Oceans account for 71 percent of the earth’s surface, marine resources and energy are abundant. Therefore, making full use of marine energy is a good choice for humans to solve the energy crisis. One way to capture ocean energy is converting wave energy to electrical energy, by means of devices called wave energy converters (WECs). This project introduces a new type of wave energy converter named “Gyroscopic-Pendulum Wave Energy Converter (GP WEC)”. Compared to the classical vertical axis pendulum WEC, a flywheel is added in the system. In combination with the floater motions it creates a gyroscopic effect on the pendulum causing it to rotate, a power take-off device is connected directly to the rotating pendulum shaft in order to harvest the wave energy and generate electrical energy. To investigate whether this new type of WEC will generate more energy than the classical one, this thesis proposes a dry test setup for the gyroscopic pendulum allowing for systematically investigating the gyroscopic effect on its power output. This thesis starts from the design of the GP WEC dry experiment and then provides the clear definition of all the components of equipment, along with the applicable scaling laws of all the components and parameters. Also, the requirements as to limits of the equipment are studied with a parameter study. Using the results of the parameter study a numerical model of the GP WEC is used to simulate the dry-tests. Based on these simulations the range and number of parameters that will be tested in the future experiment are confirmed, and test matrices defined. Some interesting observations from the numerical simulations are further studied looking into the time domain response. This thesis concludes with the definition of a test setup for dry experiments to be executed at TU Delft in a follow-up study, test matrices for investigating the gyroscopic effect on the power output are defined, and simulation results are presented which can be used for later validation of the physical model.

The oceans, which cover nearly 70% of the earth’s surface, can be considered as an inexhaustible energy source for renewable electricity due to its size and predictability. One way to capture ocean energy is by harnessing the energy produced by waves at sea, by means of devices called wave energy converters (WECs).

Delft University of Technology is developing a new floating WEC concept called the ”gyroscopic-pendulum”. This concept is a modification of the so called ”classical vertical axis pendulum”, which is capable of producing mechanical power harvested from the rotations of the pendulum around the vertical axis.

The new concept is proposed by adding a flywheel with the aim to enhance the rotations of the pendulum about the vertical axis. The enhancement comes from gyroscopic precession which is created due to a change in the angular moment of the spinning flywheel caused by the torque originating from the weight of the pendulum.

This thesis starts with a general introduction about wave power followed by the mathematical and numerical model of the gyroscopic-pendulum. Numerical simulations are performed in which the gyroscopic-pendulum and the classical pendulum are both imposed with the same harmonic roll motion, while the gyroscopic-pendulum system also receives some power input to rotate the disk. The main objective is to find out in which ranges of amplitude and frequency of imposed motions, the gyroscopic-pendulum results in an improvement of the power efficiency compared to the classical vertical axis pendulum.

The results obtained from tests performed in the simulated conditions, shows us that the gyroscopic-pendulum has a significantly higher efficiency compared to the classical vertical axis pendulum when the frequency of the imposed roll motion is in the range of 1.4 to 1.75 rad/s and the amplitude is in the range of 0.6 to 0.95 푚.