Power conditioning of the output from a linear

vernier hybrid permanent magnet generator for

use in direct drive wave energy converters
P.R.M. Brooking and M.A. Mueller
Abstract: A linear electrical generator may be used to convert the energy in sea waves directly into
electrical energy. The reciprocating movement of the generator caused by the waves results in an
electrical output that is variable in voltage and frequency, with a low-frequency amplitude
oscillation of the same frequency as the reciprocating vertical movement of the waves. Power
conditioning is required to extract the energy from the linear generator, and invert it into a mains
supply of constant voltage and frequency. A type of power conditioner based on an AC/AC
converter is illustrated. Inversion into the mains must take place at constant power by the power
conditioner, which must therefore buffer the energy uctuations produced by the wave energy
device. The energy storage requirement for the power conditioner is derived as a function of the
generated power, the reciprocating frequency of the wave energy device, the average AC/AC
converter DC voltage and the capacitor voltage ripple. Results are presented for the operation of a
prototype linear generator and power conditioner inverting into the three-phase supply.

List of symbols
d
Ip
m
L
p
P
PR
i
v
vC
Va
Vp
x
f
l
o
oe
DV
N
t

total distance travelled by translator

phase current
inverter modulation index
phase inductance
instantaneous power
average power
relative rating of input inverter to generated power
instantaneous current
instantaneous voltage
capacitor voltage
phase terminal voltage
phase voltage (EMF)
distance travelled by translator
magnetic ux
magnetic wavelength
frequency of mechanical oscillation
electrical frequency
peak-to-peak capacitor voltage ripple
turns per coil
time

r IEE, 2005
IEE Proceedings online no. 20045134
doi:10.1049/ip-gtd:20045134
Paper rst received 11th August 2004 and in nal revised form 13th May 2005
P.R.M. Brooking was with the School of Engineering, University of Durham,
South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
M.A. Mueller is with the Institute for Energy Systems, School of Engineering &
Electronics, University of Edinburgh, The Kings Buildings, Mayeld Road,
Edinburgh EH9 3JL, UK
E-mail: markus.mueller@ed.ac.uk
IEE Proc.-Gener. Transm. Distrib., Vol. 152, No. 5, September 2005

Introduction

High-pressure hydraulics and pneumatic systems employing

Wells turbines are the most common forms of power takeoff proposed for current wave energy devices. The former
tends to be proposed for offshore devicesFthe Pelamis
being a good example [1]. The latter are employed in shore
or near shoreline devices, such as oscillating water columns
(OWC), the LIMPET on Islay being a good example [2].
Both hydraulics and Wells turbines act as a form of gearing
to match the low-speed reciprocating motion of the wave
device to high-speed rotary motion to drive conventional
rotary electrical generators, such as induction machines.
However, this mechanical interface introduces more moving
parts, which have a maintenance requirement and there is a
loss associated with them, reducing the overall conversion
efciency. The advantage of these systems is that energy
storage is built inFaccumulators are used in hydraulics and
the inertia of the Wells turbine provides some short-term
storage. Direct drive power take-off (PTO) has been
proposed for offshore wave energy systems as an alternative
to hydraulic systems [3, 4]. A direct drive system will have
fewer moving parts, but there is no inbuilt energy storage. It
is unlikely that a direct drive system could be used in an
OWC, because the principle of operation of the OWC is
more suited to driving a turbine. In a direct drive PTO
system the wave energy device, such as a heaving buoy or
Archimedes wave swing [4], is directly coupled to the
translator of a linear electrical generator, which moves
relative to stationary coils mounted on the moored stator.
Compared to direct drive wind turbines the airgap velocity
is signicantly lower and is typically in the range 0.52 m/s.
Such a low velocity has implications on the electrical design
of the machine and in particular its physical size. Wave
energy devices reciprocate at variable amplitude and
velocity depending on the magnitude and frequency of the
incoming waves. Real waves consist of many different
673

674

core back

slot region
translator
slot region
magnets
coils

flux path

Fig. 1
a Topology of one phase of linear VHM
b Three-phase prototype

100

50
induced EMF, V

frequencies, but in this paper only ideal monochromatic

waves are considered. The resulting electrical output from a
reciprocating linear generator machine varies in both
amplitude and frequency, which will have an impact on
the power electronic interface for grid connection.
Electrical machines are sized using the airgap shear stress,
which for a conventional permanent magnet (PM) synchronous machine is in the region of 2030 kN/m2. If we
have a 100 kW machine moving at 1 m/s, an airgap surface
area of 5 m2 is required to react the 100 kN force, which is
large for a machine of that rating. The availability of high
energy rare earth permanent magnets has led to the
development of a family of high force density machines
known collectively as variable reluctance permanent magnet
machines (VRPM), such as the transverse ux machine
(TFM) and the vernier hybrid machine (VHM) [58]. A
shear stress of 200 kN/m2 has been reported for the TFM,
but this machine is very difcult to construct because of the
non-conventional machine structure and inherent vibration.
In addition the machine suffers from very high inductance
due to dominant leakage uxes, and hence the TFM
exhibits a low power factor. On the other hand the VHM
can be constructed from laminations and unlike the TFM
the magnets are mounted on the stator, thus minimising
their use. Spooner and Haydock [7] showed that the VHM
is capable of developing high shear stress, but also at a low
power factor for the same reasons as in the TFM. Low
power factor is a characteristic of VRPM machines. When
operating as a generator the low power factor is represented
by a large inductance in series with the induced EMF, such
that the latter and the current will be out of phase by almost
901. Additional excitation using either capacitors or via
electronic means using an active rectier will overcome this
problem. A VHM prototype has been designed and built by
the authors to investigate the suitability for marine energy
applications and a shear stress of 106 kN/m2 has been
measured [8]. Based on the design parameters for the
prototype VHM and using the analysis in [7] the power
factor for the prototype is estimated to be approximately
equal to 0.1. Analysis and detailed modelling of the VHM
have been presented in [7, 8]. This paper addresses the issue
of overcoming the poor regulation of the VHM brought
about by high inductance and also addresses the issue of the
pulsating output inherent in reciprocating generators. The
VHM prototype is used to demonstrate and investigate
these two aspects.
For the sake of completeness Fig. 1a shows the topology
of one phase of the linear VHM and the nished prototype
is shown in Fig. 1b. A linear toothed translator constructed
from iron laminations moves between two C-cores, with a
coil wound on each pole and magnets mounted on the pole
face. The rotor tooth and slot width are similar in
dimension to the magnet pitch, resulting in a rapid ux
reversal over a short distance as the rotor teeth move from
the aligned to the unaligned position. The electrical
frequency of the ux pulsations is greater than the
reciprocating frequency of the central translator, producing
a magnetic gearing effect. A high rate of change of ux
assists the induction of coil voltages. However, low power
factor is a characteristic of VRPM machines, including the
VHM. A high number of coil turns is required to give a
usable output voltage, because of the low airgap velocity.
This results in a high synchronous machine inductance,
which in turn results in very poor regulation because the coil
terminal voltage will collapse if too high a current is drawn.
Figure 2 shows the no-load phase voltage for sinusoidal
motion at a frequency of 0.75 Hz. It can be clearly seen that
the output is both variable in frequency and magnitude,

50

100
6.0

Fig. 2

6.2

6.4

6.6
time, s

6.8

7.0

7.2

No-load induced EMF

with a sinusoidal envelope of frequency equal to the

reciprocation frequency of the driving motion. Connection
to the grid requires constant voltage and frequency and
should also ideally be undertaken at a constant inverted
power.
For this application and this particular electrical
generator a power electronic converter is required
to compensate for the high reactive power requirement
and for the generated power uctuations owing to
the sinusoidal motion. The converter consists of two
IEE Proc.-Gener. Transm. Distrib., Vol. 152, No. 5, September 2005

back-to-back inverters with a common DC rail. Control

of the DC-link voltage and the choice of the DC-link
capacitance are integral to the effective operation of the
generating system.
This paper focuses on the main design parameters for the
power conversion stage. The DC-link voltage, capacitor size
and DC-link voltage uctuations for a generated power at
wave frequency are given. These are essential in determining
the rating of the power converter in relation to the linear
generator, because of the specic waveforms the latter
produces, and in turn affects the inherent electrical
parameters of the generator itself.
For completeness sake the control of the inverters, which
has been presented in more detail in [10], is also
summarised. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the operation of the system in the laboratory.
2

Basic analysis of electrical system

A basic analysis of the electrical system provides insight into

the electrical characteristics and a description of the power
ow from a reciprocating electrical generation system,
which is then used in investigating the energy storage
requirements. Assuming ideal monochromatic waves the
translator will exhibit sinusoidal motion of amplitude d/2
and angular frequency o as follows:
d
1
xt sinot
2
If no ux linking the coils occurs at x 0, the ux variation
with time is:



2p
^
ft f sin
xt
2
l
The induced voltage (Fig. 2) is obtained by applying
Faradays Law to (2) and substituting for x(t) to give



df ^
pd
v t N
Vp cosot cos
sinot
3
dt
l
where the peak phase voltage is given by (4) and the peak
electrical frequency is given by (5):
d
^
V^p N fop
4
l


2p dx
d
^e
o
5
po
l dt max
l
In a three-phase linear generator the coils are displaced
horizontally by a third of the magnetic wavelength. The
three-phase induced EMFs are therefore given by



pd
2p
vj t V^p cosot cos
sinot j
l
3
6
for j
1; 0; 1
To extract maximum power from the linear VHM
the phase currents must be in phase with the no-load
voltage or induced EMF. Indeed, the phase currrents
are controlled by PWM to follow exactly the same
waveform as the EMF, with the peak value of the current
proportional to the peak value of the EMF. The practical
realisation of this mode of operation is described later in
the paper. Based on (6) the current waveforms can be
represented in the form:



pd
2p
^
sinot j
ij t Ip cosot cos
l
3
7
for j
1; 0; 1
IEE Proc.-Gener. Transm. Distrib., Vol. 152, No. 5, September 2005

The instantaneous phase powers are then given by multiplying phase current and voltage:



2p
2
2 pd
^
^
sinot j
pj t Vp Ip cos ot cos
l
3
8
for j
1; 0; 1
The total instantaneous power extracted from the linear
generator and input into the DC-link is the sum of the
powers (assuming no losses) leading to
3
pi t p1 t p2 t p3 t V^p^Ip cos2 ot
9
2
Power ow is unidirectional from the linear generator into
the DC-link voltage. If it is assumed that the translator
travels an integer multiple of the magnetic wavelength, the
average power output from the linear generator into the
DC-link is simply obtained by integrating (9) over a
complete mechanical period:
3
10
Pi V^p^Ip
4
In (11) it is shown that the extracted power has a cyclical
uctuation at twice the frequency of mechanical oscillation,
from (9) and (10):
pi t Pi 1 cos2ot

11

From (10) the power extracted from a single phase is given

in (12) and from this and current in-phase with EMF
operation, the RMS phase voltage and phase current of the
waveform in Fig. 2 are expressed in (13):
V^p^Ip
12
P1f
4
V^p
2

^Ip
2

13
p
Note that the RMS phase voltage and current are 2
smaller than for a constant amplitude waveform, because of
the reciprocating movement of the translator.
The case may also arise where the translator moves
assymetrically, i.e faster in one direction than the other, as
occurred in a real experiment, shown in Fig. 3. The peak
current, voltage and half-cycle frequency in one direction
may be greater than the other. In this case the power
Vp

Ip

Tek Stop

Ch1

M 200ms A Ch1

5.00 V
Ch4

0.00 V

50.0 A

Fig. 3 Assymetric movement of translator, giving greater EMF in

one direction
Ch1 scaled EMF, Ch4 current, 200 ms/div
675

generated in one phase is given by

 1

1
P1j P1j;1 P1j;2 V^p1^Ip1 V^p2^Ip2
14
2
8
where the subscripts 1,2 denote the peak values in either
direction of movement of the translator, and P1j,1 is the
power in that half cycle only. The three phase power is
obviously the sum of the three individual phase powers.
Equation (14) is only valid if the two half periods are equal,
and hence would be modied according to (15) for unequal
half periods, T1 and T2:

1 ^ ^
Vp1 Ip1 T1 V^p2^Ip2 T2
P1j
4T


P1j;1 T1 P1j;2 T2

15
T1 T2
3

is scaled from the linear generator EMF and a potentiometer derived set point using an analogue multiplier. The
set point gives the constant of proportionality between the
EMF waveform and the reference current, enabling the
peak current to be set, and hence the power generated. This
signal is then compared to the actual current, the error
signal being used in a PWM modulator to generate the
correct PWM signals to drive the switches in the input
inverter.
The objective of the output inverter (Fig. 4, S712) is to
transfer the energy in the DC-link into the mains supply at
constant frequency and voltage. For maximum power
transfer the inverter is controlled so that the voltage and
current are in phase. In addition the output inverter is used
to regulate the DC-link capacitor voltage because the mains
voltage supply is permanent and predictable, unlike the
variable voltage output of the reciprocating generator.
The DC-link provides the interface between the input and
output inverters, and hence it inuences the operation of
both. For the particular case of a vernier hybrid machine in
which the inductance is high, the magnitude of the DC link
voltage will determine the slew rate of the active rectier
PWM current and hence the maximum output power of the

Power converter system description

To convert the power from a reciprocating generator

exhibiting uctuating power and variable voltage amplitude
and frequency, as demonstrated by basic analysis of the
electrical system, a power conversion system is required.
Figure 4 shows an AC/AC power conditioner consisting of
two back-to-back inverters interfaced by a DC link
capacitor. The input inverter connected to the linear
generator, formed by switches S16, extracts the power
from the linear generator and stores it in the DC-link
capacitor C. To compensate for the high reactive power
requirement of the VHM, the input inverter is controlled as
an active rectier. Maximum real power ow is obtained if
the generator current is controlled such that it is always in
phase with the induced EMF of the machine. The amount
of current that can be extracted from the machine is a
function of the DC link voltage. To operate the generator
such that the internal induced EMF is in phase with the
generator current, it is necessary to have a measure of that
induced EMF, but on load it is impossible to measure.
Sense coils were, therefore, installed on the test rig, but
not integrated into the actual test machine, to provide
an estimate of the induced EMF, which is similar in
distribution to that shown in Fig. 2, but scaled in
magnitude. Figure 5 shows the arrangement of the sense
coils on the test rig and their position with respect to one
another to estimate the no-load induced EMF for all three
phases.
For the laboratory test system, the input current control
strategy of the active rectier stage was implemented by
controlling the three-phase generator phase currents to
follow the generated EMF prole, at a xed PWM
switching frequency. The control system block diagram
for current reference generation and current control for a
single phase is shown in Fig. 6. The reference current, iref(t),

/3

2/3

permanent
magnets
a

Fig. 5
a Relative position of sense coil cores
b Photograph showing sense coils on test rig

Vdc
S1

S3

S5

S7

S9

S11

S8

S10

S12

S2

S4

S6

linear electrical
generator

Fig. 4
676

three - phase mains

grid voltage

Three-phase converter for power conversion from linear electrical generator

IEE Proc.-Gener. Transm. Distrib., Vol. 152, No. 5, September 2005

i ref (t )
+

generator
EMF

i0(t )
generator
output
current

PWM
modulator

K1

PWM1

PWM2
triangular
carrier
1/Ts

Fig. 6

Input inverter current controller

ia(t)
Vdc (t )
Vdcref

Gv (s)
Va sin(t)

iaref

PWMa

ibref
Vb sin(t -120)

K1

+
ib(t)

K1

+
ic(t)

PWMb

ic ref
+

K1

PWMc

+
Vc sin(t -240)
triangular
carrier
1/Ts

Fig. 7

DC voltage and output inverter current control loop

generator. The DC bus voltage must also absorb the energy

uctuations from the wave driven linear generator, which
determines its energy storage capability and hence the value
of capacitance required. Regulation of the DC voltage is
therefore important to the correct operation of the overall
power conversion process. The instantaneous DC capacitor
voltage depends on the power input from the linear
generator and the power exported to the mains through
the output inverter. However, the control of the input
converter is independent of the output inverter operation.
Therefore the output converter controller is used to regulate
the DC link voltage. Conversely, the DC voltage can be
used to regulate the power transfer into the mainsFany
energy imbalance is reected in a DC voltage error which is
used to control the magnitude and polarity of the output
inverter current, as shown in Fig. 7.
Any deviation from the DC voltage reference value
results in a voltage error, which is ltered by Gv(s), and used
to produced an in-phase current reference by analogue
multiplying it with the mains-derived reference voltage
signal. Any excess energy in the DC-link is returned through
the output inverter in unity power factor (UPF) mode to the
mains supply by the current controller. The bandwidth of
the DC voltage error amplier Gv(s) was made signicantly
less than the mechanical cyclic frequency of the linear
generator to ensure that the power generated into the
supply was constant, so that only the DC capacitor
absorbed the cyclic real input power uctuations from the
linear generator.
This necessitates that the DC-link capacitor be sufciently large to absorb all possible power uctuations,
including cyclical and transient, so that only constant power
is inverted into the mains. The capacitor DC voltage must
stay above a lower limit to permit PWM power extraction
from the generator and must not exceed an upper limit to
avoid over-voltaging the IGBT switches. For the actual
IEE Proc.-Gener. Transm. Distrib., Vol. 152, No. 5, September 2005

AC/AC converter used in the experimental setup, an

overvoltage brake with a 37 kW (at 900 V) IGBT-switched
brake resistor was available for rapidly discharging the
DC-link capacitor to 100 V below the maximum voltage
permitted, as a safety backup.
4

Power flows in DC link capacitor

The value of the capacitance required to absorb the energy

pulsations at twice the mechanical frequency can be derived
in terms of the system parameters using the basic electrical
system analysis presented earlier. Figure 8 shows the
instantaneous power ows in the DC-link capacitor. Note
that this excludes the high-frequency PWM components
which, for a switching frequency several thousand times the
mechanical oscillation frequency, have negligible effect by
comparison with the low-frequency energy ows.
The circuit in Fig. 8 can be analysed in terms of
instantaneous power ows:
pc t pi t
Po

16

Po

p (t)
i

p (t)
c

Fig. 8

Power flows in DC-link capacitor

677

The constant inverted power Po must equal the average

generated power to avoid any net cyclic gain in DC-link
voltage so that
3
Po Pi V^p^Ip
4

17

Substituting for the powers in Fig. 8 gives (18). To

determine the capacitor voltage at any time, vc t, (18) is
rearranged and integrated, as shown in (19)(21). The limits
of integration are chosen so that at time t 0 the capacitor
voltage is equal to the average capacitor voltage, also the
controlled reference, V c , and at time t the voltage is vc t:
dvc t
vc t Po 1 cos2ot
Po
dt

Z t
Z vct
Po
cos2ot dt
vc tdvc t
C
0
Vc
C

Po
sin2ot
oC
r
Po
2
sin2ot
vc t V c
oC
2

v2c t
V c

18

Po
oCV c

21

23

P1
o1 CV c

DV2 

P2
o2 CV c

Va

Fig. 9

Phasor diagram of generator action

The necessary DC voltage to extract the rated power, at

inverter modulation index m, is given in [11]:
mVdc p
 2V a
29
2
Alternatively, the peak current available from the generator
at a maximum electrical frequency for a given modulation
index, DC voltage, phase inductance and EMF, is given
simply by
s



mVdc 2 ^ 2

Vp
2
^Ip
30
^ eL
o
The input inverter can be rated in a similar manner to
commercial IGBT motor drive inverters, in terms of
continuous current and voltage, which determines device
selection and hence cost. The relative rating of the input
inverter, in terms of its power rating with respect to the
average power generated, is given by
^Ip
v
!2
u
3Va p
u
^ e L^Ip
o
2
t
2: 1
PR
Pi
V^p
or simply for a given Vdc, from (12), (27) and (29)
mVdc
PR
V^P

31

32

25; 26

The generated power is expressed in (27) and is similar to

(14), assuming equal half periods:

1
1
27
Pi P1 P2 oCV c DV1 DV2
2
2
678

jLI

24

In the case of asymmetric generation, as in Fig. 3, there will

be two voltage ripples of differing magnitude about the
average DC voltage
DV1 

Vp

20

Equation (23) shows that the capacitance of the DC-link is

directly related to the power rating of the installation.
Alternatively if it is assumed that the voltage ripple DV is
much less than the capacitor set point voltage V c , the
output voltage ripple for a given capacitor bank size on the
DC-link can be approximated by
DV 

For operation with phase current proportional to EMF, the

point of maximum electrical frequency and coincident
maximum EMF, in Fig. 2, determines the rating of the
power electronic converterFparticularly the input inverter.
The phasor diagram of the active rectication for the
generator is given in Fig. 9, where Va is the terminal phase
voltage at the inverter. From the phasor diagram, the
minimum input inverter phase voltage to meet the rated
generated power requirement, at the maximum electrical
frequency, is
v
!
u
^I 2
u V^p2
2 2 p
t
^eL
o
28
Va
2
2

Ip

The capacitor size can then be evaluated for a known power

generated and inverted, mechanical oscillation frequency,
capacitor set point voltage and desired capacitor ripple:
2Po
q
2
oDV 4V c
DV 2

Power converter rating

19

If a signicant voltage uctuation occurs, the operation of

the current-controlled inverters in Fig. 4 will be affected
because they rely on sufcient DC voltage to achieve the
necessary current slew rates when connected to their
respective power sources. If the DC voltage dips too much,
then good current control will not be achieved. The
corresponding overvoltage caused by the positive power
uctuation in (21) may also overvoltage the inverter
components. Hence, sufcient capacitance is required to
prevent too large voltage uctuations.
The peak-to-peak voltage ripple is given by solving (21)
at the maximum and minimum voltages:
r r
Po
Po
2
2

Vc

22
DV V c
oC
oC

Experimental results

A purpose-built AC/AC converter for the prototype linear

generator was designed and constructed. It provided a
maximum DC-link voltage of 900 V, the recommended
maximum continuous IGBT voltage, and a total DC link
IEE Proc.-Gener. Transm. Distrib., Vol. 152, No. 5, September 2005

capacitance of 4700 mF. The linear generator had a

mechanical system for moving its translator, consisting of
an arrangement of cables and pulleys powered from a
crank, which itself was driven by a commercial variable
speed drive with a reduction gearbox and velocity feedback,
to maintain a constant setpoint speed. The crank radius was
10 cm, giving a total mechanical movement of the translator
d 0.2 m. Lower frequencies are of more interest to wave
energy systems, but the test rig did not perform well at these
lower frequencies. Hence the frequencies of operation
chosen for the experimental tests have solely been dictated
by the limitations of the test rig. Slackness in the cables and
mechanical system also contributed to some asymmetry in
the movement of the translator, resulting in the waveforms
of Fig. 3.
Figure 10a repeats Fig. 3, and Fig. 10b expands the
timebase, to show that the phase current is indeed in phase
with the generator induced EMF replicated from the sense
coils. For the test illustrated, the mechanical frequency of
oscillation was 0.8603 Hz and the DC-link voltage setpoint
was 800 V. The PWM switching frequency in the AC/AC
converter was 5 kHz.

Figure 11 show the distributions of the terminal phase

voltage and generator phase current at this frequency. It is
difcult to measure accurately the phase difference between
the voltage and current waveform because the frequency
and amplitude are always changing, but rough measurements at the zero crossing points in Fig. 11b give a phase
difference in the range 80851, which corresponds to a
power factor at the terminals of 0.170.09. These values are
of similar order to those calculated in [7]. The terminal
voltage needs to be scaled, because of the method of
measurement, by a factor of 79.2.
Figure 12 shows the AC component in the DC-link
voltage with respect to the generator current waveform, at
the mechanical oscillation frequency of 5.2 rad/s. The DC
voltage waveform has to be scaled by a factor of 114 to give
the true DC voltage (800/6.991).
Two distinct voltage ripple traces of differing magnitude
are present in Fig. 12 because of the asymmetry of motion
of the translator. They are of 41.7 V and 13.3 V peak-topeak magnitude. From (27), for the given system parameters, this gives a power from the input inverter into the
DC link of 559 W. The maximum DC-link voltage ripple
for 4700 mF capacitance was only 5.2% about the average
of 800 V.

Tek Stop
Tek Stop

1
1

4
4

Ch1

M 200ms

5.00 V
Ch4

A Ch1

0.00 V

50.0 A

Ch1

M 200ms

2.00 V
Ch4

A Ch1

40.0mV

M 40.0ms A Ch1

40.0mV

50.0 A
a

Tek PreVu

Tek PreVu

Ch1

M 40.0ms A Ch1

5.00 V
Ch4

0.00 V

20.0 A

Ch1 1.00 V
Ch4

Fig. 10

Linear generator current in phase with EMF

Ch1 scaled EMF, Ch4 phase current

a Repeat of Fig. 3
b With expanded timebase
IEE Proc.-Gener. Transm. Distrib., Vol. 152, No. 5, September 2005

20.0 A
b

Fig. 11
current

Ch1Terminal voltage (Va) and Ch4 generator phase

a Voltage and current out of phase by almost 901 b

b Time expansion of a
679

Tek PreVu

Tek Stop

Ch1 RMS
2.69 V

M
Ch1

M 200ms

200 mV
Ch4

Fig. 12
current

20.0 A

A Ch1

40.0mV

DC link voltage ripple (top, inverted) and generator phase

The generator EMFs and phase currents were logged for

a complete cycle of oscillation of the translator. For the red,
yellow and blue phases, the assymetric peak currents were
(60.4 and 36.8 A), (60.4 and 38 A) and (62 and 39.2 A),
respectively. The peak EMFs were, respectively (21.1 and
12.9 V), (19.2 and 13.5 V) and (16.6 and 10.3 V). This gave a
calculated generator power from (14) of 607 W, higher than
the power exported into the DC-link because of the power
loss in the input inverter. The power conversion was 92%
efcient, which is acceptable considering the low generated
voltages and the high relative magnitude of the DC-link
voltage.
The linear generator of Fig. 1b had a magnetic
wavelength of 24 mm, which at the mechanical frequency
of oscillation gave a maximum electrical frequency by (5) of
22.5 Hz. At this frequency and a maximum modulation
index of 0.95 the peak phase current possible is 87 A, by
(30), for a phase inductance of 31 mH. The peak EMF at
this frequency was measured to be 15.6 V. Therefore the
maximum possible generated power, at this frequency and
assuming no asymmetry in the waveforms, is 1.01 kW. Note
that this high phase inductance was responsible for very
little ripple current, and hence very clean PWM current
waveforms, at the 5 kHz switching frequency.
According to (32) the input inverter must be rated 49
times greater than the maximum output power of the
machine. This conclusion is only applicable to this
particular design and topology of machine because of its
inherent low power factor and the very low phase voltage
generated. The prototype machine used in this study is not
optimised and hence the gure for power converter rating
will be pessimistic. It should be stressed that other machine
topologies such as the permanent magnet synchronous
machine would not require such an overrated power
converter.
In the actual application the mechanical frequency of
oscillation of the system will be variable. Under such
circumstances the converter must continue to track the
changes in frequency to extract maximum energy at any
frequency. On the test rig used in this experiment it was
possible to ramp up the mechanical oscillation frequency.
Figure 13 shows that the induced EMF and generator
phase current are controlled to be in phase as the oscillation
frequency is ramped up. The bottom trace indicates realtime power uctuations, by multiplying the above traces
(not to scale).
680

M 2.00 s A Ch1

Ch1 5.00 V
Ch4
100 W

Math

20.0 A
2.00 s
a

500mV

Tek PreVu

Ch1 RMS
2.69 V

M
M 400ms A Ch1

Ch1 5.00 V
Math

Ch4 20.0 A
100 W
400ms

500mV

Fig. 13 Scaled induced EMF and generator phase current for

ramp-up in mechanical oscillation frequency

Discussion

Control of the generator phase current to be in phase with

the induced EMF voltage is necessary for this particular
topology of electrical machine used because of the high
inherent phase inductance. The magnitude of the generator
phase current and its ability to track the induced EMF is
restricted by the coil inductance, which inuences the rate of
rise of current. Each coil inductance was measured to be
124 mH, giving a phase inductance of 496 mH with all coils
connected in series. This imposes restrictions on the rate of
rise of current, and hence the coils were connected in
parallel to give a phase inductance of 31 mH, but this
resulted in a low induced EMF. In conventional permanent
magnet synchronous machines the inductance is orders of
magnitude less and hence voltage regulation at the terminals
is much better than for the machine topology used in this
project. However, an active rectier should still be used to
optimise power conversion, but it need not be rated as high
as for the vernier hybrid machine used. Sense coils are
required to provide the necessary prole for active
rectication currents to follow the induced EMF. In the
real application these would be rather cumbersome and it is
expected that a sensorless method would be adopted in
which the prole was inferred knowing the position and
parameters of the machine.
IEE Proc.-Gener. Transm. Distrib., Vol. 152, No. 5, September 2005

It is desirable to have a stable and controlled DC-link

voltage at a higher (average) level than either the linear
generator induced voltage or the mains supply voltage,
because the PWM current control to follow the induced
EMF demands a net higher voltage in the current ramping
direction, owing to the voltage drop across the inductance,
to ensure that it is able to follow the necessary prole. The
same applies for inversion into the supply. The DC-link
voltage is controlled from the mains supply because that is
stable, assumed ever present, and predictable. If the
exported current or power into the mains is solely
dependent on the DC-link voltage control, then no other
control quantity is required other than to provide reference
sinusoids or zero crossing detectors for UPF inversion.
Regardless of the machine topology some energy storage
capability will be required to smooth out the power. In this
example the DC-link capacitance has been chosen to absorb
the energy uctuations from the linear generator, such that
the DC-link voltage ripple is minimised enabling the
inversion into the supply at xed voltage and frequency.
Point absorbers are potential devices that could take
advantage of linear electrical generators. A single point
absorber unit may be rated at 100 kW. At such a power
level, for an oscillation frequency of 0.5 Hz, a set point DC
voltage of 1000 V for use with 1700 V power transistors, and
10% peak-to-peak ripple, the value of capacitance required
is almost 320 000 mF. If each capacitor is made up of three
series 4700 mF 450 V commercially available units to achieve
the voltage rating, the total number of capacitors required is
204. At the time of writing, this would add an additional
cost at source in excess of d16 000 to the cost of the inverter.
In addition the physical space required for the capacitors is
considerable. By comparison, an AC/AC converter for use
in a power factor corrected three-phase motor drive has a
much smaller capacitance because there is almost no energy
storage requirement. A minimum electrolytic capacitance
size is still required for the PWM ripple current rating of the
DC-link, which as part of the active rectication inverter
can be positioned near the linear generator installation or
on the sea bed.
It is likely that single units will not be connected directly
into the grid supply, for economic reasons, but rather an
array would feed into a common DC-link, on which the
energy storage capacity would be provided. Other forms of
energy storage such as ywheels and battery storage could
be used also to smooth the power, and which like capacitor
storage would probably be uneconomic to use on a single
device. However, a capacitor bank provides a zero
maintenance solid-state solution. Energy storage for a farm
of devices would be more sensible, as the design of the
storage system would then take into account any inherent
smoothing taking place due to the phasing of individual
devices. It is expected that any storage system would be
installed onshore or on an offshore platform along with
other ancillary power equipment required for a farm of
wave devices. The net power from all the devices would

IEE Proc.-Gener. Transm. Distrib., Vol. 152, No. 5, September 2005

then be inverted into the mains grid by a single inverter.

Before designing and comparing energy storage systems,
more modelling work needs to be done to determine
realistic and accurate energy output from an array of wave
devices in real sea conditions. It should be stressed that the
energy storage solution presented in this paper is only by
way of example and is only applicable for monochromatic
sea conditions.
8

Conclusions

The design of a power conditioner for extraction and

inversion of the energy into the mains voltage supply has
been described for a linear vernier hybrid permanent
magnet machine for potential use in wave energy applications. The main design parameters for the power conversion
stage to meet performance requirements from the linear
generator have been given. It has been shown that
smoothing the energy ow from the linear generator can
be achieved using capacitive storage in the DC-link of the
converter. A high number of capacitors is required to
absorb the energy uctuations caused by the low-frequency
oscillation of a single direct drive wave powered linear
generator.
9

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the University of Durham

for providing facilities and the EPSRC for funding (grant
no. 38299).
10

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