Unmanned ocean vehicle
AssigneeSolar Sailor Pty Ltd
InventorsRobert A. Dane, Edward Payne Kilbourn
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An unmanned, autonomous, waterborne vehicle (500) for marine use capable of operating on and below the surface of water, said vehicle (500) including an enclosed hull (501) having a payload bay (506), a hybrid propulsion system having energy collection means (504) in the form of a wing sail (503) covered with photovoltaic cells and energy storage means (511) for utilizing at least solar energy and wind energy, a plurality of sensors (508, 514) for detecting predetermined environmental parameters and a communications system (509, 515) for transmitting data from said sensors (508, 515) to and for receiving command signals from one or more remote stations and/or cooperating vehicles.
Claims19
An unmanned ocean vehicle for operating either on or below the surface of a body of water, said vehicle comprising:
- an enclosed hull having a payload bay;
- a hybrid propulsion system having energy collectors and energy stores utilising at least (i) solar energy, (ii) wave or water current energy, and (iii) wind energy;
- a plurality of sensors for detecting predetermined environmental parameters;
- and
- a communications system for transmitting data from said sensors about selected environmental parameters to, and for receiving command signals from, one or more remote stations;
- wherein the hybrid propulsion system includes an electrical machine mechanically coupled to a fluid drive element, and wherein the electrical machine is supplied from the energy stores to drive the fluid drive element in a motor mode, and wherein the vehicle further includes ballast tanks for selective submerging and re-surfacing of the vehicle to facilitate selective operation on or below the water surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.