Wave Power: Rotating Mass Wave Energy Converter

The ocean has been estimated to have 2 terawatts of electrical power. This huge value is on the same order of magnitude as the world's electricity consumption. So wave power could be, and already is in certain countries, a huge contributor to the energy force. For my senior project, I wanted to learn as much as I could about this form of energy due to my interest in green energy and the beauty and power of the ocean. After heavily researching the subject, it became clear to me why wave power wasn't already implemented in most if not all countries with access to powerful wave fronts. Converting wave energy is complicated for many reasons. For example, the design of a wave energy converter is directly linked to the direction of the incoming waves. So, if a device needs to be perpendicular to the incoming waves and that wave field changes, the device needs to be moored in such a way that it can correct itself. If not, large amount of potential power converted will be lost and the efficiency of the device will drastically decrease.The difficulties wave power presents are why I chose to investigate what seemed to be the simplest device, the rotating mass wave energy converter. This type of converter would be the easiest to model, test, and make conclusions about. Not only was I interested learning as much as I could about wave power, but I also wanted to perform some experiments and be able to make some conclusions about a certain aspect of it. I decided to explore why the shape of the rotating mass in the representations I found online were all the same. I wanted to prove that the shape shown in representations of rotating mass WECs was, in fact, the best design for the device. In order to do that, I would have to design and build a rotating mass WEC as well as design a few shapes to be used as masses for testing. I would test the device in the pool here at Union College and compare the voltages produced from mass to mass when introduced to similar wave patterns. From these tests, I'd either be able to make conclusions about the masses being tested and/or about my design and testing process.