Buoy with radiated wave reflector
AssigneeLone Gull Holdings, Ltd.
InventorsBrian Lee Moffat, Grzegorz Piotr Filip
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Abstract
Disclosed is buoyant wave energy capture device, adapted to float adjacent to an upper surface of a body of water over which waves pass, and adapted to capture a portion of the radiated waves created by its own rising and falling in response to incident and/or passing environmental waves. A power take off mechanism combined with the disclosed wave energy capture device may be tuned to a specific wave frequency, and thereby optimally extract energy from a motion of a single frequency, even the wave energy capture device may be excited and/or energized by waves of any of a relatively broad range of frequencies, thereby increasing the power-generation and cost efficiencies of such devices relative to wave energy conversion devices of the prior art.
Claims6
A wave energy converter operable in a body of water, comprising:
- a buoyant vessel having a bulbous upper portion fluidly connected to an open ended-tubular portion extending downwardly therefrom;
- a power-take-off system housed within the buoyant vessel;
- a curved reflector spaced from and at least partially enclosing the buoyant vessel when projected onto a horizontal plane, the curved reflector having a first portion fixedly positioned above a mean waterline of the wave energy converter, and a second portion fixedly positioned below a mean waterline of the wave energy converter;
- and
- a rigid support system connecting the curved reflector to the buoyant vessel, the rigid support system comprising a plurality of struts connecting the curved reflector to the buoyant vessel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.