Wave Power
You're looking to begin designing them?
Jeez, that's a big task. The companies working in this space are massive multi-nationals with enormous R&D budgets. I honestly don't know if it'd be possible for someone to conceive one from the ground up on their own.
Yes, a big, very big task. You will find this area of energy source is well researched with many areas around Aus being trialed. I know of a specific system at Port Kembla, near the gong.
It would seem an endless source of energy but not easy to capture and transform its energy. A very interesting area of engineering. At this stage, it would not be regarded as a major source of renewable energy source.
torquooly mate where have you been your about 15yrs and $15 billion behind
Yeah I know, I'm not designing them and up until now the converters aren't efficient enough to be a viable source of energy. I am overseas and some genius I met has invented a new technique which has much higher efficiency for larger waves which I might try and bring back to Aus. Regardless, back to the original question, would you care if you saw a 2m x 2m hunk of metal out the back of your local beachie ?
Oh yeah and Ben this kid I'm working with is looking to conceive it from the ground up, and although I don't know how his technology works his mechanical and hydrodynamic efficiency values are ridiculous and I think he will change the field.
torquooly, interesting eng: Scotlands first tidal generator
torquooly is an Indian Bot,,, don't lend it the time of day.
Wasn't sure where to post this so this seems as good a spot as any.
Went down to a blowhole the other day and it got me thinking about compressed air from a wave being squeezed into a small space having it's intertia transformed from liquid to air..and how that could possibly be converted into energy.
It kinda got me thinking about the whole process of the way the energy starts as wind, gets transferred into the water and waves, and then can transfer back into air.
Then just the other day i was down taking pics of a heaving rock ledge, in the 10-12foot plus range, and a rogue 15foot set came through. Once the wave broke, turned to a mass of whitewater, steamed in and hit the rock that i was standing on, and disappeared under/around it, a huge gust of wind followed through on the same track that the wave had taken up to that rock. I've noticed that before from land, that when the swell breaks and explodes onto a rock shelf and dissipates suddenly, the energy doesn't disappear, it just turns to an intense gust of air/wind and keeps charging forward.
Anyway, just an observation to share to add to the broader picture of wave energy and observations.
Would be interested in others observations or theories on this.
Nice thinking southern raw, but the blowhole thing is compressed air in a tight space by the rising and falling sea level with the sets. A bit of the ocean is blasted out with that not converted from water to water vapour. This is the premise behind wave generators, harnessing the changing air pressure from the moving ocean level and spinning a turbine.
On that second observation, with the wind following the big set, that's actually again from the difference in pressure owing to the rising wave in the atmosphere. IE as the wave rises, it compresses the air above it (creating higher pressure), with lower pressure behind and you'd see the wind filling that void after it passes.
Ahh awesome cheers Craig. Good to have it explained.
That second explanation is fascinating about the difference in pressure.
I'm guessing that the bigger the wave the bigger the difference in air pressure.
It's amazing the strength of the wind gusts that accompany the wave.
Cheers for the explanation!
Hey surferdoods,
Just posting a general enquiry regarding the communities opinion on Wave Energy Converters in the ocean. Starting to design them and I feel that we have an abundance of wave power which should be used in peak swell season. Especially the Southern Ocean, where winter we have some real juice, it would be good to power all the energy-chugging heaters and such. Climate change is real and we have to address it soon and this could be a reliable way to get consistent energy (compared to Hydro where Tas has been fucked for the last decade in drought). As a surfer, I'd no doubt research the affects of waves and make sure they don't ruin any reef/points or anything, but they are offshore and probably could only see them from the cliffs. Real early stages atm, but I reckon it'd be proposed to be about 500m offshore and about 2mx2m.
Thoughts?