Wave energy power station

Abstract

A wave energy power station comprises two water-filled chambers in communication at the bottom, wherein a first chamber is in communication with the sea at the upper end thereof and the second chamber is defined by one or more walls which project above the surface of the sea, such that pressure variations in the sea owing to the waves will set the water in an oscillating movement between the two chambers, and energy being tapped from the oscillating system, for example, by allowing the water in the chamber which is not in communication with the sea to overflow periodically into a reservoir, from which it is led back to the sea through a turbine, or by utilizing the water column in the second chamber for drawing in and compressing air which drives an air turbine. A water-filled tank is permanently installed on the sea bed or floating in the sea, and has a bottom and one or more walls, at least one wall or a portion of one wall being terminated at the upper edge thereof below the surface of the sea, the submerged upper edge and a partition wall which can be fixed or movable up and down in the water in the tank together defining the upper end of the chamber which communicates with the sea, the partition wall also, alone or together with one or more of the tank walls which project up above the surface of the water, defining the second chamber end which is not in communication with the sea, there being provided in the case of a fixed partition wall an adjacent tank wall section which is adapted for movement toward and away from the partition wall at the end of the second chamber for regulating the cross-sectional surface at that chamber end.