A Global Maximum Power Point Tracking Control Strategy Based on Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm for Point-Absorber-Type Wave Energy Converters

The point-absorber-type Wave Energy Converter (WEC) is regarded as one of the most promising forms to convert wave energy into electricity. In this paper, a new global maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control strategy based on the PSO algorithm is proposed to extract the maximum power for the point-absorbing type WEC. Firstly, a mathematical model of the point-absorber-type WEC based on hydrodynamic theory is proposed. In the model, the maximum power extracted state is related to the two parameters RPTO and XPTO. These two parameters are related to the characteristic of the wave and the system and are difficult to obtain directly. Therefore, the above parameters are identified by the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to seek the maximum power point. A given irregular wave is applied to the model to verify the effectiveness of the strategy. In additional, to verify the advantages of the MPPT strategy based on PSO, the proposed strategy is compared with that bases on the Flower Pollination Algorithm (FPA) algorithm.