MODIFICATION OF WAVE ENERGY CONVERTER USING BUOY

Electrical power has become a primary necessity. Energy from ocean waves remains largely an untapped resource. The aim of the project is to generate electricity from waves. The wave energy converter (WEC) captures energy contained in the ocean waves to generate electricity. The electrical energy is generated from the mechanical work harnessed from the waves by using generator. The power production depends upon the intensity of the waves. Traditionally, in wave energy converters only the vertical motion of the buoy is converted into electricity. But in this method both the vertical and horizontal motions of the buoy is converted into electricity. The mechanism used here is the rack and pinion mechanism. The setup consists of rack and pinion, gear assembly, DC generator and a rectifier circuit. The buoy is fixed with the rack and pinion setup which in turn is coupled with the gear assembly and it is coupled with the generator. The gear assembly is used to increase the input speed of the generator shaft. The rectifier circuit is used to change the polarity of the current produced. A maximum of 12V can be produced. In this paper both the vertical and horizontal motions of the buoy is converted into electricity.