Rotary Waves: Butterfly Effect; Case Study

This project was developed by Rotary Wave S.L. with financial support of CDTI and FEDER funds, from March 2015 to September 2016. The total amount funded was around 600.000€. The main objective of the Project was the validation in laboratory scale, and in a relevant environment, of a WEC prototype based on the new technology Butterfly Device.

The device was installed with a scale 1:4 in Pobla de Farnals (Valencia, Spain) and produced 7 kW in the highest wave range. A full-scale device is expected to produce between 500- 2000 kW.

The working principle of the device is based on the movement of the elements that comprise the device. As the waves passes through the device, the different elements will move and will serve to pressurized the internal fluid used for the Power Take Off (PTO). Differently to other hydraulic systems, this device uses water for the electricity conversion. Then, the pressurized fluid will travel to the coast, where the conversion will take place.

The hydraulic PTO system presents a number of advantages in terms of power, size and efficiencies and also for the lower environmental impacts, using fresh water as pressurized fluid and designing a specific pump configuration for reducing maintenance and operation costs.