Korde 9703749 This award supports a 24 month Science and Technology Agency (STA) Postdoctoral Fellowship for Dr. Umesh Korde at the Japan Marine Science and Technology Center (JAMSTEC), Yokosuka, Japan. Dr. Korde will work with Dr. Yukihisa Washio, Senior Research Engineer, on a research project entitled, "Optimal Control of Floating Wave Energy Devices." Over the last two decades, various types of devices have been developed to absorb wave energy, with near-shore, shallow-water devices being far easier to install and maintain. The practical problem currently confronted by researchers, however, is how to develop applications that absorb increased available wave energy in deeper waters. The principal component of most devices is the primary energy converter, a technique that oscillates in response to the waves and converts these oscillations into revolutions via a turbogenerator or reciprocations of a pump. On floating devices, the primary converter motion normally occurs using the floating hull as a reference, a process that reduces the energy-conversion efficiency. Significant improvements would result if one could provide on board the hull an actively controlled body which serves as a steady frame of reference. The primary goal of the proposed research is to develop such a system. The secondary goal is to develop a time-domain control method that adjusts the primary converter dynamics on a wave-by-wave basis to optimize the energy absorbed in irregular waves. ***
