February 20, 2025, Ryan Coe, Sandia National Labs

Sandia National Labs
2:15 p.m.
310 Kelly Hall

"Design of wave energy converters using impedance matching principles"

Abstract: Ocean waves carry enormous levels of power; this power is generally both consistent and predictable. While devices utilizing ocean waves to perform useful work have been considered as far back as the 18th-century, the field of wave energy converter (WEC) design remains nascent with limited examples of success. Unlike many other energy generation technologies, which must convert a steady input with relatively small variations (e.g., turbulent flow into a wind turbine), ocean waves provide a purely oscillatory input forcing – this unique quality requires the application of novel design frameworks. While typically associated with electrical engineering, the concept of impedance matching and related engineering design methods have immense untapped value to clearly illuminate the WEC design problem and provide insights to improve system performance. This presentation examines fundamental drivers of the WEC design problem and provides key insights and examples on WEC design based on impedance matching.

Bio: Ryan Coe received a B.S. degree in Ocean Engineering (2009) and a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering (2013), both from Virginia Tech. He subsequently joined Sandia National Laboratories’ Water Power Technologies group in 2013. At Sandia, Ryan’s research focuses primarily on wave energy converters (WECs), including WEC performance optimization through dynamics-based design and control, extreme response modeling and survival analysis, and testing large scale WEC devices. Ryan is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering, the Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy, and the Journal of Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering and an Editorial Board member for Energies.