# US 12,760,429 B2 · Inertial hydrodynamic pump and wave engine > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,760,429 B2 - Document ID: US12760429B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/979,593 - Filed: 2024-12-13 - Published: 2025-04-10 - Granted: 2026-10-13 - Earliest claimed: 2020-02-19 - Assignees: Lone Gull Holdings, Ltd. - Applicants: Lone Gull Holdings, Ltd. - Inventors: Garth Alexander Sheldon-Coulson; Brian Lee Moffat; Daniel William Place; Ivar Lee Thorson - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12760429B2 ## CPC - C25B 9/65: Means for supplying current; Electrode connections; Electric inter-cell connections - B63B 1/02: deriving lift mainly from water displacement (B63B1/16 takes precedence) - C25B 1/04: by electrolysis of water - C25B 15/023: Measuring, analysing or testing during electrolytic production - C25B 15/08: Supplying or removing reactants or electrolytes; Regeneration of electrolytes - F03B 13/14: using wave energy - F04B 17/00: Pumps characterised by combination with, or adaptation to, specific driving engines or motors - C25B: ELECTROLYTIC OR ELECTROPHORETIC PROCESSES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF COMPOUNDS OR NON-METALS; APPARATUS THEREFOR (anodic or cathodic protection C23F13/00; single-crystal growth C30B) - B63B: SHIPS OR OTHER WATERBORNE VESSELS; EQUIPMENT FOR SHIPPING (arrangements of vessel ventilation, heating, cooling, or air-conditioning B63J2/00; floating substructures as supports of dredgers or soil-shifting machines E02F9/06) - F03B: MACHINES OR ENGINES FOR LIQUIDS (positive-displacement engines for liquid F03C; machines for liquids and gases F01; positive-displacement machines for liquids F04, rotary fluid gearing of the hydrokinetic type F16H41/00) - F04B: POSITIVE-DISPLACEMENT MACHINES FOR LIQUIDS; PUMPS (machines for liquids, or pumps, of rotary-piston or oscillating-piston type F04C; non-positive-displacement pumps F04D; pumping of fluid by direct contact of another fluid or by using inertia of fluid to be pumped F04F) ## Abstract A buoyant hydrodynamic pump is disclosed that can float on the surface of a body of water and incorporates an open-bottomed tube with a constriction. Wave-driven oscillations result in periodic upward ejections of portions of the water inside the tube that can be collected in a reservoir that is at least partially positioned above the mean water level of the body of water. Water within such a reservoir may return to the body of water via a turbine, thereby generating electrical power (making the device a wave engine), or the device's pumping action can be used for other purposes such as water circulation, propulsion, dissolved minerals extraction, or cloud seeding. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A wave engine, comprising: a buoy having an interior defining a fluid collection reservoir; a hollow tube disposed below and in fluid communication with the fluid collection reservoir, the hollow tube formed with a constriction narrowing the hollow tube proximately to the fluid collection reservoir for spurting fluid from inside the hollow tube into the fluid collection reservoir in response to an increasing pressure within the hollow tube; a fluid return conduit having an ingress end within the fluid collection reservoir and an egress end opening into the hollow tube; and an electrical energy generator for converting an energy of a portion of the fluid collected in the fluid collection reservoir into electrical energy. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The wave engine of claim 1, wherein the electrical energy generator is included at least partially within the fluid return conduit. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The wave engine of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the fluid return conduit is exterior to and parallel with the hollow tube. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The wave engine of claim 1, wherein the hollow tube comprises a frustoconical portion. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The wave engine of claim 1, wherein the buoy is spherical. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The wave engine of claim 1, wherein the electrical energy generator comprises a fluid turbine. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The wave engine of claim 1, wherein the wave engine is self-propelled. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The wave engine of claim 1, further comprising: a propulsion system, wherein the propulsion system comprises a pressurized water-powered propeller motor coupled to a propeller. ### Claim 9 A method for converting wave energy, comprising: generating electrical energy from a wave engine in a body of water, the wave engine comprising an upper bulbous portion which rises and falls under an influence of a body of water, the upper bulbous portion comprising a fluid collection reservoir, the wave engine comprising a hollow tube coupled to the upper bulbous portion and having a bottom opening at a lower end and a top opening at an upper end, the fluid collection reservoir fluidly coupled to the upper end of the hollow tube, the hollow tube configured to eject a fluid through the top opening and into the fluid collection reservoir in response to an increasing pressure within the hollow tube, the wave engine comprising an electrical energy generator for converting an energy of a portion of the fluid collected in the fluid collection reservoir into electrical energy, and the wave engine comprising a conduit extending from the fluid collection reservoir to the hollow tube. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein a portion of the electrical energy is used to energize a computer that performs a computational task. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the computational task is received by an encoded electromagnetic signal. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein a computational result of the computational task is transmitted by an encoded electromagnetic signal. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the computational task is received by a first encoded electromagnetic signal, and wherein a computational result of the computational task is transmitted by a second encoded electromagnetic signal. ### Claim 14 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein a portion of the electrical energy is used to mine a cryptocurrency. ### Claim 15 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein the electrical energy generator of the wave engine is included at least partially within the conduit. ### Claim 16 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein at least a portion of the conduit of the wave engine is exterior to and parallel with the hollow tube. ### Claim 17 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein the hollow tube of the wave engine comprises a tapered portion. ### Claim 18 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein the top opening of the hollow tube of the wave engine has a cross-sectional area smaller than a cross-sectional area of the bottom opening of the hollow tube. ### Claim 19 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein the hollow tube of the wave engine comprises a frustoconical portion. ### Claim 20 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein the upper bulbous portion of the wave engine is spherical. ### Claim 21 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein the bottom opening of the hollow tube of the wave engine is fluidly coupled with the body of water. ### Claim 22 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein the fluid comprises water. ### Claim 23 (depends on 22) The method of claim 22, wherein the water is from the body of water. ### Claim 24 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein the electrical energy generator of the wave engine comprises a fluid turbine. ### Claim 25 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein the wave engine is self-propelled. ### Claim 26 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein the wave engine further comprises a propulsion system, wherein the propulsion system comprises a pressurized water-powered propeller motor coupled to a propeller.