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US 12,637,998 B2Granted
Latching full-length hollow shaft wave energy converter for scalable conversion and storage
OwnerBrian Wallinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention relates to the use of marine devices for ocean energy extraction. The invention provides for a wave energy converter that uses latching to control a buoyant moving component that comprises a float attached to a shaft with a piston that pressurises fluid in a compression chamber within a submerged floatation component. According to the present invention, the shaft is a full-length hollow shaft that extends down through the compression chamber and is attached to a rotatable float with submerged vanes.
Claims20
A wave energy converter, comprising:
- a sub-surface body;
- a buoy that is disposed above the body and is reciprocally movable along an upright axis relative to the body in response to wave action;
- a latch mechanism that is operable to latch the buoy against movement relative to the body;
- and
- a shaft that extends downwardly from the buoy into a compressor chamber within the body and is movable with the buoy along the upright axis to drive reciprocal motion of a piston within the compressor chamber, that motion drawing water into the compressor chamber through at least one inlet and pumping water out of the compressor chamber through at least one outlet for industrial uses;
- wherein the improvement is characterised by the shaft that is hollow, defining a channel that extends along the shaft from the buoy through the compressor chamber, that channel having open upper and lower ends and containing one or more ducts, at least one of those ducts being in fluid communication with at least one component of the wave energy converter and venting to atmosphere above the buoy.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.