Anaconda - BULGE WAVE（水蟒,膨胀波）.pdf

Anaconda The bulge wave sea energy converter Francis J.M. Farley1 and R.C.T. Rainey2 5 Nov 2006 Introduction This note describes a completely new way of extracting energy from ocean waves, based on bulge waves traveling along a distensible rubber tube[1]. The tube, typically 7 m diameter and 150 m long and filled with water, is oriented in the direction of wave travel. The waves excite a bulge in the tube which travels just in front of the wave rather like a surf-board, picking up energy and increasing progressively in size. The traveling bulge concentrates the energy from the sea and at the end of the tube the energy can be extracted to drive a turbine. Calculations suggest that a tube of this size would pick up about 1 megawatt average power from the Atlantic waves. Figure 1. Bulge wave launched by hand; velocity about 3 m/s. The system is very simple; just a rubber tube in the sea with some inlet valves admit- ting water and a turbine-generator at the bow. The tube is soft and flexible, it can bend with the waves and there is nothing to break. It can survive in the wildest sea. Bulge waves in tubes with elastic walls have been described by Lighthill[2]. He shows that the velocity of bulge waves in the tube is related to the distensibility of the tube (see equations (4) and (8) in the Appendix). By correctly choosing the elasticity of the 18 chemin de Saint Pierre, 06620 le Bar sur Loup, France: email: fjmfarley@wanadoo.fr 2 Oil Gas Division, Atkins Ltd., Euston Tower, 286 Euston Road, London NW1 3AT 1 walls, the velocity of bulges in the tube is set equal to the velocity of the waves in the sea. In this case there is a resonant interaction between the sea and the tube, and energy is transfered progressively from t