Comparison among passive and active rectifier for seawave energy production

Abstract

The production of energy from the sea is taking an increasingly important role in energy policy. Among the most promising there is the production of energy by means of Wave Energy Converters (WEC), that allows to exploit the potential of sea waves, starting from their periodic structure. At the same time waveforms that can be obtained from such power take off (PTO) do not allow an effective rectifying in order to have a stable DC-bus for subsequent conversion and transmission of electricity for connections to the network. The proposed approach is based on a point absorber, i.e. a buoy connected directly to a linear tubular generator, connected to an electronic system for either passive or active power rectifier. The simulations focus on the comparison between passive rectifiers (full-bridge diode rectifier and resonant rectifier circuit) and active rectifier (VOC), when a single WEC or an array of WECs is used.