As the waves move the buoy A up and down, the acceleration
tube B which is open in both ends will move vertically relative to the water
column in it. The water column will "trap" the piston C, forcing it to move
together with the water column relative to the acceleration tube. This
pumping motion is mechanically or hydraulically transformed to a rotary motion driving a
generator D.A typical IPS OWEC Buoy consists of a round 6-8 meter buoy
hull, a 20 meter - underwater - acceleration tube with a piston and an energy conversion
machinery including an electric generator. The buoy is typically located in 50-100 meters
deep water and anchored via a slack mooring arrangement. One such buoy built for 120 kW
mean output may produce up to 1.0 GWh annually.
The dimensions of the buoy are dependent on the oceanographic location,
water depth, wave climate, seasonal variations and desired power output.
A buoy may be built as a complete independent power station, but
normally buoys are placed in clusters of about 10 units, linked together to feed one
central generating unit. The generated electrical power will be transferred with ordinary
sea cables to a land station.
The IPS OWEC Buoy is a robust unit built to withstand harsh weather
conditions. It has a simple ingenious patented design and is well suited to be
manufactured locally.