Optimal Control of a Three-Body Hinge-Barge Wave Energy Device Using Pseudospectral Methods

This paper shows the potential of optimal control for enhancing the power capture for a three-body hinge-barge wave energy converter (WEC). It is the first documented application of a coordinated control strategy for a hinge-barge WEC, where power is converted at the joints between both the fore and aft pontoons, and the central barge section. Two separate optimal control formulations, based on different model representations, are evaluated and are shown to considerably outperform an optimal constant damping control strategy.