An Active Filter-Enabled Power Architecture for Oscillating Wave Energy Generation

This paper proposes an active filter-enabled power architecture to harness oscillating power from wave energy converter (WEC). The power architecture consists of a diode rectifier and a dc-dc converter to extract active power and a partially rated active filter to supply harmonic and reactive power. The proposed power conversion system is cost-effective compared with a conventional, fully rated power converter in generating oscillating power from the WEC, using both squirrel-cage induction generator (SCIG) and permanent magnet synchronous generator. Analytically, it is shown that the low switching frequency of the active filter is adequate to absorb the harmonic current generated due to the diode rectification. Overall system modeling and control strategy are described for the SCIG-based system. The feasibility of the proposed system is validated through experimental implementation with an emulated WEC. A design guideline of the proposed system for high-power applications is elaborated.