E 17 007

Examensarbete 15 hp
Juli 2017

Miniature wave energy converter

using dual rotating dynamic axes

Robert Antar
Daniel Gonzalez
 Abstract
Miniature wave energy converter using dual rotating
dynamic axes
Robert Antar, Daniel Gonzalez

Teknisk- naturvetenskaplig fakultet

UTH-enheten A seemingly everlasting problem that mankind is facing is that of
sustainable energy solutions. Throughout recent history a couple
Besöksadress: of different renewable sources have been presented as possible
Ångströmlaboratoriet
Lägerhyddsvägen 1 endless sources of energy. One of these solutions is harnessing
Hus 4, Plan 0 the natural motion of waves (as a result of the wind hitting the
water's surface) in order to produce energy, often referred to as
Postadress: wave power. Difficulties arise with working offshore where the
Box 536
751 21 Uppsala costs are increased and the fact that it's simply harder and a
more tedious task compared to working inland. Another con is that
Telefon: environmental research needs to be completed prior to make sure
018 – 471 30 03 that extracting wave power doesn't negatively affect fauna and
Telefax: flora in the water. Some countries even lack a coastline which
018 – 471 30 00 concludes any possibilities of having wave power as a potential
energy source. Due to the arisen difficulties, wave power has seen
Hemsida: a lack of ambition in the investment front relative to other forms
http://www.teknat.uu.se/student
of renewal sources and has hence lagged behind in development and
research. The natural benefit, as is the basis of renewable energy
sources, of using wave power is that there will be an endless
supply of energy ready to be utilised.

The project took advantage of resources available at Ångström

Laboratory in forms of both software and hardware. OrCAD PSpice
was used to dimension and simulate the electrical circuits for
AC/DC current conversion. The 3D-modelling of necessary parts was
done in Solidworks and the 3D-printer was used to create the
models in a relatively quick manner. Lastly, the workshop at
Ångströms Laboratory hosted the water tank used for testing and
the necessary tools to assemble the miniature wave energy
converter. The dimensioning of the project was seen from the
perspective of the motors and their specifications.

The execution of the idea worked as intended and could definitely

be improved upon with sturdier materials, a grander scale and more
time. As is, there are more efficient ways of harnessing wave
power but this was one interesting miniature alternative. The idea
worked and can definitely be improved upon. Whether or not it can
be better than current alternatives is hard to predict but due to
the energy converter's high reliance on mechanical parts and the
arduous task of maintaining such a design, modern alternatives are
most likely better options but the design could potentially act as
a basis for a larger project.

Handledare: Andrej Savin

Ämnesgranskare: Ladislav Bardos
Examinator: Hana Barankova
ISSN: 1654-7616, UPTEC E17 007
Contents
1 Introduction 4
1.1 The project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.2 Scope and Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 Wave power in Sweden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 AC-motor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2 Experimental 6
2.1 Apparatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.1.1 The Water tank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.1.2 3D-modelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2.1 Construction and assembly of the generator setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2.2 Tests with different loads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2.3 Tests with the water tank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

3 Results 10
3.1 10Ω-load test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.2 100Ω-load test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.3 1,000Ω-load test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.4 10,000Ω-load test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.5 Water tank test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

4 Discussion 13
4.1 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.1.1 Tests with different loads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.1.2 Water tank test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.2 Faults and Improvements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.2.1 The wires material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.2.2 The wave energy converter as a whole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

5 Conclusion 15

3
1 Introduction

1.1 The project

In this project a miniature wave energy converter (WEC) will be built. The premise of the project is to
assemble the miniature energy converter and to then test the converter. Various tests will be performed,
foremost to see if any generation occurs and then testing will continue with different loads. The two mo-
tors were chosen ahead of starting the project by supervisor Andrej Savin, who was fortunately looking
at conducting a similar project to this one. As they were purchased before the start of the project the
dimensioning of the energy converter will be based on the two motors as the focal point and it’s important
that both motors are used as part of the energy converter. Further, some tests with wave generation and
homemade buoys will be performed in order to see if the dimensioning of the energy converter was accurate
enough to actually generate power using real waves. The generation of waves will be carried out within a
controlled environment with the water tank available in the workshop at the Department of Electricity in
Ångström Laboratory. The converter will consist of the two ac-motors, with their respective axes facing each
other, attached to the dual rotating axes. The dual rotating middle axes will allow the motors to rotate, at
the same time, in opposite directions without affecting each other. Solidworks will be used in order create
customised parts for the converter seeing as special parts are required in order to assemble the converter for
the specific dimensions of the two ac-motors available.

1.2 Scope and Limitations

As the wave energy converter is of a miniature nature the project should be seen as an interesting hobby
alternative to modern WEC’s. Initially, It’s not intended to potentially replace or compete with current
counterparts. The project was done for the sake of seeing if the theory behind this particular WEC could
be realised and in the future be improved upon.
The project will keep to the specific water tank at the workshop in Ångströms Laboratory. This is because
it had modifiable settings in terms of wave amplitude and frequency. Effectively, this means that parts of
the project might have to be scaled down (which could lead to worse results) to accommodate the water
tank. The energy converter will be dimensioned using the motors as focus whilst keeping the limitation of
the water tank in mind.

1.3 Wave power in Sweden

There is a certain number of sites in Sweden that have a sufficient enough average wave energy potential
that can be successfully utilised as energy farm sites. As it currently stands, the low number of sites that
can be used sufficiently ensures that Sweden’s wave energy potential is rather low in comparison to the other
Scandinavian countries. Norway has favourable wave conditions with numbers of 40-60 kW/m in a lot of
sites along the coastline. Sweden on the other hand possesses very few good sites with the best ones being
at around 6kW/m.

1.4 AC-motor

The AC-motor is an electric motor that consists of a stationary stator and a rotational rotor with the stator
being cable winded in order to generate and lead alternating current. There are different possible ways to
design the rotor where the rotor in these particular ac-motors are permanent magnets. In a motor setup the
stator windings are fed with alternating current. The permanent magnet will want to rotate it’s position
relative to the alternating magnetic poles that the current in the stator windings are inducing. The motor

4
can also be used in a generator setup where the rotor is rotated which in turn induces alternating current in
the stator. Naturally, the two ac-motors in the project will be used as generators as to fulfil their purpose.
The ac-motors that are going to be used for the wave energy converter have a mechanical to electric ratio of
1:50. What this essentially means is that for every full rotation (360◦ ) that the rotor completes, 50 electrical
turns (meaning 50 periods) will be produced in the stator. The upside is that shorter rotations of the motor
axes should still produce electrical periods of sufficient amounts, which is foreseen with the fact that the
waves for this project are realistically a couple of centimetres high. Coupled together with some electrical
components to charge and discharge energy a uniform electrical output should be attainable.

5
2 Experimental

2.1 Apparatus

The static part of the assembly included the following: A rotating steel axis, two cassette sprockets on either
side of the axis to achieve the desired mechanism, two AC-motors restricted in specifications, two different
shaft coupling for connection between the cassette sprockets and their respective motor axis, plastic blocks
as means to raise the motors to the appropriate height to align with the steel axis.
The dynamic part of the assembly included the following: Hooks big enough to fit through pre-extruded
holes on the steel axis, wires that were to bind to the hooks and transfer the power, a feather strong enough
to keep the wire strained at all points of oscillation, a large piece of styrofoam to use as buoy and flat plastic
and wooden pieces to distribute the force in wire on the buoy.
To keep the assembled parts in place, bar clamps and duct tape was used. To measure our voltages an
oscilloscope was used. To filter our output signal a rectifier in cascade with a resistor parallel with a capacitor
was used. To measure the pulling force in testing outside the water tank a feather with accompanying
measurement (i.e. a spring balance) indicators was used.

2.1.1 The Water tank

The water tank is that of a larger one which unfortunately lacks details and specifications. An estimate shows
that it has a volume corresponding to circa 540L (540,000cm3 ). The water tank has a built in electronics
system that mechanically controls a board. The system has buttons for inputs in terms of wave amplitude and
frequency. The buttons includes manual (where you set wave amplitude and frequency, unfortunately this
setting didn’t work), Preset 1, Preset 2 and Preset 3. The presets had set wave amplitudes and frequencies
so these were not modifiable and preset 3 was used throughout the water tank tests as the previous two
presets weren’t sufficient in order to rotate the axes. It is however very hard to know the specifics of the
presets and ultimately, due to the limited tests in the water tank, these weren’t particularly relevant.

Figure 1: The water tank, buoy and the generator setup used for the wave tests.

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2.1.2 3D-modelling

Solidworks was used in order to model the customised parts necessary for the project. It was chosen out of
convenience, both in terms of available licensing and previous experience as it was part of an earlier course.
Also, the file format is supported in the 3D-printer. Hence, it was very suitable for the task at hand.
The parts that were modelled in Solidworks were those that would be too difficult to attain due to the lack
of readily available counterparts on the market that would fit the required dimensions of the setup. This
ended up being shaft couplings and motor mountings.

2.2 Procedure

2.2.1 Construction and assembly of the generator setup

The first half of the practical part of the project was construction. The second half was measurements.
For the construction, time was mostly spent on preparation. Not all parts needed were available in a timely
manner, and some had to be designed. The parts available from the start of the project were the AC-motors
(that were used as generators), the water tank, the wave generating machine, and most material needed
to assemble most of the components including the buoy and the wire. The parts that were designed and
printed were the bracket mounted on the motors to keep them in place, and the shaft coupling between the
motors and their respective cassette sprocket. No construction started until these parts were satisfactory,
which required a couple of iterations.
During the preparation many design challenges had to be overcome, with relatively little time and resources.
The only means of designing were 3D-modelling, which led to restrictions in the dynamic movements of the
parts. For example, no self-made sprockets were able to be easily incorporated. A prototype was developed
but quickly scrapped in favour of pre-built cassette sprockets. The cassettes were originally intended for
bicycles, but they were re-purposed for the project.
Once all parts were ready, assembly began with fitting the respective parts. Firstly the cassettes were
mounted on the steel axis and fitted so that they wouldn’t slip off. Although one sprocket was pre-mounted,
the added one required a decent amount of pressure to fit tightly. Thereafter each shaft coupling was fitted
to its respective sprocket. Once this was done, the whole part was ready for loose mounting. A piece of
pvc-plastic, circa 1.5 centimetres thick and 40-by-30 in area, was used as a board for which the apparatus
was to be mounted and screwed to. Since the cassettes on the sprocket were several times wider in diameter
than both the motors and the rest of the apparatus, there was need to suspend the axis high enough for the
cassettes not to impact the mounting board. Hence, the motors needed to be suspended too to align to the
coupling - this was done with blocks of pvc-plastic, too.
As all parts were getting raised the right distance from the board to align the holes on the shaft coupling
to the motor axes, the whole assembly was taking form. When all the axes were connected, the static part
of the construction was finished. The remainder of the construction was concerning how the wire was to be
threaded for its path to prove the most efficient (i.e with the least frictional losses) and how the wire was
to be fixed to the buoy and the steel axis. The end result proved to be satisfactory, with the wire passing
through several pulleys and attaching using custom made hooks. The spring pulling the steel axis back from
its eccentric state (i.e when the buoy is at its highest point) was attached in the same manner and then
threaded over a bent screw.

7
2.2.2 Tests with different loads

Once the assembly and construction was completed the measurement-tests could begin. The whole setup
was fastened to the table using bar clamps (as seen in figure 2) with one end of the first string being attached
to the middle axis of the assembly and the other end to the spring balance. The spring balance measures the
weight (the force can be calculated) that the motor is pulling with. The second string has one end on the
middle axis and the other end is loose and meant to be pulled periodically in order to "simulate" waves. It’s
imperative that both strings are as tense as possible and to ensure this. The setup is used for all non-water
tests. Note that due to the string being a simple thread-string used for sewing it couldn’t be pulled too
much without snapping so only waves with lower wave heights could be simulated.

Figure 2: The generator setup attached with a bar clamp to the workbench used for testing.

With the testing station established the tests could begin. The two generators had separate electrical circuits.
Note however that the two circuits were identical and had the same valued resistances and capacitors. The
three phases of a generator was connected to a three phase rectifier that was then connected to the load
running in parallel with a capacitor.
Four different tests were performed with each test having a different sized load. The loads used for the four
different tests were; 10Ω, 100Ω, 1,000Ω and 10,000Ω. Note that higher resistances means a smaller load (since
the current flow is lowered) and the most interesting test to see how well the energy converter generates is
at 1Ω, this was not available however and 10Ω was chosen as a close alternative to simulate a very large
load. These were coupled in parallel to 4700µF capacitors that remained the same throughout testing. The
voltages across the loads were measured. Attempts at measuring the current were made with hall sensors
and a multimeter. The low currents coupled with the somewhat significant noise ensured that the current
graphs were unreadable. Naturally, the multimeter didn’t work either because it can’t record the fluctuating
voltage values. Instead the voltages across both loads were measured. This means the rectified voltages the
generators were producing which in turn would allow the calculation of the power that was generated. The
spring balance was video-taped throughout testing so it’s possible to recap and more accurately read what
force the motor pulled with for each test. An offset of 2kg was noted for the spring balance prior to testing

8
and this will be accounted for in force calculations.
The tests were performed by pulling the string with one non-fixed end short distances (3-4cm), in turn
rotating the rotating axis, and letting the spring balance pull the axis back into position. This was done as
close to periodically as possible.

2.2.3 Tests with the water tank

Figure 3: The generator setup sitting atop the water tank’s wooden case attached with a bar clamp.

The generator setup was fastened atop the water tank using bar clamps as seen in figure 3. In order to make
sure that as little energy as possible was lost the friction losses that the wire could experience had to be
removed. This was done by measuring where the buoy would be when the water is stationary in relation to
where the generator setup was. The measurements were used to drill holes for two pulleys on a pvc-plastic
board to ensure that the wire was simply going in straight lines between the buoy, pulleys and the wood case.
This solution ensured that the wire going between the generator setup and the buoy doesn’t experience any
unnecessary friction. There were some issues with the plastic board as it moved around at the bottom of the
tank because it lacked friction. As the strings were being tensed the plastic even rose. Therefore weight had
to be applied to the plastic board in order to keep it in check. A lack of weights available in the workshop
meant that a temporary solution was needed and the plastic board was simply pushed down during testing
(as advised by the workshop supervisor) with a larger bar clamp. It was imperative that the strings we as
tense as possible which was a difficult task. A lot of re-stringing had to be done for the string to be tense
enough to pull with enough force to overcome the generators inertia.
The large surface area of the buoy meant that in order to evenly spread out the force applied to the buoy
(when waves are forcing the buoy upwards) a hole in each corner of the buoy was made. Each hole was then
threaded with some wire and a screw with a larger piece of wood across each hole on top of the buoy. The
screw was attached to the piece of plastic using screw-nuts and the plastic was the glued onto the top of
the buoy. The four wires were then tied to a fifth wire. This would help with spreading the force across the
buoy evenly when the wire pulled the buoy from beneath. This can be seen in figure 1 with the four wooden
pieces glued to the top of the buoy.
The testing was done using the presets on the water tank. The waves created from Presets 1 and 2 weren’t
enough to budge the generators but Preset 3 was successful. The voltage across the loads were measured as
can been see in figure 8 using the oscilloscope.

9
3 Results

3.1 10Ω-load test

Figure 4 below shows that with the largest load (lowest resistance) the generator being pulled generated a
voltage of circa 1.6V peak value with the second generator (the one attached to the spring balance) generating
circa 750mV.

Figure 4: The oscilloscope-generated graph shows the voltages across both 10Ω loads for the two generators.
Note that the vertical axis is 500mV per square.

The pulling force in this test was measured to 58.9N and gave a combined peak power of 552mW. The total
power was not able to be obtained due to a data corruption.

3.2 100Ω-load test

Figure 5 below shows that with a resistance of 100Ω the generator being pulled generated a voltage of circa
7V peak value with the second generator generating around 6V.

Figure 5: The oscilloscope-generated graph shows the voltages across both 100Ω loads for the two generators.
Note that the vertical axis is 5V per square.

10
The pulling force in this test was measured to 78.6 N and gave a combined peak power of 1.69W. The total
power was not able to be obtained due to a data corruption.

3.3 1,000Ω-load test

Figure 6 below shows that with a resistance of 1,000Ω the generator being pulled generated a voltage of circa
13.5V peak value with the second generator generating around 9V.

Figure 6: The oscilloscope-generated graph shows the voltages across both 1,000Ω loads for the two genera-
tors. Note that the vertical axis is 5V per square.

The pulling force in this test was measured to 98.2 N and gave a combined peak power of 506.2mW. The
total power was not able to be obtained due to a data corruption.

3.4 10,000Ω-load test

Figure 7 below shows that with the smallest load (highest resistance) the generator being pulled generated
a voltage of circa 11v peak value with the second generator generating around 6V.

Figure 7: The oscilloscope-generated graph shows the voltages across both 10,000Ω loads for the two gener-
ators. Note that the vertical axis is 5V per square.

11
The pulling force in this test was measured to 147.3 N and gave a combined peak power of 28.9mW. The
total power was not able to be obtained due to a data corruption.

3.5 Water tank test

Figure 8 shows the graph generated for the water test running on 1,000Ω loads in parallel with 1000µF
capacitors.

Figure 8: The oscilloscope-generated graph shows the voltages across 1,000Ω loads for the two generators.
Note that the vertical axis is 5V per square.

The impedance was calculated with a resistance of 1000Ω in parallel with 1000µF and a frequency of 1 Hz,
calculating to 0.1592Ω with an angle of -89.99 degrees. The peak power was calculated with a peak voltage
of 4 volts, calculating to 100.5 VAR (per generator).

12
4 Discussion

4.1 Results

Overall, the results coincided with what was expected. As is, they stand as a first step to realising the
mechanism of two generators being used in cooperation in this manner. We believe there to be value in this
mechanism, but its cost effectiveness has yet to prove itself.

4.1.1 Tests with different loads

Here we can conclude that the appearance of the graphs coincide with theory, and serve as basis for desirable
specification. For example, were the design to be implemented as a source for direct current, the capacitance
would need to be decided based on the resistance of the application. A good pairing would yield a voltage
across time similar to that of figure 7.

4.1.2 Water tank test

These tests were meant to give some sort of indication of what kind of power one could expect from the setup,
but to measure it empirically proved difficult due to the lack of specifications. Anecdotal measurements tell
us that in order to have the steel axis move, a lot of force had to be applied - for us doing it manually it took
quite some force. Since the buoy managed to move it under limited conditions, the prospects for a full-scale
system at an ocean shore seems promising.

4.2 Faults and Improvements

In this section we will discuss the shortcomings of the results, how it differed from expected and/or wanted
results, and introspect to give feedback and recommendations to future research and/or development.
In order to maintain structure, firstly we will address improvements in time-management. As individually
tailored as this topic is, we hold the belief that the expectations on the length of planning should be properly
extensive. Planning and preparation proved to take the longest time, something we did not count on at
the start. Realistically speaking, the time one spends planning one gets back tenfold during execution and
by letting different scenarios brainstorm one can be better prepared for unwanted events, when and/or if
they occur. One may realise that what seemed like a fine idea initially may very well not be realistically
applicable, be it because of time-restraints, budget-restraints or exceeding the decided size of the project.
We will speak to several of these types of non-realistic expectations that happened during this project, in
the coming paragraphs.
The majority of the setbacks originated from the project being overambitious, sometimes to an unrealistic
extent. The examples one could give account for here are too many to list them all, but a couple stand out:
the wires place in the dynamic mechanics, the kinetic energy to harness in the waves with the given tank
and wave-generator, how late time-restraints would change the nature of our results.

4.2.1 The wires material

Firstly, the wires were planed to fulfil the purpose of both pulling the middle axis and pushing it back around,
as the waves oscillated up and down. For both of these functions to be done by the wire however, it would
need to be of a very stiff material. Plied steel wires used in mechanical factory applications come to mind.
But with an axis as small in diameter as the one used, the stiffness of a steel cable proves to be a double-edged

13
sword since it makes in unnecessarily impractical to lace around the axis because it naturally wants to stay
straight. Also, if this type of wire were to be implemented, a surrounding case would need to be as well.
The case would ensure that the wire stays in place and that the force the wire will apply to the case will see
to the axis being rotated in the other direction too. Finding a wire of a suitable material and stiffness and
designing and producing a case in time proved to be too much of a hassle, especially when considering the
diameter of the steel axis might be forced to be widened a considerable amount; something that would take
a lot of time in itself. Instead, the solution that was chosen was to use cotton wire in combination with a
second wire laced counter-wise relative to the first, and tied to a spring mounted to a practically stationary
point. The problem with this solution is that the whole setup is reliant on the elasticity of the spring not
being too tight or too loose. Also, additionally to finding a perfect elasticity this must be paired with a
perfect length that distributes the tension over a long enough distance for the wire to remain very tense for
the whole oscillation of the wave; too tight and the wire snaps, too loose and the axis will not spin back on
the buoys downwards motion. Another undesirable consequence of this setup is, of course, that it introduces
more friction losses.

4.2.2 The wave energy converter as a whole

Secondly, due to our lack of experience with wave power, we underestimated the energy we would be able to
utilise from the waves. The generators have an inherently large inertia and therefore required quite a bit of
force to be moved. The wave energy converter was over dimensioned in relation to the water tank available
for the project. Hence, a larger tank was necessary in order for the energy converter to consistently perform
in a real life scenario. From either perspective, the energy in the waves were barely enough to turn the axis
and induce the motors. When we did get it working, it worked more or less as expected but the moments
were few and far between and it was obvious that it was right on the brink. Of course, had the execution
been flawless and the friction losses perfectly optimised it would have been easier and ideally the induction
would have been less spotty. But even then we would conclude that the whole setup, with the given motors
and the given mechanism, was too heavy for the given wave-generator and the size of the tank. Since we
did few if any real analytic estimations that had physics theory and algebra behind it, one could critic that
we could have known sooner (e.g to our point earlier about the planing phase and its importance). But
given that the motors were already acquired resources when we presented our proposal, we worked within
the conditions we were placed in.
Initially, the middle axis was designed to have a stand which would reduce the load that was being put on
the two generators axes. Due to design this introduced unnecessary friction in the system and we noticed
that the stand wasn’t actually doing too much in lightening the load for the generators and it was therefore
scrapped. We felt that the drawback of having this friction on the system was larger than the benefit of
potentially reducing the load on the generators axes. A good solution to this would be to have bearings
on the middle axes which would allow the stand to reduce the load and introduce only minimal friction
(as long as the bearings are good enough) but this was not feasible with the current middle axis and time
restraints. It was simply impossible to attach bearings to it the middle axis and in order for us to implement
this solution the middle axis had to be redesigned to allow for this modification. In the end the load of the
middle axis was put on the generators axes which was simply a short-coming that we had to accept.

14
5 Conclusion
In conclusion the project was successful since we were able to implement the dynamic we had designed and
have it work as intended in the water test environment. Though it is a proof of concept, it is lacking in
empirical results due to lack of time, lack of specifications, the motors being too heavy to move and human
error. Accounting for the faults and issues discussed in section 4.2 the project can be greatly improved upon
in order to achieve solid empirical results. An issue that the design faces is the fact that it would be hard
to maintain due to the heavy reliance of moving mechanical parts which is generally a design flaw that is
avoided in market competitors. On top of this the design faces a lot of tension when under working under
load. Therefore this type of wave energy converter is interesting in its current stage and should be credited
for the creativeness in its design but it’s not going to be a market competitor in it’s current stage due to
the smaller intricacies of the design maybe being a bit too hard to maintain in a water environment. With
that said, with the improvements to both design and execution to sort out the intricacies the design could
potentially act as a basis for large projects.

15