Power Generation from Wave Energy using

Floating Device
N. A. Mohd Fadzil, A. M. Ishak*, A. S. Abu Hasim, S. M. F. Syed Mohd Dardin and A. Abdul Azid
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM)
Sungai Besi Camp, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
*asnor@upnm.edu.my

Abstract—In Malaysia, there are a lot of islands that use
diesel generators to generate electricity. This is because of
expensive power connection from the grid system. However,
when using the generators, it contributes to high pricing of
diesel and difficult to distribute the supply to each island.
Furthermore, the source is not sustainable and can affect
environment due to carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide from
the generators. Therefore, renewable energy sources have
becomes an alternative solution for these problems. The
advantages of using renewable energy are it is sustainable
resources, produce clean energy, and low operating cost. One
of the possible renewable energy sources is sea wave energy.
There are few techniques to generate power from wave energy
which are oscillating water column (OWC), tapered channel
(TAPCHAN) and floating device. From this project, the
technique of floating device (linear generator) was chosen
because this technique is more affective and only requires
small area of construction. SOLIDWORKS software was used
to design the prototype for this project. From the result, the
designed model can produce about 13mV. The effect of wave
heights, number of turns, and diameter of coil wire were
analyzed.
Keywords—linear generator, renewable energy,
SOLIDWORKS software, wave energy.
I. INTRODUCTION
Energy growth is essential for improving economic and
social development of nations. Malaysia is one of the
countries with renewable energy resources. In the year 2014,
the total power generation from renewable energy is 243MW
where 66% solar photovoltaic, 23% biomass, 6% mini hydro
and 5% biogas [1]. The total power generation is expected to
reach 2,080MW in the year 2020. Therefore, sea wave
energy is a promising technology to promote new renewable
energy source and enhance renewable energy capacity in
Malaysia. Wave energy converter (WEC) captures the
energy contained in ocean waves and uses it to generate
electricity. There are three main categories which are i)
OWC that uses trapped air pockets in a water column to
drive a turbine [2], ii) TAPCHAN that channel and
concentrate the waves into an elevated reservoir [3], and iii)
floating device that uses the bobbing (up and down) concept
[4]. A permanent-magnet tubular linear generator for ocean
wave energy conversion was investigated in the United State
[5]. The simulation and hardware results were presented with
the output power of 1 kW (for one unit of linear generator).
WEC technology in Malaysia is still in the beginning
stage with only a few researches related to WEC
development. A boat carrying buoy technology was
fabricated at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) with
the capacity to generate power of 6kW and 52,560 kWh of
energy in one year [6]. Two floaters were connected to two
pulley systems and then two electric generators. The boat
was tested at Kuala Terengganu for one week. Other than the
floating device system, OWC chamber (0.8m in length ×
0.8m in breadth) was designed and tested in a wave tank at
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) [7]. Savonius air
turbine was also being developed to convert air pressure into
mechanical energy which was used to rotate electrical
generator. There are also some researches on software
simulation and mathematical modelling for WEC system. At
Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, a research was done to
optimize the design of linear generator using finite element
analysis software [8]. Total number of winding turns, pitch
ration and split ratio were analysed to improve the efficiency
of the generator. Several mathematical models were
demonstrated at Unversiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) to
represent air pressure produced by OWC technology [9].
Simulation of heave buoy response using MathCAD
software was explained in [10].
There are many small islands in Malaysia which have
problem with shortage of electricity sources. Some of the
islands receive electricity from mainland by means of
transmission cable through bridges or expensive
underground cable. In this case, the cable is extremely long
and highly specified cable. Therefore, application of WEC
appear to be the ultimate encounter for the matter as islands
are highly exposed to wave. Apart of producing electricity
or the islands, the WEC is a green technology. In this
paper, linear generator using floating device was designed
and analysed. The effects of wave characteristic and
winding dimensions are explained.
II. METHODOLOGY
A. Designing Model of Linear Generator
The fundamental operating principle of the designed
linear generator is based on Faraday’s law of induction. It
states that a voltage is induced in the turn of wire by a
change in magnetic flux [11], as in (1):
dφ
eind = − N (1)
dt
where is voltage induced in the coil, N is number of
turns of wire in coil and ࣘis flux passing through coil.
The designed linear generator is illustrated in Fig. 1. In
this project, only magnet holder and rod are fabricated using
3-D printer (SOLIDWORKS software). Other structures are
available at any hardware shop. Neodymium cylindrical
magnets were used in this design.

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B. Experimental Setup III. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Wavemaker is used in this project to produce wave
energy that represents real ocean wave which help to reduce
cost and time. The dimensions of the wavemaker are 9.8m ×
2.0m × 1.4m (length × width × height) as depicted in Fig. 2.
The wavemaker generates constant wave with the wave
height range between 1cm and 14cm.
The linear generator is not fully-submerge in the
wavemaker. The top handle of the generator was tied on a
fixed support in the middle of the wavemaker. The buoy
was freely moved based on the generated wave.
During the experiment, three parameters were analysed
which are i) wave height (4, 6, 8 and 10cm), ii) number of
turns of wire in coil (50 and 100 turns) and ii) diameters of
coil wire (0.5 and 1.0mm).
A. Wave Height and Number of Turns
Fig. 3 shows the generated voltage of the designed
generator. The wave height and number of turns are varied
but other parameters are fixed, such as wave period and wire
diameter equal to 1.2s and 0.5mm, respectively. As the wave
height increases, the induced voltage increases for both 50
and 100 turns of wire in coil. However, 100 turns generate
more output voltage as compared to 50 turns.

PVC
voltage (mV)
pipe
Bottle 14
100 turns
12 50 turns
14cm Solenoid
10

8
Magnet
holder 6

4
6.5cm
2
4 6 8 10 wave height (cm)
Rod
Fig. 3. Induced voltage of the linear generator.

B. Diameters of Coil Wire

Buoy
The diameters of solenoid determine the length of the
solenoid (l). If the diameter increases (with fixed numbers of
turn), the length of solenoid increases. The total flux (ࣘ)
decreases with increased length of solenoid [11], as
15cm
described in (2):

Fig. 1. The design of linear generator. μ NIA

φ= (2)
l

Tested object
3.2m where μ is permeability of wire, N is number of turns of wire
12m
in coil, I is current and A is cross-sectional area of solenoid.
Fig. 4 illustrates that as the wire diameter increases, the
output voltage decreases due to reduced total flux. This
condition can also been explained by the back EMF (VL)
generated by an inductor (L) [10]:
1.7m

VL (t )=− L di (3)
dt
Fig. 2. Overview of wavemaker..

where i is current. The inductance of the coil wire was

measured for 50 and 100 turns, as tabulated in Table I.
Increasing diameter of coil wire reduces the inductance of
the solenoid, therefore decreases the induced voltage of the
coil wire.

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The frequency range of the designed generator was also The designed linear generator maximised the energy
analysed, as explained in Fig. 5. The frequency range is extraction. The WEC was improved by increasing the
between 1 and 6Hz. Therefore, it is possible to up-scale this number of coil turns and reducing the diameter of solenoid
design and connect to the grid system (50Hz). wire. High wave height increases the induced output voltage.
Based on the model results, the wave energy converter
(WEC) has proved the concept of converting the wave to
voltage (mV)
electricity. Furthermore, this model can be upgraded to
10
10cm improve the efficiency in converting electricity such as the
8cm arrangements, sizes, shapes and types of magnets and buoys.
8 6cm With the generated output voltage of 13.3 mV, the measured
4cm power is 0.11 μW which is quite low. Therefore, more
6 improvement with the design concept will be analysed such
as generator efficiency, adding more linear generators and
4
generator arrangement. The material used should also been
investigated to improve the performance and less
maintenance. Up-sizing the generator model to fabricate a
2
0.5 1.0 real prototype should also been statistically analysed.
wire diameter (mm)

Fig. 4. Output voltage of the linear generator with varied wave heights (4,
6, 8 and 10 cm) and wire diameters (0.5 and 1.0mm).
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This project would not have been possible without the
financial support from the Universiti Pertahanan Nasional
TABLE I. THE VARIED DIAMETERS OF COIL WIRES Malaysia (UPNM). The authors are especially indebted to
Number of Diameter of coil wire Inductance assistant engineers and postgraduate students for their
turns (mm) (mH) support and patience.
0.5 0.13
50
1.0 0.10
0.5 0.36
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