wave energy, wave energy converter, raft-type, gyration radius, power take-off system, energy capture factor.
This paper presents a dynamic analysis of a two-raft wave energy converter based on the three-dimensional wave radiation-diffraction method. The device consists of two hinged cylindrical rafts of elliptical cross section and a power take-off system at the joint. The effect of raft length, linear damping and spring coefficient in the PTO system, as well as of axis ratio (ratio of minor axis to major axis of raft elliptical cross section) and raft radius of gyration in terms of wave energy capture factor has been investigated in frequency domain, while the effects of a nonlinear Coulomb Power take-off and latching control have been studied in time domain. The difference of the performance of a raft-typed device obtained using a linear damping and a Coulomb damping is illustrated.