Wave Energy Harvesting Prototype Designing - Career Episode 1

COMPETENCY
DEMONSTRATION REPORT
Career Episode 1
ASANKA HEWAVITHARANA

CE 1.1 Project Information
Name of the project: Wave Energy Harvesting Prototype Designing
Location of the project: Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka
Project Duration: Approximately Eight Months
Organization: Final Year Undergraduate Project, Faculty of Engineering, University of
Ruhuna, Sri Lanka
Role and Designation during the time: Team Leader
CE 1.2 Project Background
CE 1.2.1 Characteristics of the project
Energy consumption and so production, both have become the most critical factor for the
existence and development of the human kind. However, it the greatest concern for the current
situation to present an alternative source of energy without harvesting the natural resources. In
manner to full fill requirement of our undergraduate degree we had to deploy the project,
accordingly I had identified that wave energy harvesting could be an alternative option for the
economic benefit of the country and can be utilized to produce energy that. I studied
international journals related to this topic and followed the procedures and mechanisms
explained and tried to add my innovation in it. Through this researches I realized the new
tendency toward sea waves could economically beneficially and environmental friendly solution
to Sri lankas current power crisis.

I had developed a prototype for the wave energy harvesting in the laboratory in manner to
present an alternative source for the production of energy. I had identified that OWC (Oscillating
Wave Columns) could be the best option for the conversion of wave energy into electrical energy
and could be the effective and efficient technique for the power production.
CE 1.2.2 Objectives developed for the project
For the successful deployment of the model for generating power using wave energy I
had developed the objectives considering all the factors related to the project:
 To identify and implement the techniques of conversion of “wave energy to
electrical energy”.
 To produce electricity using renewable source of energy.
 To understand the aspects of “wave energy generator” designing.
 To design the “power electronic converter”.
 To design “wave energy conversion prototype”.
 To save electrical energy consumption produced through non-renewable source of
energy.
CE 1.2.3 My area of work
My area of work was to design a wave energy harvesting prototype device to generate
electric energy from sea waves inside the lab. As the team leader, I realized the importance of
teamwork and divided the team members to several groups in order to achieve identified aims
and objectives. I did the power generation part and the electrical and electronic circuit designing
and construction. I took the responsibility of designing the “OWC energy converter” in which I
had designed a prototype of the “ISLEY LYMPET Wave Energy Generator” and tried to
produce maximum output through minimizing the energy loss due to many factors. I had used a
fan in the place of the turbine that was a prototype of the bigger turbine and was expected to be