallow water wave spectra. The results of the
analysis are RAOs for body motions and mooring line forces.
These RAOs are used, together with the wave spectra, to
obtain estimates of the short-term extreme response. The
Bretschneider spectrum is used in the irregular-sea analysis
for varying significant wave height and peak period
combinations.

Fig. 2. Basic block diagram of the power take-off system, analogous to the
pull-cord mechanism that starts a lawnmower or a chainsaw.

IV. LABORATORY PERFORMANCE CHARACTERIZATION

An initial dry lab prototype (Fig. 4) was fabricated and tested
in a laboratory setting [10]. During testing, the device was
mounted to an overhead scale and the voltage was measured
across a 6-ohm load resistor for varying pull-forces (~50700N, at 50N increments ) on the tether (Fig. 5).

Fig. 3. Measured output power (W) as a function of generator rotational

speed (RPM) for varying resistive loads.

III. MODELING AND SIMULATION

The physical model is comprised of a surface buoy, a
submerged housing containing the power take off
components, and the mooring lines that connect them to each
other and to the sea floor [10]. The buoy is modeled as a
semi-submerged sphere (15.25 cm. below the surface) with a
68.5 cm diameter. The buoy has a weight of ~90N in air, and
a buoyancy of ~220 N. The housing is modeled as a
rectangular box that is 20 cm in width, 41cm in height, and
41 cm in length, with a weight of ~270N in air. Pretension
forces between the components are assumed to be 133 N
(buoy-housing) and 205N (housing-mooring). The tether is a
7-strand, helically-wrapped stainless steel cable of 3/16
diameter. The axial stiffness of the tether is assumed to be
53,950N/m (1085N of tension over 0.2% strain) and is based
on actual measured data. The average water depth for the
hydrodynamic calculations was assumed to be 10m. The
viscous dashpot coefficient of the system was empirically
derived to be 1095N/(m/s). This coefficient was calculated
from the actual winding velocity of the tether and the
corresponding pull force during laboratory experiments.

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Fig. 4. Lab Prototype attached to overhead scale (not shown).

Fig. 5. Measured output voltage (V, blue line) and calculated peak power
output (W, magenta line) as a function of Pull Force (N).

This set-up consistently yielded up to 160W of peak power

(or ~50W average power) for a corresponding pull-force of
approximately 660N (Fig. 5). The pull-force during
laboratory tests were much less than the ~1800N buoyancy
force of the actual A5 buoy. Note, we obtain an average
power calculation of 50W since power generation only occurs
over half a wave cycle. For example, power is only generated
by the pull of the cable from the wave rising and not during
cable retraction as the wave falls. Based on successful
laboratory experiments, a fully-functional sea-going version
of the dry prototype was constructed (Fig. 6).
V. PHASE I: AT-SEA DEMONSTRATION, JANUARY 2009
During January 2009, a sea-going, waterproof prototype was
deployed in the Pacific Ocean for 2-day test at the Kilo Nalu
Nearshore Reef Observatory (Fig. 6). This test range extends
from shore approximately 3 miles off the south shore of
Oahu, in the Kewalo Basin region. This test facility is fullyequipped with ocean instrumentation that provides
measurements of wave spectra (significant wave height, peak
period, wave direction), temperature, and current profiles
(surface, subsurface, direction, velocity) at 20-minute
intervals. The wave spectra data were used later to relate
power generating capacity with sea-state and validate power
prediction models [10].
During the sea trial, wave heights ranged from 0.25-0.3m and
with periodicities ranging between 6-15 seconds. The device
was demonstrated to consistently generate between 20-50W,
with a maximum peak power output of ~53W in these low to
moderate sea-states. Corresponding time series of measured
voltages (ranging between 11-18V) across a 6-ohm load
(0.1% tolerance) were used to calculate the peak power
output of the WEC device.

Fig. 6. Deploying the WEC prototype at the Kilo Nalu Nearshore Reef
Observatory.

VI. CONCLUSIONS
Phase I helped to prove the viability of the rotary-drive
design for compact wave energy conversion. Simulations,
which analyzed the systems dynamic response in a broad
range of sea-states and wave periodicities, were used to size
the power take off components to maximize power
production. A dry prototype was fabricated and tested to
determine the feasibility of the design in achieving a target
power rating of 50W. A waterproof prototype was
demonstrated at-sea to successfully generate over 50W of
peak power in low to moderate sea-states. The success of the
Phase I effort led to a Phase II STTR contract to develop a
scaled-up 100-200W device for deep water deployment. The
Phase II prototype, utilizes two parallel power modules and
employs a floating-thruster anchor for pull-resistance and
station-keeping.
Compact, low-power (<1kW) wave energy harvesters, such
as the device discussed here, can provide a practical solution
to the increasing need for reliable, regenerative at-sea power.
These devices can augment the operational lifetime,
availability, payload capacity, and sampling/transmission rate
of low-power sensor and communication systems employed
by a broad range of at-sea applications, including: persistent
surveillance; environmental monitoring; disaster alert; harbor
and port security; communications and data transfer;
emergency positioning beacons; sonobuoys and hydrophone

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arrays; and small underwater vehicle or watercraft charging

stations.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of our
program officer, Dr. Ron Joslin, of the Office of Naval
Research; Prof. Ronald Knapp for providing us with the
laboratory data on the stiffness of the steel tether; and Prof.
Geno Pawlak, Kimball Millikan, Richard Carter, Laurie
Tamura and Jeff Huebotter for their support during the Phase
I sea trials.
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