Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 50 (2015) 194–203

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

Review of hydraulic transmission technologies for wave

power generation
Yonggang Lin, Jingwei Bao, Hongwei Liu n, Wei Li, Le Tu, Dahai Zhang
The State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power Transmission and Control, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang province 310027, China

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Energy extraction and conversion from ocean waves are being increasingly regarded as a research
Received 7 February 2014 hotspot. Many different wave energy conversion systems have been proposed to convert wave energy
Received in revised form into electricity. The paper reviewed and analyzed the hydraulic transmission technologies used in
25 December 2014
various kinds of wave energy conversion systems, and introduced a water/oil integrated transmission
Accepted 23 April 2015
system used in wave energy converter to reduce the pollution caused by hydraulic oil leakage. This paper
also proposed a digital hydraulic cylinder group, which could regulate the pressure of hydraulic power
Keywords: take-off system and reduce the energy interference in multiple devices deployed in arrays. The wave
Digital hydraulic cylinder group power generation applications will develop rapidly due to the fading fossil energy resources and serious
Hydraulic transmission
environmental pollution, while the hydraulic transmission technologies with water/oil integrated
Water/oil integrated transmission
transmission and digital hydraulic cylinder group will be of crucial importance to the process of the
Wave energy
development.
& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
2. Hydraulic transmission systems in wave energy power generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
2.1. Raft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
2.2. Point absorber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
2.3. Oscillating water column (OWC). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
2.4. Duck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
2.5. Pendulum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
3. Control technologies of WECs with hydraulic transmission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
3.1. Flywheel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
3.2. Accumulator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
3.3. Digital displacement motor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
4. Problems in hydraulic technologies of large-scale wave energy utilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
4.1. Hydraulic oil leakage of wave energy device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
4.2. Energy interference of large-scale arrays of WEC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
5. Water/oil integrated transmission technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
6. Pressure adjusting technology based on DHCG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
7. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

1. Introduction

The overexploitation of fossil energy brings about severe pollution

n
Corresponding author Tel.: þ 86 13758255738; fax: þ86 0571 87951941. issues, including air pollution, water resource shortage, soil contam-
E-mail address: zju000@163.com (H. Liu). ination and ecosystem degradation [1]. Besides, greenhouse gas

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.04.141
1364-0321/& 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Y. Lin et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 50 (2015) 194–203
Table 1-1
WEC prototypes.
England Scotland Ireland Spain
Pelamis LIMPET (500 kW, 2001) Wavebob Mutriku OWC
(750 kW, (1000 kW, 2007) (300 kW, 2011)
2009)
Oyster Power Buoy PB150
(800 kW, (150 kW, 2011)
2012)
Fig. 1. Pelamis wave energy converter.
emitted by coal combustion is also an important cause for global
warming [2]. Under the pressure of fossil energy exhaustion and
environmental pollution, the energy market has to carry out industrial
restructuring to meet the challenge. According to the “BP Statistical
Review of World Energy 2014”, global primary energy consumption
accelerated from 1.8% to 2.3% in 2013, in which renewables made a
contribution of 5.3%, grew by 16.3% than that in 2012. Therefore as a
type of clean and renewable energy, wave energy has gradually gained
worldwide attention. The ocean contains an enormous quantity of
wave energy. According to the data released at the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Scoping Conference on Renewable
Energy in 2008, the theoretical reserves of wave energy worldwide are
8000–80,000 TWh/year [3]. Thus the exploitation of wave energy will
cut down the demand for fossil energy, regulate the energy structure
and reduce the environmental pollution. Besides, according to the
Ocean Energy Systems, the ocean energy exploitation will provide
almost 1.2 million jobs for the world by 2050. Therefore, wave power
generation development is of great benefit to the economic recovery
and ocean exploitation diversity.
To date, many different wave conversion technologies have been
proposed [4,5], but only a few prototypes have entered the commer-
cial stage. In the last couple of years, several demonstration projects
have been deployed worldwide with a focus in European countries,
while increasing activities arise in other countries such as China,
United States and Australia [6]. Table 1-1 shows some prototypes,
which is meant to provide an understanding of progress of different
kinds of wave energy converter (WEC) [7–10]. Certain kinds of WEC
have pilot plants in several countries.
Compared with other forms of offshore renewable energy, such as
solar photovoltaic, wave energy is continuous but highly variable. It is
simple to achieve short-term energy storage in hydraulic systems,
which is necessary to achieve the smooth electricity production
[11–13]. The main storage technologies for the captured wave energy
include storage batteries [14], compressed air [15], super capacitors
and flywheel energy storage [16]. Besides, hydraulic systems are suited
to apply large force at low speed. Hence, wave energy conversion can
be considered a very suitable application for hydraulics [17,18]. Several
wave energy converter (WEC) technologies with hydraulic power
take-off (PTO) are described in the first part: 1. Raft, 2. Point absorber,
3. Oscillating water column (OWC), 4. Duck, 5. Pendulum. This paper
presents the structures and working principles of the hydraulic
transmission system in various types of WECs in detail to provide a
195
Portugal Denmark Australia U.S.
Wave Roller Wave Dragon Oceanlin Power Buoy PB150
(300 kW, 2012) (7 MW, 2003) (3 MW, 2013) (150 kW, 2011)
Fig. 2. Principle of Pelamis.
reference for researchers. With the development of large-scale wave
energy utilization, hydraulic oil leaks will pollute the marine environ-
ment. Thus, the water/oil integrated transmission technology is
introduced, which is friendly to the marine environment and ensures
transmission efficiency. Furthermore, a digital hydraulic cylinder group
(DHCG) is proposed for large-scale arrays of WEC, which reduces the
energy interference caused by the different wave force on each WEC.
2. Hydraulic transmission systems in wave energy power
generation
2.1. Raft
A raft WEC consists of floating bodies linked by hinged joints. The
Pelamisis, shown in Fig. 1, is a representative raft wave converter that
is the first pre-commercial wave power generation demonstration
project and was designed by Ocean Power Delivery [19,20]. Fig. 2 gives
the schematic diagram of Pelamis hydraulic transmission. When
articulated shaft 12 rotates counterclockwise, the piston of hydraulic
cylinder 1 moves to the non-rod chamber, and the high-pressure oil
will drive hydraulic motor 13 and generator 14 through hydraulic
bridge circuit 2, which consists of 4 check valves. Simultaneously, the
high-pressure oil in the hydraulic cylinder 5 will flow out of the rod
chamber and back to its non-rod chamber through bridge circuit 4.
When the articulated shaft rotates clockwise, the high-pressure oil of
hydraulic cylinder 5 will drive the hydraulic motor and generator to
generate electricity. Accumulator 3 is used to stabilize the output
power fluctuation caused by wave energy [16].
The raft wave energy converter should be built offshore (typically
more than 40 m water depth). The displacement between the rafts is
angular and it won't be too large even under strong waves, thus the
raft WEC can work under rough sea conditions. The raft WEC is laid
out along the wave direction and has a relatively larger cost compared
with WECs laid perpendicular to the wave direction [21].
196 Y. Lin et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 50 (2015) 194–203
Fig. 3. American point absorber WEC.
Fig. 4. Principle of point absorber.
2.2. Point absorber
A point absorber, WEC, uses a float to capture wave energy. The
waves drive the float to vertically move up and down with respect to a
lower fixed cylinder. Representative point absorbers include Ocean
Power Technology Company's 40 kWW device (Fig. 3), the Canadian
Finavera Company's 40 kW device and the Scottish AWS Ocean Energy
Company's 2 MW device [22,23].
Fig. 4 shows the hydraulic transmission principle of the point
absorber wave energy system. The heaving motion of the buoy is
converted into electricity energy by means of a hydraulic PTO [24].
The buoy drives the piston of the hydraulic cylinder to oscillate,
and the check bridge circuit can control the oil flow-in and flow-
out of the rod chamber and non-rod chamber. High-pressure oil
will drive the hydraulic motor and generator to rotate and
generate electricity. The accumulators store the excessive wave
energy and smooth the power [25].
The point absorber WEC can be built offshore. The energy
extraction efficiency and the energy conversion efficiency are
relatively high; the cost of the float is low. Multiple point absorber
WECs can be arranged to form a large-scale generation system.
The point absorber WEC has poor capability to withstand extreme
weather conditions [26].
Fig. 5. OWC in China.
2.3. Oscillating water column (OWC)
In the OWC wave converter, the water is forced into a sealed
chamber, and the air in the chamber is pressed to flow through a
turbine. The seawater pressurizes and depressurizes the air to result in
a reciprocating movement. The turbine transforms the kinetic energy
of the air into the mechanical energy of the air turbine, and the turbine
drives a generator to yield electricity [27,28]. In this type of wave
converter, all the mechanical and electronic structures of the device
are above the water, which makes this device convenient to repair and
maintain. THE Australian Energetec device and Wavegen LIMPET are
both examples of OWCs, both of which are 500 kW units. The
Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion in China developed a
100 kW plant of this type during the Ninth Five-Year Plan, 1996–
2000 (Fig. 5) [29].
The speed of airflow fluctuates due to changes in the wave. A
hydraulic transmission system was adopted to transmit the turbine
energy to the generator. As Fig. 6 shows, the turbine drives the
hydraulic pump, and the pressurized oil is transmitted via a smoothing
accumulator to the hydraulic motor, which drives the generator to
yield electricity. The turbine alternatively rotates clockwise and
counterclockwise because of the reciprocating motion of the airflow.
Hence, a bidirectional pump is adopted, whose inlet and outlet ports
remain unchanged.
The OWC wave energy converter can be installed near shore, on
the shoreline or in the breakwater. While the vulnerable mechan-
ical part is separated from the sea water and thus has a good
corrosion resistance; the air chamber transforms the low-speed
wave energy into high-speed airflow, which is safe, reliable and
low failure rate [30]. However, the OWC wave energy converter
has low energy conversion efficiency and high construction cost.
2.4. Duck
In 1974, Professor Salter at the University of Edinburgh pro-
posed a type of WEC whose shape and operational characteristics
approximated those of a duck [31]. The buoy travels in a pitching
movement around a shaft instead of an up-and-down movement.
The hydrodynamic pressure drives the device to effectively rotate
around an axis. Moreover, the hydrostatic pressure changes allow
 Y. Lin et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 50 (2015) 194–203 197

Fig. 6. Hydraulic transmission system of OWC.

Fig. 7. Structure of “Salter Duck”.

Fig. 9. Hydraulic schematic of pendulum wave energy device.

Fig. 8. 100 kW Duck wave energy converter.

the float part close to the duckbill to reciprocate vertically. The

phases of the movements produced by the hydrodynamic pressure
and hydrostatic pressure are the same, which capture both the
kinetic and potential energies of the wave during one wave period
[32]. The internal cam mechanism extrudes the hydraulic Fig. 10. Finnish Wave Roller 1.
198 Y. Lin et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 50 (2015) 194–203

cylinders to convert the captured energy into hydraulic energy,
which is similar to the plunger pump in working form (Fig. 7). The
hydraulic energy drives the hydraulic motor and generator to
generate electricity. The Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion
in China developed a 100 kW duck wave energy conversion
system in April 2013 (Fig. 8). A multilevel model hydraulic system
was used for different wave conditions: when waves are small, a
30 kW generator unit starts; a 70 kW generator unit starts for
medium-sized waves; when waves are large, both units start and
the rated power is 100 kW [3].
The duck WEC can be constructed offshore. Under ideal
operating conditions the efficiency of the duck can reach 90%
while under irregular wave conditions the efficiency is much
lower [32]. The high energy conversion efficiency could be
achieved by adjusting the barycenter and alter the inherent
frequency to resonant with the wave. The mechanism is compli-
cated and the reliability is low; the WEC is vulnerable especially
under severe sea conditions [33].
2.5. Pendulum
connected to the pendulum convert the kinetic energy of the
pendulum into hydraulic energy. In 2007, the first prototype of a
Wave Roller was tested at sea [35], as shown in Fig. 10.
The State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power Transmission and
Control at Zhejiang University proposed a double stroke hydraulic
transmission system for the pendulum wave converter [36,37],
whose principle is shown in Fig. 11. Compared with the Wave
Roller, the double stroke system can work in two swing directions.
The pendulum WEC can be built inshore and the energy
extraction efficiency can reach 70.52% [38]. The pendulum WEC
has advantages like wide frequency response, simple structure and
easy manufacturing, reliable and low cost, high energy conversion
efficiency under normal sea conditions [39]. However, the
mechanical part is vulnerable for it contacts with sea water,
difficult maintenance, unstable efficiency and poor reliability.
Each of the systems introduced above has a suitable location on
the seabed, including inshore location, near-shore location and
offshore location, which is shown in Table 2–1. Table 2–1 also
presents the advantages and disadvantages of these systems.

A Japanese scholar first proposed the pendulum wave conver-

ter, in which the pendulum swings to convert the wave energy
into the pendulum's kinetic energy [34]. Fig. 9 shows the hydraulic
system schematics of the Wave Roller, which was developed by
the Finnish AW-Energy Company. The hydraulic cylinders
3. Control technologies of WECs with hydraulic transmission
Many researchers have contributed a lot to improving the
energy conversion efficiency, which is a key indicator to the
performance of the power generation system. The efficiency can
be improved by controlling the force acted on the primary power
capture mechanism and thus the motion of it. The general control
technologies for the hydraulic PTO system of WECs include
flywheel, accumulator and digital displacement motor.

Fig. 11. The double action hydraulic transmission system. Fig. 12. Schematic representation of WEC with hydraulic PTO system.

Table 2-1
WEC character.

Location Advantage Disvantage

Raft Offshore High robustness Large cost

Point Offshore High effciency Poor robustness
absorber
OWC Near-shore, inshore or in the break Safe, reliable and low failure rate Low efficiency and high cost
water
Duck Offshore High effciency Low reliability and vulnerable
Pendulum Inshore Wide frequency response reliable and low Difficult manufacturing , unstable efficiency and poor
cost reliability
 Y. Lin et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 50 (2015) 194–203
Fig. 13. Schematic diagram of the digital displacement hydraulic.
Fig. 14. Array of wave power generation devices.
3.1. Flywheel
The transient power captured by WECs varies a lot from time to
time, thus the flywheel is used to regulate and compensate the
power and a clutch is employed to cut in and out of the flywheel. A
flywheel with large moment of inertia smoothes the speed curve
of the generator and absorb the impact caused by the reciprocat-
ing motion of the hydraulic cylinder. The structure of the flywheel
is simple yet the effect is not satisfactory [40].
3.2. Accumulator
Accumulator is another energy stabilizing apparatus in WECs.
An automatic control system of the wave power stand-alone stable
station was proposed by Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conver-
sion, Chinese Academy of Sciences. When the input wave power is
almost equal to the rated power of the generator, the accumulator
is to keep the system pressure; when the input wave power is less
than the rated power, intermittent generation is available through
electrical control; when the input wave power is larger than the
rated power, the relief valve is activated to overflow the spare
power [41,42].
The accumulator is also a regulator to WECs. Falcão has
optimized the phase control of oscillating-body WECs with
hydraulic PTO system. The theoretical time-domain model of a
single-degree of freedom oscillating body in regular and irregular
waves has been established. The schematic of the WEC is shown in
Fig. 12. The proposed WEC provides a natural way of achieving
latching: the body remains stationary for as long as the hydro-
dynamic forces on its wetted surface are unable to overcome the
resisting force introduced by the hydraulic PTO system [25].
3.3. Digital displacement motor
A hydraulic transmission system based on digital displacement
technology was proposed by the University of Edinburgh, shown
in Fig. 13. A wave energy converter based on the transmission
system was proposed in 2006. The technology allows variable
speed of the tidal current turbine rotor while maintaining constant
199
generator shaft speed. The feasibility of the system was validated
through modeling and simulation, while no prototype was set up
to experiment [43].
As for WECs with hydraulic transmission, the random wave
conditions result in the input power fluctuation, which means the
fluctuation of pressure and flow rate in hydraulic transmission
system. In the above technologies, the flywheel is used to smooth
the power fluctuation, the digital displacement motor is able to
achieve the power control, while the accumulator can both
smooth the power fluctuation and control the motion of the
primary power capture mechanism.
4. Problems in hydraulic technologies of large-scale wave
energy utilization
4.1. Hydraulic oil leakage of wave energy device
Hydraulic oil leakage is a common problem of hydraulic
system, which is unavoidable in marine environments [44].
Large-scale wave energy converters have become the subject of
research as new wave energy technologies are being developed, as
shown in Fig. 14. However, the pollution problem must be solved
prior to the implementation of these technologies. The methods to
take advantage of hydraulic transmission without pollution are a
significant issue for researchers of wave power generation hydrau-
lic systems.
Mineral oil is the conventional choice, but it is harmful to marine
animals and plants. The problem of oil pollution of the marine has
received increasing attention due to the development of large-scale
arrays of wave energy converters. Biodegradable hydraulic oil [45],
whose main ingredients are plant-based oil and synthetic vinegar,
has been developed to protect the environment. Plant-based oil is
naturally biodegradable and also features excellent lubrication and
viscosity–temperature properties. The application of this type of oil is
limited to Scandinavia, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Relevant
standards have also been established, including toxins that affect
sensitive fish and daphnia as well as bacteria inhibiting requirements.
However, most countries and areas do not have the ability to develop
200 Y. Lin et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 50 (2015) 194–203

Fig. 15. Centralized and decentralized systems.

biodegradable hydraulic oil. The biodegradable hydraulic oil is expen-

sive and the use of this type of oil constitutes less than 10% of the total
quantity of hydraulic oil.

4.2. Energy interference of large-scale arrays of WEC

As shown in Fig. 15, WEC arrays can be arranged in two

schemes: the decentralized and the centralized scheme [46]. In
the decentralized system, each WEC generates electricity and
transmits power via an electric cable to the land. In a centralized
system, the hydraulic energy from each WEC is transmitted
through a pipe to the hydraulic motor and a generator onshore.
The two approaches to manifold WECs mainly differ in the point
where the mechanical energy is converted into electricity. The
centralized scheme has advantages over the decentralized system.
This strategy can reduce the mechanical and electrical complexity
of the WEC. Moreover, vulnerable components of the centralized
system are placed onshore, which will contribute to the system's
stability and maintainability.
However, each WEC is distributed at a different location, and
the wave force that acts on each WEC is different. The hydraulic
pressure of each WEC will be different and interfere with each
other, which will affect the action and coefficient of the wave
energy capturer. One WEC can even become the load of the others.
Methods to complete the pressure match and capture more wave
energy in each WEC have become a research hotspot. In March
2010, researchers of the Wave Roller system at the Finnish AW-
Energy Company proposed to adjust the buoyancy of the pendu-
lum by injecting water into the pendulum, which aims to elim-
inate the energy interference between each WEC.
5. Water/oil integrated transmission technology
To solve the pollution problem due to hydraulic oil leakage,
water or seawater can be used as a transmission medium in
addition to using biodegradable hydraulic oil. In this type of
system, leaks will not result in pollution. Water hydraulic systems
are expensive, and the system rated pressure is typically approxi-
mately 10 MPa because of the low viscosity of water. The rated
pressure of an oil hydraulic system can reach values of 30 MPa or
even higher. Hence, the volumes of water hydraulic systems need
to be much larger to output the same power. We proposed a wave
generation scheme based on water/oil integrated transmission.
Water hydraulic transmission is adopted underwater, while oil
hydraulic transmission is adopted onshore, and a water/oil pres-
surizer is adopted in the middle. For example, in the pendulum-
type WEC shown in Fig. 16, the water hydraulic system will not
pollute the marine environment, and leaks in the oil hydraulic
system onshore can be collected by a tank. Moreover, the system
Fig. 16. Water/oil integrated transmission system.
can reach a rated pressure identical to that of using the oil
hydraulic cylinder due to the pressurizer [47].
The pressurizer is a key component of a water/oil integrated
transmission. The design diagram is depicted in Fig. 17. The
working principle is as follows. The head port area of the seawater
cylinder differs from that of the oil cylinder. According to the load
balancing formula, F¼PWAW ¼POAO. Pw and Aw stand for the
pressure and chamber cross-sectional area of the water hydraulic
cylinder, respectively, while Po and Ao stand for the pressure and
chamber cross-sectional area of the oil hydraulic cylinder, respec-
tively. To raise the pressure, the area ratio of the pressurizer can be
set according to K ¼ AW/AO.
The water/oil pressurizer not only converts the low water
pressure into high oil pressure but also isolates the two media;
therefore, the water will not seep into the oil to degrade the
performance of the oil medium.
6. Pressure adjusting technology based on DHCG
For wave energy converting technologies, the next essential
step to moving forward with reliable solution for the industry will
be to move from single prototypes to multiple devices deployed in
arrays. In a centralized system, different wave conditions will
cause unmatched pressures and energy interference in the pipe-
line of each WEC in different locations [48]. This problem is
primarily attributed to the uncontrolled input end. This paper
proposes a type of DHCG to substitute a conventional single
hydraulic cylinder. According to the pressure formula P¼ F/A, while
P stands for the hydraulic system pressure, F stands for the force
 Y. Lin et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 50 (2015) 194–203 201

Fig. 17. The water/oil pressurizer.

Fig. 18. Working principle of DHCG.

Table 6-1
Control table of HC (different cylinder group cross areas).

Digital Cylinder Cylinder Cylinder Cylinder Cylinder Cylinde Area

signal 1 2 3 4 5 6 ratio
input

100100 1 0 0 1 0 0 2/12
010010 0 1 0 0 1 0 4/12
001001 0 0 1 0 0 1 6/12
110110 1 1 0 1 1 0 6/12
101101 1 0 1 1 0 1 8/12
011011 0 1 1 0 1 1 10/
12
111111 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Fig. 19. Operating principle of DHCG.

Fig. 20. Structure of DHCG.

acting on the piston rod and A is the chamber cross-sectional area
of the hydraulic cylinder, the pressure is inversely proportional to
the area when the input force is constant. A hydraulic cylinder
group is adopted instead of the conventional hydraulic cylinder,
and the total cross-sectional area is the same to that of the
conventional hydraulic cylinder. The cross-sectional area can be
adjusted by controlling the cut in and cut out of the sub-cylinders
of the DHCG and the pressure of the single WEC. The number of
sub-cylinders positively correlates with the number of combina-
tions of cross-sectional areas. Hence, the system can be operated
at multiple pressures.
DHCG is able to adjust the damping force of the PTO system,
which could change the working mode of the power capturing
mechanism and improve the energy capturing efficiency [49]. A
DHCG with six sub-cylinders is taken as an example, and the
hydraulic schematic is shown in Fig. 18. There is no similar
structure in other articles.
The control algorithm of the DHCG is defined as follows. When
the wave energy is low, the inlets and outlets of two (or four)
symmetrical sub-cylinders, which are controlled by two-way high-
speed switching valves, are connected to the tank. Only four (or
two) sub-cylinders at symmetrical positions are connected to the
202 Y. Lin et al. / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 50 (2015) 194–203
system. The total cross-sectional area is smaller than that of one
conventional hydraulic cylinder, which improves the pressure and
energy capture efficiency of the system. The oil pressure in the
sub-cylinders connected to the tank is zero. The piston rod only
moves in a follow-up motion, which consumes little captured
wave energy. When the wave energy is high, more sub-cylinders
are connected to the system to increase the cross-sectional area.
Thus, the system pressure is controlled in an appropriate range.
Fig. 19 is the control flowchart of the DHCG, in which wave
period n is the sampling period. In the figure, vpiston is the piston
speed, vwave is the wave speed, ncylinder is the number of sub-
cylinder connected to the hydraulic PTO system, nmax and the nmin
are the maximum and minimum number of sub-cylinder that
could be connected to the PTO system respectively. We take the
average in n (nZ 1) wave period and take the piston speed as a
reference. When the piston speed is higher than the wave speed,
the number of the sub-cylinders connected to the system should
be increased if it is not equal to the maximum number. When the
piston speed is lower than the wave speed, the number of the sub-
cylinders connected to the system should be decreased if it is not
equal to the minimum number.
The sub-cylinders' cut in and cut out actions are controlled by
electromagnetic switching valves, which are controlled by con-
stant signals. The cut in and cut out are set to “1” and “0”,
respectively. As shown in Table 6-1, if the cross-sectional areas
of each sub-cylinder are the same, the total cross-sectional area
has three different sizes, the cross-sectional area differences are
large, and the adjustable range is small. When the cross-sectional
area of the three sub-cylinder groups are different, the total cross-
sectional area will have six options, and the difference between
each option is smaller, which helps to expand the scope of the
system pressure and increase the adaptability of the DHCG.
The structure of a DHCG that consists of six sub-cylinders is
shown in Fig. 20. To balance the load of the cylinder, two sub-
cylinders in one group, which are connected to the same two-way
switch valve, are placed at symmetrical locations. The left figure is
the cross-section of B–B and the right figure is the cross-section
of A–A.
7. Conclusions
Various types of wave energy power generation systems have
been developed, most of which transmit energy using a hydraulic
system. The captured wave energy is converted into hydraulic
energy; the hydraulic system drives the generator to produce
electricity. This paper presents the structures and working princi-
ples of the hydraulic transmission system in various types of WECs
in detail to provide a reference for researchers.
As wave energy utilization technologies mature, wave energy
generating devices will gradually be developed to a large scale,
which could result in significant environmental pollution due to
hydraulic leaks. This paper not only introduces biodegradable oil
but also proposes a water/oil integrated transmission system to
reduce pollution due to hydraulic oil leaks. Underwater seawater
hydraulic systems are more suitable for environmental protection;
the oil leakage problem of the hydraulic system is more easily
addressed onshore and will not pollute the environment. A novel
DHCG is proposed for centralized wave power generation systems.
By controlling the number of sub-cylinders connected to the
system, we can adjust the pressure of a single WEC and reduce
the energy interference of each WEC. The DHCG can be applied to
pendulum WEC and many other types of WEC that take hydraulic
cylinders as second energy transformation mechanism. It is of
great value to optimize the structure of DHCG and apply it to other
types of WEC.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by the Science Fund for
Creative Research Groups of National Natural Science Foundation
of China (No. 51221004), National Natural Science Foundation of
China (No. 51475413) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the
Central Universities(No. 2015QNA4005).
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