Simulation of a Slider-Crank Mechanism Driven by a Buoy for Wave Energy Converters Applications

The generation of electric power from non-conventional sources has been in constant technological growth during the last decades. Among the non-conventional sources, the energy produced by the ocean has drawn the attention of many researchers due to their enormous potential, generating studies around this issue. Currently, there exist various types of mechanisms to absorb the energy of the ocean, the wave energy converter, the tidal energy converters, and others. In this paper, we study a wave energy converter through the utilization of Simulink/MATLAB software. The proposed device is a slider-crank mechanism connected to a spherical buoy. To ensure the continuous generation of energy from the device, under different conditions of the wave, a flywheel is implemented. The obtained results would support the development of a design methodology for the dimensional synthesis of the mechanism that will ensure the application of this technology.