Translator Optimization of a Linear Electrical Generator for Harvesting Oceanic Wave Energy

Linear electrical generator (LEG) is being widely applied to harvest oceanic wave energy for the generation of emission free electricity. It is observed that performance of the LEG greatly depends on its design optimization. In this paper, an LEG has been designed in ANSYS/Maxwell environment. Further, poles height of the magnetic core and permanent magnet in the translator of the LEG are optimized by analyzing five cases namely, Case-1 to Case-5. Outcomes of each of the cases are tabulated for comparison. The optimization procedure is presented as a flowchart. Load profile is observed for all the cases to determine the best results. Simulation results show that optimum outcome is found for Case-3 at 30Ω load resistance. The generated voltage, power, and flux linkage of the optimized LEG are 10.9%, 5%, and 8% higher than its initial counterpart (before optimization), respectively. It is also found that copper loss of the optimized LEG is 8.9% minimized compared to its initial design.