Power recovery method for testing the efficiency of the ECD of an integrated generation unit for offshore wind power and ocean wave energy

Offshore wind power and ocean wave energy are clean, renewable and rich resources. The integrated generation unit for the two kinds of energy is introduced. The energy conversion device (ECD) is utilized to convert the mechanical energy absorbed from the wind power and wave energy into the hydraulic energy, the conversion efficiency of which is significant. In this paper, a power recovery method for testing the efficiency of the ECD is proposed. A simulation desktop is developed to validate the proposed method. The efficiency of the ECD is influenced by the hydraulic cylinders and the mechanical transmission. Here, the static efficiency of the hydraulic cylinders of the ECD is tested first. The results show that the static mechanical efficiency is about 95% and that the volumetric efficiency is over 99%. To test the effects induced by the mechanical transmission of the ECD, each hydraulic cylinder of the ECD is substituted with two springs. Then the power loss of the ECDM under different rotational speeds is obtained. Finally, a test platform is built and the efficiency of the ECD under different rotational speeds and pressures is obtained. The results show that the efficiency is about 80%.