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US 12,330,753 B2Granted
Marine-life safe and self propelled navigational buoy
OwnerMary Donickinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A navigational buoy that includes a finned, hollow, transparent, spherical shell that floats on water. A multi-wheeled motor-unit sits inside the shell, and ballast weights attached to the motor unit cause it to rest on the bottom of the shell. A biasing structure attached to the motor unit, lights, and other aspects are included in some embodiments.
Claims16
A navigational buoy comprising:
- a motor unit comprising:
- at least one motor;
- a housing encasing the at least one motor;
- at least two wheels operatively connected to the at least one motor;
- and
- a ballast weight coupled to the housing;
- a control unit comprising:
- a power source;
- a microprocessor;
- and
- a plurality of sensors for autonomous control of the motor unit, for directed control of the motor unit, or for a combination of autonomous and directed control of the motor unit;
- a spherical shell encompassing the motor unit comprising:
- an inner surface;
- an outer surface;
- and
- a plurality of fins disposed on the outer surface of the spherical shell and extending outwardly therefrom.
13 more elements
A navigational buoy comprising:
- a motor unit comprising:
- at least one motor;
- a housing encasing the at least one motor;
- at least two wheels operatively connected to the at least one motor;
- and
- a ballast weight coupled to the housing;
- a control unit comprising:
- a power source;
- a microprocessor;
- and
- a plurality of sensors for autonomous control of the motor unit, for directed control of the motor unit, or for a combination of autonomous and directed control of the motor unit;
- a spherical shell encompassing the motor unit comprising:
- an inner surface;
- an outer surface;
- a plurality of horizontal fins disposed on the outer surface of the spherical shell and extending outwardly therefrom;
- a plurality of vertical fins disposed on the outer surface of the spherical shell and extending outwardly therefrom;
- and
- a support structure coupled to the motor unit and coupled to the inner surface of the spherical shell.
15 more elements
A navigational buoy comprising:
- a motor unit comprising:
- at least one motor:
- a housing encasing the at least one motor;
- at least two wheels operatively connected to the at least one motor;
- and
- a ballast weight coupled to the housing;
- a control unit comprising:
- a power source;
- a microprocessor;
- and
- a plurality of sensors for autonomous control of the motor unit, for directed control of the motor unit, or for a combination of autonomous and directed control of the motor unit;
- a spherical shell encompassing the motor unit comprising:
- an inner surface;
- an outer surface;
- a plurality of horizontal fins disposed on the outer surface of the spherical shell and extending outwardly therefrom;
- a plurality of vertical fins disposed on the outer surface of the spherical shell and extending outwardly therefrom;
- a support structure coupled to the motor unit and coupled to the inner surface of the spherical shell;
- and
- a generator operatively attached to:
- at least one spring;
- and
- at least one rack and pinion set.
19 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.