| Due to the compact hull space, small unmanned surface vehicle can only carry a small amount of fuel, resulting in poor endurance and short range. This paper combines bottom-hinged flap wave energy converter with multi-hull ship, and takes the trimaran as the platform to design a new type of ship-borne wave energy converter. The wave energy converter can be driven by the difference of wave motion response between main and side hulls, capture wave energy and convert it into electric energy to replenish onboard energy when sailing at sea. According to the prediction results based on numerical software, the average power of wave energy captured by the converter can up to 3.57 kW when the trimaran is sailing in head sea under degree 4 sea state, the primary conversion efficiency can reach 7.32%, this can effectively supplement the energy on board. Meanwhile, the installation of ship-borne wave energy converter has the effect of reducing the pitch and heave of main hull, improves the navigation stability of trimaran, it further reflects the feasibility and practicability of this device. |
