SYSTEM TO GENERATE POWER BY USING WAVE ENERGY

The Ocean Energy Development Co. Ltd has been jointly established by Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd and the Power and Energy Research Institute, Inc. for the purpose of developing and constructing plants to convert the energy of sea waves into electric power on a commercial basis. The system uses a vertical, floating, rocket-shaped buoy to pick up the wave energy. The buoy, the mass of which is adjusted to resonate with the waves, moves up and down in an amplitude several times greater than the wave height. This movement actuates two controllable-pitch propellers at the lower end of the buoy, which in turn drive a generator. Tank tests with small models proved satisfactory, and a 5-kW pilot plant, Friendship I, was designed and has been on test off the coast of the Boso Peninsula. The company plans to develop 500 - to 1,500-kW plants in due course, with seven or more buoys being used to provide an output of 10,000 kW or more.

• Corporate Authors:

  Tokyo News Service Limited

  10 Ginza Nishi, 8-chome, Chuo-ku
  Tokyo,   Japan 
• Publication Date: 1977-3

Media Info

• Pagination: 2 p.
• Serial:
  • Zosen
  • Volume: 21
  • Publisher: Tokyo News Service Limited

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Electric power generation; Energy conversion
• Uncontrolled Terms: Wave energy
• Old TRIS Terms: Power plant conversion
• Subject Areas: Energy; Marine Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00165257
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: British Ship Research Association
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 23 1977 12:00AM