Guest Seminar Prof. John Ringwood

Abstract

Though wave energy systems are not yet commercial, control has been identified as an important enabling technology which can reduce the cost of wave energy, allowing it to compete economically with other renewable and conventional energy sources. However, wave energy systems, which are diverse in form and operating principle, represent a challenging control problem, in terms of panchromatic reciprocating energy flux, hydrodynamic modelling complexity, non-causality in the fundamental control solution, and adverse sensitivity properties. In addition, the wave energy control problem is expressed in terms of an energy maximising performance function, rather than being easily reduced to a set-point following problem, while a key system input variable, the wave excitation force, is unmeasurable. This talk will detail the major control issues faced in dealing with wave energy systems, also providing an overview of wave energy technology and some typical devices, while showing some possibilities in the solution domain. Some experimental control results will also be presented and the talk will conclude with some perspectives on future research directions. As an opening gambit, an overview of the Centre for Ocean Energy, its raison d’etre, and a summary of its activities, will be presented.

Bio

John Ringwood received the HonsDipEE from TU Dublin, the BSc(Eng) in electrical engineering from Trinity College Dublin (both in 1981), and the PhD in control systems from Strathclyde University (1984). He subsequently received an MA in music technology from Maynooth University in 2005. He spent 15 years in Dublin City University as a member of academic staff in the School of Electronic Engineering, with concurrent terms as a visiting academic in Massey University (NZ) and the University of Auckland. He joined Maynooth University in 2000, as chair professor and founding head of the Dept. of Electronic Engineering and built the Dept. from a greenfield site, also serving as Dean of Engineering from 2001 to 2006. He is currently Professor of Electronic Engineering and Director of the Centre for Ocean Energy Research in Maynooth University. He is Associate Editor for IEEE Trans. on Sustainable Energy and the Journal of Ocean Engineering and Marine Energy, and Deputy Subject Editor for IET RPG. John received the 2016 IEEE Control Systems Magazine Outstanding Paper Award, the 2023 IEEE Trans. on Control Systems Technology Outstanding Paper Award, and was elevated to IEEE Fellow in 2024. He was awarded the Chevalier des Palmes Academiques by the French Government in 2017 for his contribution to ocean energy research. In addition to over 500 peer-reviewed publications, he is co-author of the book Hydrodynamic Control of Wave Energy Devices (with Umesh Korde) and holds 3 patents. His commercialization activities, which include the spin-out company Wave Venture, has been recognized by Enterprise Ireland (2008 Industrial Technologies Commercialization Award) and Maynooth University (2013 Commercialisation Award). His research interests are in control systems, ocean and renewable energy, and biomedical engineering.