more good news from renewables

The animated diagram appears to be showing the water flowing from left to right. As far as I understand, waves do not travel as such, but rise and fall. The water only moves due to tidal action. Is this device really working on wave, or tidal energy? The video is fairly unconvincing. The device just seems to be waggling occasionally, and does not look very efficient.

Dear Windykites1, I think you\'ve missed the point. A wave is a means of transferring energy. In a water wave, the water particles move in an elliptical orbit and so there is a component that moves from left to right. I guess so it means that it is a wave energy device and not a tidal device as you have suggested. I doubt that too much scientific information should be extracted from cartoon schematics and I would imagine that the company employ more engineers than animators! Just a thought! g100

Dear Windykites1, I think you\'ve missed the point. A wave is a means of transferring energy. In a water wave, the water particles move in an elliptical orbit and so there is a component that moves from left to right. I guess so it means that it is a wave energy device and not a tidal device as you have suggested. I doubt that too much scientific information should be extracted from cartoon schematics and I would imagine that the company employ more engineers than animators! Just a thought! g100

There\'s no big argument here, but I think it does show that a bunch of engineers should make use of a good animator who actually understands the concepts. I would have thought that the engineers would actually have already created some pretty sophisticated 3D digital models of their machine and the moving water around it.
Windykites1 is right to complain about the animation: the illustration of water movement is totally misleading. g100 is right that surface wave water moves in a roughly circular or elliptical motion in the vertical plane in line with the wave\'s forward direction. It would have been much more helpful to illustrate this with curved arrows.

xodarap,
You would think that at this stage of the game we would have the sophisticated 3d digital models. However, fluid-structure interaction simulation software is relatively new, particularly when it is related to something as abstract as harvesting wave energy (well at least software that a company can run on its own computers). Codes meant for testing a vessel\'s hydrodynamics are just that, meant for a different purpose. Abaqus, has some fairly advanced software but even if you did that, would you be able to trust the results?
This discussion about animators and engineers collaborating is an interesting point. I think at some point the use of physics engines in video games is going to bridge to engineering. Video game simulations have to run real-time, otherwise the game doesn\'t work. With advancements in computer gaming systems, in particular their use of physics cards, I wouldn\'t be surprised if it births several new simulation techniques for engineers. Rather than a finite element approach, perhaps there is a new ability with these physics engines, maybe as an educational tool to reinforce lessons from a dynamics course.
Cool stuff about the wave generator, I\'m not sure about having a ocean-hydraulic fluid seal in the highly corrosive and abrasive environment of crashing surf....... but its a start.

I just disagree with the statement: the world’s only hydro-electric wave energy device which is producing power.
In Sweden there was two wave power machines one was destroyed in a storm but the other one is still working www.wavestarenergy.com has been producing energy for a while now...

G100, you say that the water moves in an elliptical orbit. Surely you cannot extract much power from this movement? I have not come across this idea before. I would like to see this demonstrated in a water tank with dye or particles. I do feel, that in general, these wave devices do seem a bit lame. They look very expensive to produce, and how does the energy get back to the shore? I think that tidal power is much greater than wave power.

Huh~ inflection of the hydrogen Electric generation is performed in the world. I am splendid.EEEEEEEIt is different if I think!!! This is the large-sized dynamo which utilized a wave! I am terrible. After all the world people advance. It is splendid to use the natural power. I feel good.

The animation is crap...
The motion of water towards the shore cannot occur continuously. Also the floaty think is moving against the water pressure gradient when it resets... Ok cute animation, not well done...
In shallow water, as the waves crest, they transport water horizontally...
Have you ever witnessed a breaking wave.... or the surge and suck of the water before and after the wave....
I\'m sure that this device is making use of the back and forth motion of the water.. up and down of the surface level.. as well (note it does say 10-16m (though this is probably a bit deep for the transverse motion of the water..)
if the \'oyster were very large, it would act as a wall, catching and damping the wave energy as it passes.... it is sort of like a Venice style barrage on a smaller scale...