The Bouyant Beam

 

The second concept explored involved a thin flexible "beam" that, when flexed, can produce mechanical strain in a piece of MFC piezoelectric material mounted on its surface. By tethering the center of the beam to the bottom, and installing floats on either side, wave energy can be captured by converting mechanical strain to electrical energy. This concept would work well in areas with normal wave production.

 

As seen in the video below, the bouyant beam works in a variety of conditions. The flotation is such that it will flex the beam given small waves, but not over flex it given loarge waves. This overflex is a problem with the MFC composite as it can only be strained to about 1000PPM of .001m/1m. The beam can handle being overtopped well. It is set up slightly pre-flexed at the mean water surface. This allows the beam to flex down into wave troughs and up to the wave peaks.

Video of a model bouyant beam in action - 4.3 megs

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