Model predictive control of a wave energy converter

Abstract

In this paper reactive control and Model Predictive Control (MPC) for a Wave Energy Converter (WEC) are compared. The analysis is based on a WEC from Wave Star A/S designed as a point absorber. The model predictive controller uses wave models based on the dominating sea states combined with a model connecting undisturbed wave sequences to sequences of torque. Losses in the conversion from mechanical to electrical power are taken into account in two ways. Conventional reactive controllers are tuned for each sea state with the assumption that the converter has the same efficiency back and forth. MPC's are designed for each sea state using a model assuming a linear loss torque. The mean power results from two controllers are compared using both loss models. Simulation results show that MPC can outperform a reactive controller if a good model of the conversion losses is available.