Performance of Generator Translation and Rotation on Stroke Length Drive of the Two-Rod Mechanism in Renewable Energy Power Plant

Abstract

Generators are the main components in renewable energy power plants, especially in plants powered by ocean waves. The generator consists of two components of translational and rotational motion. Generators of translational and rotational motion can produce electric power from renewable energy sources such as water, wind, sea waves, biomass, and others. The voltage and electric power are the performance values of the translational and rotational generators which are affected by the type of magnet, the number of coil windings, the distance between the magnet and the coil winding and rotation, the geometry of the drive components, the type of drive, the length of the generator drive stroke, and so on. The types of translational and rotational generator drives can be found in the use of pneumatic motion mechanisms, two-rod motion, crankshaft motion, and others. A common problem in older power plants was that generator components were heavy, easy to break, less rigid, and had low rotation speed. Therefore, to overcome this problem, a generator with a two-rod mechanism is used in this research. In this paper, the generator drive step using a two-rod motion mechanism is used to run the generator. The length of the piston stroke is used to determine the performance of the generator, set at a length of 170–270 mm. The results show that the generator with two-rod motion mechanism rotating at 100–250 rpm can produce 30.9–55 volts at a frequency of 6.9–63.7 Hz with a maximum power of 0.377 w. By setting a piston stroke length of 170 mm, we obtained a rotation of 100–191 rpm and an electrical voltage of 30.9−35 volts. At a piston stroke length of 230 rpm, a rotation of 78–172 rpm is obtained with an electrical voltage of 47.7–55.5 volts. A piston stroke length of 270 mm produces a rotation of 172–256.5 rpm with a mains voltage of 39.9–55.5 volts. Testing the generators of translational and rotational motion using a two-rod motion mechanism in series and parallel with a stroke length of 270 mm produced a rotation from 179.2 to 242.3 rpm and an electric voltage from 57.4 to 79.5 volts and become constant at 35.6 volts by using a parallel mechanism. These results show that the generator translation and rotation motion can produce electric power by using renewable energy resources.