Present State of Self-Rectifying Air Turbines for Wave Energy Conversion

This paper reviews the present state of the art on the self-rectifying air turbines, which could be used for wave energy conversion. The overall performances of the turbines under irregular wave conditions, which typically occur in the sea, have been evaluated numerically and compared from the viewpoints of the starting and running characteristics. The types of turbine included in the paper are as follows: (a) Wells turbine with guide vanes (WTGV); (b) turbine with self-pitch-controlled blades (TSCB); (c) biplane Wells turbine with guide vanes (BWGV); (d) impulse turbine with self-pitch-controlled guide vanes (ISGV) and (e) impulse turbine with fixed guide vanes (IFGV). As a result, under irregular wave conditions it is found that the running and starting characteristics of the impulse type turbines could be superior to those of the Wells turbine. Moreover, the authors have explained the mechanism of hysteretic behavior of the Wells turbine and the necessity of links for improvement of the performance of ISGV.