FDI Study for a Wave Energy Converter by Structural Analysis

Abstract

This paper presents a fault diagnosis study for a wave energy converter by using structural analysis (SA) as the main tool. An Archimedes wave swing-based converter is considered as a case study with a detailed model taken from a real case. Thus, one looks for robust residuals for the irregular wave effects and sensitivity to fault detection. The faults considered for the device are as follows: central tank perforation, brakes damage, position and speed sensor faults, as well as an actuator fault. The transient response of the residuals to these faults is simulated by MATLAB/Simulink and demonstrates the potentiality of the analysis.