Patent ID: 8487459

Claim:
A wave energy converter (WEC) intended to be placed in a body of water subjected to wave motion of varying amplitude and frequency, said WEC including: a first floating body and a second body intended to move relative to each other in response to the waves; and a power take off device (PTO) coupled to the first and second bodies and responsive to their relative motion for converting their relative motion into electric energy, said PTO comprising: a rack and pinion with one of said rack and pinion being coupled to one of said first and second bodies and the other of said rack and pinion being coupled to the other one of said first and second bodies; and wherein said pinion includes teeth for engaging said rack and said pinion having a shaft directly connected to a generator having a rotor for driving said generator rotor directly and wherein said generator is a multi-pole device for producing a voltage having a frequency which is at least an order of magnitude greater than the frequency of the waves; and further including a brake system for selectively locking the first and second bodies together to inhibit relative motion between them, wherein said brake system includes either: (a) a metallic flange connected to the rack apparatus and a caliper brake which is selectively activated, or (b) means for selectively shorting the windings of the generator to provide electro-magnetic braking.