MSc RESEARCH PROPOSAL

1. TITLE:

REVIEW ON THE DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF MECHANICAL

ELEMENTS FOR A WAVE ENERGY HARVESTING DEVICE (WEHD).

2. BACKGROUND

The preferred energy resources of four decades ago have lost their popularity. Global
warming, decreasing petroleum reserves, increasing energy prices, the environmental impact
of dams, air pollution, poisonous waste resulting from the use of batteries, and the difficulty
of storing nuclear waste discourage the use of any energy resource that was preferred several
decades ago.[1]

The energy of waves has long been known. The energy of the waves was significant, but the
cost of the development and installation of a huge device in the middle of the ocean was
prohibitive compared with using relatively cheap oil. The advancement of technology,
increasing needs for energy and limitations of other energy sources have been changing the
feasibility calculations. There has been a significant effort in the research community,
government agencies, and private companies to generate electricity from the wave energy.

Wave energy is reaching a critical stage, following over three decades of intensive research
and development. The first few full-scale prototypes have been tested at sea and the first pre-
commercial orders were placed. The first offshore wave farm is to be installed in the near
future and it is likely that similar schemes will shortly follow. Such projects will in the
medium term provide a comparable output to the conventional wind farms, allowing an
alternative approach when trying to overcome the technological challenge of finding
alternative renewable energy sources. It will also fulfil one of the oldest desires of
civilization: to harness the power of ocean waves.[2]

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3. LITERATURE REVIEW

Europe plans to generate 750 MW of electricity from ocean energy by 2020.[3] Among the
European countries, the United Kingdom has the most aggressive goal with 250 MW.
Pelamis Wave Power Ltd., Wave Dragon ApS, and Voith Hydro Wavegen Limited are well-
known market leaders in harvesting the energy of waves. Pelamis Wave Powers Pelamis
Wave Energy Converter uses five hinged cylinders and generates electricity from the relative
motion of these links by using a hydraulic system. Electricity is generated from the relative
motion of the multiple sections under the influence of ocean waves. About 0.75 MW of
electricity is generated through the use of a complex hydraulic system.[48]

The attraction to harvest energy from ocean waves stems from the sheer power of the wave
motion, which can easily exceed 50 kW per meter of wave front. The principal barrier to
harvesting this power is the very low and varying frequency of ocean waves, which generally
vary from 0.1Hz to 0.5Hz.[9]
The maximum energy available from the heaving (vertical) motion of a buoy is equivalent to
the work done on the buoy by the wave, namely the product of the wave height and the force
required to lift the buoy.[9]
The reviews showed previous researched mostly focused on the techniques to convert the
wave energy into the electrical. [4-12]. The design of wave energy harvesting devices is a
new and expanding technical area where there is no tradition for probabilistic designin fact
very little full scale devices has been build to date, so it can be said that no design tradition
really exists in this area. For this reason it is considered to be of great importance to develop
and advocate for a probabilistic design, that this leads to more economical designs compared
to designs based on deterministic methods.[13]

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4. OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH

This study embarks on the following objectives:

i. To design a wave energy harvesting device: design of the gears, frames and shafts.

ii. To analyse the mechanical element of the wave energy harvester device.

iii. To fabricate a prototype of a wave energy harvester device.

5. METHODOLOGY

Phase 1: Literature Review

Extensive literature review has been and will continuously be conducted in order to get as
much as useful informations in completing the design process and the analysis of this wave
energy harvesting device (WEHD). The reviews showed previous researched mostly focused
on the techniques to convert the wave energy into the electrical. Up till now, from the
literature reviews the analysis of the mechanical element of the device has not been adapted
not reported, thus proved the novelty of the proposed study.

Phase 2: Designing a Wave Energy Harvesting Device (WEHD)

For this phase, the draft of the Wave Energy Harvesting Device design will be done and the
importance part of the device will be optimized.

The wave energy and height at Malaysias ocean will also be one of the important data in the
design process. Then, the determination of parameters for the real wave conditions in the
Malaysia beach is needed.

Example of calculation for the WEHD design is as following. Considering the prototypical
heaving-based energy harvester, the maximum work is given by:

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 w=fd (1)
where w is the work performed on the buoy in Joules; f is the force applied to the input
mechanism (less-than or equal-to the submerging force); and d is the stroke of the input
(primary) system, at most one meter for the prototypical buoy. And the submerging force is
equal to the weight of the displaced water as the buoy top breaks even with the water:
f=1/4 d2l (2)
where l=d for a maximum output. The total work for half a wave cycle is:
w=1/4 d2l2 (3)
Noting that as described earlier, half this work must be stored in a return spring to cycle the
mechanism, this total work for half the wave cycle is equal to the total available work per
complete wave cycle.

Phase 3: Analysis of Mechanical element of the Wave Energy Harvesting device

(WEHD)

Based on the design phase, the research will focused on the gear, frame structure and the
shaft part of the Wave Energy harvesting device. The analysis of the mechanical elements of
this WEHD maybe using softwares such as ANSYS and MATLAB to get the optimize
design.

Based on the information and data from the design process, Finite Element models will be
developed to simulate the failure analysis of the designed WEHD. Simulation case studies
will be developed systematically to study the effect of element types, mesh sizes, loading
types to the FE solution. Using FE analysis approach, the needed design parameters will be
estimated.

After that, an FE program will be written using MATLAB (Mathematical programming)

based on the failure criterions which are the design constraint that obtained from the data
gathered. From the program, the optimum value of the needed parameter will be obtained and
can proceed for the next phase.

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Phase 4: Prototype Fabricating Process of the Wave Energy Harvesting Device
(WEHD)

From previous phases, the prototype of WEHD will be built. The prototype scale size will be
decided after the design and analysis done. The prototype WEHD then will be experimented
either at laboratory or real wave at the selected beach in Malaysia.

Phase 5: Data Collection and Documentation

From the experimentation, the importance data needed might be obtained. The obtained
results were collected and will be finalize. Results and findings will be documented, reported,
and published.

6. SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO THE NEW KNOWLEDGE

Since there is still no specific previous done research on the mechanical element of the
device, this research will significantly contribute to new knowledge about the design and
analysis mechanical element of the wave energy harvesting device.

The successfully developed the optimum design, analysis, and prototype of this wave energy
harvesting device (WEHD) will contribute to its real application later on where Malaysia
have option which are no longer dependable on the fuels, dams and others for electricity.

Collaboration

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This researched is one of the projects of HME Engineering Sdn Bhd which is consultation in
research and study Servo Drive (IMD Card) Failure in Wave Generator System Port Harbour
Basin for Laboratory Hydraulic and Instrument at National Hydraulic Research Institute of
Malaysia (NAHRIM). This is part of the Malaysian government project, so, the outcome of
this research is crucial in realizing the successful of this project.

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7. BENEFITS TO THE COUNTRY/ SOCIETY/ ORGANIZATIONS

The findings and success of the current study will contribute Malaysian Government Policy;
that are the 3 NKEAs (Education, Oil, Gas & Energy and Electronics & Electrical), and
NKRA through Ministry of Education Malaysia in increasing the students achievements.

If this research success and further research done, later on Malaysia can built the plant to
install the Wave Energy harvesting Device (WEHD) into the large scale for electricity. The
cost of electricity might be cheaper than nowadays and for sure can relief the society.

8. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND LIST OF REFERENCES

[1] I.N Tansel. Energy Harvesting from Ambient Vibration and Ocean Waves. 2011.
[2] C. Joao. Ocean Wave Energy: Current Status and Future Prespectives. Springer Science
& Business Media, United Kingdom, 2008.
[3] P. McCullen. The Future of Wave Power in Europe: How Can the EU Meet Its 2020
Renewables Targets? Proceedings of the First annual Euro-CASE Conference, pp. 3942,
The Royal Academy of Engineering, London, England, 2009.

[4] H. Polinder and M. Scuotto. Wave Energy Converters and Their Impact on Power
Systems. Future Power Systems, 2005 International Conference on, pp. 19, Amsterdam,
Netherlands, 2005.

[5] R. Henderson. Design, Simulation, and Testing of a Novel Hydraulic Power Take-Off
System for the Pelamis Wave Energy Converter. Renewable Energy, vol. 31, pp. 271283,
2006.
[6] C. Retzler. Measurements of the Slow Drift Dynamics of a Model Pelamis Wave Energy
Converter. Renewable Energy, vol. 31, pp. 257269, 2006.

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 [7] R. Yemm. The History and Status of the Pelamis Wave Energy Converter: Wave Power
Moving towards Commercial Viability. IMECHE Seminar, London, UK, 1999.
[8] R. W. Yemm, R. M. Henderson, and C. A. E. Taylor. The OPD Pelamis WEC: Current
Status and Onward Program. Proceedings of the Fourth European Wave Energy
Conference, Aalborg, Denmark, 2000.
[9] Harvesters
R. Murray for
andMoored
J. Rastegar. Novel TwoStage
or Unmoored PiezoelectricBased
Buoys. New York, 2012 Ocean Wave Energy
[10] L. Joseba et.al. Design, Construction and Testing of a Hydraulic Power Take-Off for
Wave Energy Converters. Energies, vol. 5, pp. 2030-2052, 2012.
[11] L. H. David, A. C Shawn and B. Katia. Modeling of Dielectric
Elastomers:Design Of Actuators And Energy Harvesting Devices. Journal
of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, vol. 61, pp. 20472066, 2013.
[12] M. Luca, Z. Barbara and P.K. Jens. Selection of Design Power of Wave Energy
Converters Based on Wave Basin Experiments. Renewable Energy,vol. 36-11, pp. 3124
3132, 2011.
[13] H. F. Michael, J. Koehler and N. Kazuyoshi. Probabilistic Design of Wave Energy
Devices. CRC Press LLC, Switzerland, 2011.

9. SCHEDULE FOR THE RESEARCH

RESEARCH SCHEDULE

YEAR 2015 2016 2017

Activities
Q4 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3

Preparation and Extensive Literature

X
review

Designing the Wave Energy

X X
Harvesting Device (WEHD)

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Analysis of the Wave Energy
X X
Harvesting Device (WEHD)

Prototype Fabricating Process of the

Wave Energy Harvesting Device X X
(WEHD)

Data Collection Process X

Documentation (Report Writing) X X

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10. PROPOSED SUPERVISOR

ASSOC PROF DR JAMALUDDIN MAHMUD (MAIN)

Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

University Teknologi MARA

40450 Shah alam, Selangor

Tel.: +6013-2983262, +603-55435133

e-mail: jm@salam.uitm.edu.my, jm@academia.my

HASMIRAHUDIN HASAN (CO-SUPERVISOR 1)

Managing Director

HME Engineering Sdn. Bhd. (929222-T)

No 26, Jalan SS19/5,

47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor

Tel.: +603-56503659

E-mail: h.hasan@hmeengineering.onmicrosoft.com

IR. ICAHRI BIN HJ. CHATTA (CO-SUPERVISOR 2)

Senior Research Officer Hydraulic & Instrumentation Laboratory

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National Hydraulic Research Institute of Malaysia (NAHRIM)

Lot 5377, Jalan Putra Permai,

43300 Seri Kembangan, Selangor

Tel.: +6017-3680641, +603-89476543

E-mail: icahri.nahrim@1govuc.gov.my

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