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US 10,393,089 B2Granted
Wave energy converter
AssigneeOscilla Power Inc.
InventorsTimothy R Mundon, Balakrishnan G Nair, Jennifer Vining
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wave energy converter includes a surface float including a non-axisymmetric profile, a reaction plate configured to be submerged below a water surface, and more than one flexible tether, each mechanically coupled to both the surface float and the reaction plate, the reaction plate having a moment of inertia in pitch and roll greater than a moment of inertia in pitch and roll of the surface float.
Claims19
A wave energy converter, comprising:
- a surface float comprising a non-axisymmetric profile;
- a reaction plate configured to be submerged below a water surface;
- wherein the reaction plate comprises an annular shaped structure comprising an increasing cross section from a bottom surface of the reaction plate to a top surface of the reaction plate;
- more than one flexible tether, each mechanically coupled to both the surface float and the reaction plate;
- and
- the reaction plate comprising a moment of inertia in pitch greater than a moment of inertia in pitch of the surface float and a moment of inertia in roll greater than a moment of inertia in roll of the surface float.
3 more elements
A method for capturing and converting mechanical energy from ocean waves comprising:
- operating a wave energy convertor device that comprises:
- a surface float comprising a non-axisymmetric profile and a powertrain;
- a reaction plate configured to be submerged below a water surface;
- wherein the reaction plate comprises an annular shaped structure comprising an increasing cross section from a bottom surface of the reaction plate to a top surface of the reaction plate;
- more than one flexible tether, each mechanically coupled to both the surface float and the reaction plate, the reaction plate comprising a moment of inertia in pitch greater than a moment of inertia in pitch of the surface float and a moment of inertia in roll greater than a moment of inertia in roll of the surface float;
- facilitating motion of the surface float relative to the reaction plate;
- and
- capturing at least some energy from waves and transmitting the at least some energy to a powertrain in the surface float via at least one of the more than one flexible tether.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.