Abstract: The goal of this paper is to show how the control strategy applied to point absorbers in heave can be effectively tuned according to the changes in the incident waves. The aim is to maximize the average power extraction at each given wave, while limiting the value of the instantaneous power. The constraint on the peak power corresponds to the limitation imposed by the rating of the electric and electronic devices, so that the resulting control technique allows improved exploitation of the Wave Energy Converter (WEC).
The control strategy optimised under sinusoidal condition is put to test under irregular waves showing a superior power extraction than both purely passive and complex conjugate control.
