Ocean Energy Extraction for Sensor Applications

Energy extraction is needed for various ocean deployed devices. Extracted energy can be expected to be at various levels and intermittent, but plentiful. The Phase I effort will recommend an extraction technique that directly converts ocean energy into electrical power. The extractor will be inherently self-starting, require no external inputs from the crew when deployed and produces enough power to provide buoy operational life for long periods. For extracting energy from the environment some of the possible inputs may be wind, wave motion, water current, solar, etc. For this program a scalable, energy extraction technique was selected that could work on various ocean deployed buoy types. The approach will use ocean modeling to determine achievable electrical power from various ocean conditions. The candidate system will trade-off representative buoy sizes from “A” size to large data buoy sizes, in both a moored and free-floating configuration, to determine the associated electrical power extraction capability. Various hardware parameters will be evaluated and modeled to optimize the power extracted during the Phase I study. The proposed approach will not be affected by corrosion, bio-fouling or mechanical degradation for long operational periods in various sea states and will have a low manufacturing cost.