Ocean wave energy is one of the most abundant energy sources in the world. There is a wide variety of wave energy conversion systems that have been designed and developed, resulting from the different ways of ocean wave energy absorption and also depending on the location characteristics. This paper reviews and analyses the concepts of hydraulic power take-off (PTO) system used in various types of wave energy conversion systems so that it can be a useful reference to researchers, engineers and inventors. This paper also reviews the control mechanisms of the hydraulic PTO system in order to optimise the energy harvested from the ocean waves. Finally, the benefits and challenges of the hydraulic PTO system are discussed in this paper.

This study is concerned with the application of two major kinds of optimisation algorithms on the hydraulic power take-off (HPTO) model for the wave energy converters (WECs). In general, the HPTO unit’s performance depends on the configuration of its parameters such as hydraulic cylinder size, hydraulic accumulator capacity and pre-charge pressure and hydraulic motor displacement. Conventionally, the optimal parameters of the HPTO unit need to be manually estimated by repeating setting the parameters’ values during the simulation process. However, such an estimation method can easily be exposed to human error and would subsequently result in an inaccurate selection of HPTO parameters for WECs. Therefore, an effective approach of using the non-evolutionary Non-Linear Programming by Quadratic Lagrangian (NLPQL) and evolutionary Genetic Algorithm (GA) algorithms for determining the optimal HPTO parameters was explored in the present study. A simulation–optimisation of the HPTO model was performed in the MATLAB/Simulink environment. A complete WECs model was built using Simscape Fluids toolbox in MATLAB/Simulink. The actual specifications of hydraulic components from the manufacturer were used during the simulation study. The simulation results showed that the performance of optimal HPTO units optimised by NLPQL and GA approaches have significantly improved up to 96% and 97%, respectively, in regular wave conditions. The results also showed that both optimal HPTO units were capable of generating electricity up to 62% and 77%, respectively, of their rated capacity in irregular wave circumstances.

The power take-off (PTO) stability is one of the most important concerns for wave energy converters (WECs). The PTO unit converts the mechanical energy produced by the wave absorber (WA) unit into useful electrical energy. Due to the drastic input energy variation of real wave motions, the generated electrical power from the PTO unit significantly fluctuates and is potentially harmful to electrical and electronic appliances. This paper proposes an improved hydraulic PTO (HPTO) for the WECs. An improved HPTO unit comprises a dual high-pressure accumulator (HPA) module and fluid energy control (FEC) module, which significantly enhances the generated electrical power from the generator under irregular wave circumstances. A complete model of wave absorber device with conventional and improved HPTO units was built in MATLAB/Simulink using a Simscape fluids toolbox. The parameters of the FEC control strategy were optimized using a genetic algorithm. The improved HPTO unit model was simulated with five irregular wave inputs to evaluate its performance in irregular conditions. The effects of the HPA pressure constraints on the improved HPTO unit performance were also investigated. Overall, the simulation results indicate that the improved HPTO unit was able to generate a stable power up to 87.3% of WECs in an irregular sea state.

Hydraulic power take-off (HPTO) is considered to be one of the most effective power take-off schemes for wave energy conversion systems (WECs). The HPTO unit can be constructed using standard hydraulic components that are readily available from the hydraulic industry market. However, the construction and operation of the HPTO unit are more complex rather than other types of power take-off, as many components parameters need to be considered during the optimization. Generator damping, hydraulic motor displacement, hydraulic cylinder and accumulator size are among the important parameters that influence the HPTO performance in generating usable electricity. Therefore, the influence of these parameters on the amount of generated electrical power from the HPTO unit was investigated in the present study. A simulation study was conducted using MATLAB/Simulink software, in which a complete model of WECs was developed using the Simscape fluids toolbox. During the simulation, each parameters study of the HPTO unit were separately manipulated to investigate its effects on the WECs performance in five different sea states. Finally, the simulated result of the effect of HPTO parameters on the amount of generated electrical power from the HPTO unit in different sea states is given and discussed.

The inconsistency of solar irradiance and temperature have led to unpredictable output power fluctuation of photovoltaic (PV) system. This paper proposes a simple control scheme for hybrid energy storage (HES) system to mitigate the long-term and short-term output power fluctuations of the PV system. The proposed control scheme employed the fuzzy logic controller in order to manage the power compensation of the HES system and to maintain the state-of-charge (SOC) level of the HES system within safe operating limits during the mitigation process. In the control scheme, the long-term output power fluctuation is eliminated by using battery energy storage, while short-term output fluctuation is compensated using the ultracapacitor. Apart from that, an hourly PV power dispatch was applied in the control scheme since the grid-connected PV system was considered in this study. The simulation evaluations of PV/HES with the proposed control scheme was conducted in the MATLAB/Simulink environment. The effectiveness of the proposed control scheme was verified through several case studies. Initially, the control scheme was evaluated with different initial SOC levels of HES. Then, the control scheme was evaluated using five days of actual PV system output in order to verify the robustness of the proposed control scheme in actual circumstances. Overall, the simulation evaluation was verified that the proposed control scheme of the PV/HES system effectively mitigates the output power fluctuations of the PV system and output power is dispatched out to the utility grid on an hourly basis. Also, it was able to regulate the SOC of HES at the operational limit throughout the process. The simulation result showed the control scheme successfully reduced the unacceptable output power fluctuation from 20% to less than 1%. The results also showed the SOC of HES was regulated within the range of 38%-75% and 42%-60% of its capacity along the process, respectively.