Design and modeling of wave energy converter glider (WEC-Glider) with simulation validation in wave tank experiments

The Wave Glider, a marine mobile robot propelled by waves, has gained significant prominence in large-scale, long-term ocean research and monitoring due to its ability to almost unlimited endurance. However, its sole reliance on solar power struggles to support the growing demands for diverse detection tasks. The authors introduce an enhanced power supply system for the Wave Glider that generate electricity from ocean waves. This system utilizes the umbilical cable and a winch mechanism with a dynamically sealed shaft. The winch's power output drives a screw nut, rotating a ball screw and operating a generator for wave power generation. The author established a two-body dynamics model, and conducted Matlab-Fluent joint simulation to simulate self-propelled tandem flapping hydrofoils, followed by verification through a wave tank experiment. Results demonstrate excellent agreement between simulations and experiments. With a wave height of 0.4 m and a period of 2.4 s, the system achieves 10 W of wave power generation, increasing to 54 W in 2 m wave conditions. During sea trials in a sea state of level 3, the proposed WEC-Glider demonstrated an average wave power generation capacity of 15 watts. The proposed WEC-Glider offers a greater power supply and higher capture efficiency. •Proved WEC-Glider's 10 W wave power generation in wave tank experiments.•Developed Wave Glider sim platform with self-propelled hydrofoil CFD.•Derived formula for electromagnetic damping in PMSG's 3-phase diode rectifier.•Sea trials show WEC-Glider's average wave power generation of 15 watts in sea state level 3.•Estimated 50 W+ wave power in 2 m waves for WEC-Glider.