In this paper an approach to the optimization of the
magnetic design of a Permanent Magnet (PM) linear generator
for the exploitation of the energy contained in sea waves is
presented. This approach consists of a two step procedure: the
first one takes into account the stochastic features of the sea
wave motion and describe the working condition of the machine
under this motion by adopting a lumped parametermodel. In
this step the objective function is the energy production. The
second step optimizes the generator by using the results
obtained in the first step as the constraints that must be fulfilled
by a design based on a Finite Element Method (FEM) analysis.
Furthermore, the approach is applied to design and build a PM
linear generator. Some experimental tests carried on the built
linear generator are presented