Influence of Different Connection Configurations on the Performance of Raft‐Type Wave Energy Conversion Device

The raft‐type wave energy converter (RWEC) is a floating soft‐mooring device that harnesses wave energy through the relative motion of its raft body. This article presents a novel RWEC utilizing a 6‐SPS‐UR inclined branched‐chain connection mechanism. Inspired by the Stewart platform's tilted chain layout, the design features equal‐sized upper and lower platforms and adds a set of UR chains to constrain the raft's relative motion. This configuration enables effective multidirectional wave force capture, enhancing energy conversion efficiency. The dynamic response, including the motion and output power of the proposed device, is analyzed via potential flow theory and the virtual work principle. Three other connection mechanism schemes are set up to compare with the target scheme: articulated, Stewart, and 6‐SPS‐UR parallel branched‐chain connection schemes. Under identical wave conditions, the power generation branch chain motion and the overall power output curve of each scheme are obtained. The results show that the proposed scheme of 6‐SPS‐UR inclined branched‐chain layout has relatively good performance, with large overall power generation and uniform movement and power generation of each branch chain.