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Main Authors: He, Jiaqin, Malyi, Max, Shek, Jonathan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.08656
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author He, Jiaqin
Malyi, Max
Shek, Jonathan
author_facet He, Jiaqin
Malyi, Max
Shek, Jonathan
contents Environmental licensing related to underwater acoustic emissions represents a critical bottleneck for the commercial deployment of marine renewable energy. This study presents a control engineering framework to mitigate acoustic risks from tidal current converters without compromising project viability. A MATLAB/Simulink model of a tidal current converter was utilised to evaluate two distinct mitigation tiers: (1) architectural modification, comparing a geared induction generator against a direct-drive permanent magnet synchronous generator, and (2) operational control, analysing the impact of switching frequencies and maximum power point tracking coefficient tuning. Results indicate that lowering switching frequencies is ineffective, increasing power electronic losses by over 2000% with negligible acoustic benefit. Conversely, the direct-drive permanent magnet synchronous generator architecture reduced sound pressure levels, effectively eliminating mechanical tonal noise. For existing geared systems, de-tuning the maximum power point tracking coefficient by a factor of 1.2 reduced the probability of exceeding temporary threshold shift limits for marine mammals, with a quantified energy yield reduction of 3.58%. These findings propose a hierarchical mitigation strategy: selecting direct-drive topologies for acoustically sensitive sites, and utilising maximum power point tracking coefficient based power curtailment as a transient operational mode during critical biological migration periods.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_08656
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Analysis and Control of Acoustic Emissions from Marine Energy Converters
He, Jiaqin
Malyi, Max
Shek, Jonathan
Systems and Control
Signal Processing
Environmental licensing related to underwater acoustic emissions represents a critical bottleneck for the commercial deployment of marine renewable energy. This study presents a control engineering framework to mitigate acoustic risks from tidal current converters without compromising project viability. A MATLAB/Simulink model of a tidal current converter was utilised to evaluate two distinct mitigation tiers: (1) architectural modification, comparing a geared induction generator against a direct-drive permanent magnet synchronous generator, and (2) operational control, analysing the impact of switching frequencies and maximum power point tracking coefficient tuning. Results indicate that lowering switching frequencies is ineffective, increasing power electronic losses by over 2000% with negligible acoustic benefit. Conversely, the direct-drive permanent magnet synchronous generator architecture reduced sound pressure levels, effectively eliminating mechanical tonal noise. For existing geared systems, de-tuning the maximum power point tracking coefficient by a factor of 1.2 reduced the probability of exceeding temporary threshold shift limits for marine mammals, with a quantified energy yield reduction of 3.58%. These findings propose a hierarchical mitigation strategy: selecting direct-drive topologies for acoustically sensitive sites, and utilising maximum power point tracking coefficient based power curtailment as a transient operational mode during critical biological migration periods.
title Analysis and Control of Acoustic Emissions from Marine Energy Converters
topic Systems and Control
Signal Processing
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.08656