There are thousands of mechanical designs for wave utilization around the world, and hundreds of patent certificates have been obtained. Therefore, wave energy utilization is known as the "inventor's paradise".
The earliest mechanical invention patent for wave energy utilization was obtained by Frenchmen Girard and his son in 1799. In the 119 years from 1854 to 1973, the UK registered 340 wave energy invention patents, and the United States registered 61 patents. In France, 600 instructions on wave energy utilization technology can be found.
The early practical application of ocean wave power generation was a pneumatic wave device. The principle is very simple, it is to use the power of the ups and downs of the waves to push the piston in the pump to reciprocate through compressed air to do work. In 1910, Frenchman Bussot. Belacek built a pneumatic wave power station near his beachfront residence to supply his residence with 1,000 watts of electricity. The principle of this power station device is: the air in the sealed standpipe connected to the sea water is compressed or evacuated and thinned due to the waves, driving the piston to make reciprocating motion, and then converting it into the rotational motion of the generator to generate electricity.
In the 1960s, Japan successfully developed a pneumatic wave power generation device used on the floating body of navigation beacon lights. This device has been put into mass production, with product power ratings ranging from 60 watts to 500 watts. In addition to its own use in Japan, its products are also exported, making it one of the few commercialized wave energy equipment.
The principle of generating electricity by this product is like an inverted pump. It relies on the force of the up and down reciprocating motion of waves to suck and compress air and drive the turbine to generate electricity.
China’s wave power generation research achievements are also very remarkable. Since the 1970s, five or six research units in Shanghai, Qingdao, Guangzhou and Beijing have carried out this research. Wave power generation devices for navigation lights have also been put into mass production. Shore-based wave power stations supplying power to islands are also being tested.
Relevant experts estimate that there is a market demand of billions of dollars for wave power equipment used to power maritime navigation beacons and isolated islands. This estimate has greatly promoted research on wave power generation in some countries. Since the 1970s, the United Kingdom, Japan, Norway and other countries have invested a lot of manpower and material resources in wave power generation research, and have achieved the most remarkable results. The UK had planned to deploy a large-scale "nodding duck" wave power generation device at a wave field off the coast of Scotland to supply the electricity needed by the entire UK at that time. This ambitious plan was temporarily shelved because the structure of the device was too large, complex and costly. In the 1980s, Japan's "Haiming" wave power test vessel achieved good results with an annual power generation of 190,000 kWh, realizing small-scale power transmission from offshore floating wave power stations to land. Japan has listed the "Haiming" wave power generation ship as the preferred solution for "offshore island power supply" and continues to study and improve it.