Remote autonomous replenishment buoy for sea surface craft
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorsScott M Petersen, Donald B Harris, Robert Galway
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Abstract
An apparatus for servicing one or more water vessels, in particular, the invention is directed towards an autonomous replenishment buoy for fueling one or more water vessels. The autonomous replenishment buoy has a first configuration when not servicing water vessels, and a second configuration when performing fueling or other servicing functions. The autonomous replenishment buoy may float at the surface of the water, or may be moored beneath the surface of the water in the first configuration when not servicing water vessels. The autonomous replenishment buoy may transform from the first configuration to the second configuration to perform fueling and other services on water vessels.
Claims11
An autonomous replenishment buoy for servicing one or more water vessels wherein each of the one or more water vessels has a probe extending from the bow of the respective water vessel, the autonomous replenishment buoy comprising:
- a main cylindrical body;
- a fuel receptacle within the main cylindrical body;
- one or more probe receiving members, each of the one or more probe receiving members for receiving a water vessel probe therein;
- one or more servicing arms, each servicing arm comprising:
- an energy absorbing and guiding portion for guiding and absorbing the energy of an incoming water vessel;
- wherein the autonomous replenishment buoy has a first configuration in a non-deployed state and a second configuration in a deployed state, wherein the in the first configuration the autonomous buoy comprises the substantially cylindrical body with said energy absorbing guide arrangement contained within said substantially cylindrical body, and in the second configuration said energy absorbing guide arrangement and said probe receiving member extend from the substantially cylindrical body.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.