Giovanni Bracco

Iswec: a Gyroscopic Wave Energy Converter: Energy from the Sea Using the Spinning Top Principle Giovanni Bracco

Wave Power: how to produce clean electric energy from sea waves. Thousands of patents have been filed, hundreds of devices have been studied and tested in labs and tens of prototypes of Wave Energy Converters (WECs) have been deployed to the sea successfully harvesting wave power. The main research work has been carried out for the oceans, the most relevant source of wave energy. Closed seas, like the Mediterranean Sea, have smaller energy availability, but they have a particular feature: short waves. Short waves have higher frequency and can activate a WEC in a very effective way. For instance a WEC carrying a gyroscope-based energy conversion system harvests power proportionally to the square of the wave frequency. Gyroscopic effects can keep a spinning top in a quasi vertical position, guide airplanes, stabilize ships and, with some different architecture and strategy, harvest energy from sea waves!