Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Magnetohydrodynamic Generator for Wave Energy

The performance characteristics of a Liquid Metal Magnetohydrodynamic (LMMHD) generator, with a low melting point alloy U47 as the working liquid for wave energy conversion, were investigated numerically and experimentally in this paper. The numerical results show that a leakage current and an eddy current are in the regions of the electrodes’ ends. The experimental results of the open circuit agree well with those from the simulations, indicating that the model is right. The maximum output power of 1.1 kW was measured with a load resistance of 45 aI and a magnetic flux density of 0.9 T.