Marine propulsion – Wave powered propelling means
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-07
2003-05-13
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Marine propulsion
Wave powered propelling means
C440S013000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06561856
ABSTRACT:
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERAL SPONSORED R & D
The invention has been created by the author self with his own means in duty free time.
REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX
Not applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Endeavor: Any rocking process carries energy. Seas produce the most powerful natural rocking. It should be used for powering of ships, bouts, others floating means and also to energize floating power plants. Here is given the method based on gyroscope capability to keep stable its angle attitude in space providing power extraction from rocking processes produced by seas. As positive results the method allows to:
furnish any rocking floating mean (a ship, a raft, a boat, . . . ) by the gyroscope supported rocking energized power (GRP-)plant producing electric or/and hydra-pneumatic power;
propel a ship with rocking energy transmitted to a propeller or wagging propulsor directly or through electromechanical and/or hydraulic converters;
build seas floating power plants for power supply seashore settlements or mass charging of accumulators by use old or special vessels and other water born crafts;
avoid noise and pollution of environment in compare with motor driven power stations.
The fields of invention issues are the rocking energized floating power production and ship propulsion supported with a gyroscope.
The way a problem is stated.
Floating means produces the most powerful natural rocking. As a general representative of it we will consider a ship. Rocking process contains energy. An each ship is a gainer of seas energy. The sea power expenditure can exceed the ordinary ship engine as much as few times. The only question is how to get it for power supply our necessities.
A usually mechanical energy conversion process consists of three components. The first one is provisionally still component while the second one (like a rotor, an engine piston) is relatively mobile which is moved by third gap component (expanding gas, electric field, etc . . . ) generating motive force. In our case the sea waves (second component) are rocking a ship body (third component) using the still sea bottom as the first component. But the sea bottom is remote and so can not be used here and must be substituted. The problem is where to take the first component in order to handle relative rocking motion it and the third component.
The proper component is a gyroscope. It has a capability to keep steady angle attitude in world coordinates even though it treats force moment. In our case this force moment originates from ship pitching and it is transmitted to the gyroscope through the energy consumer such as the GRP-plant. The steady torque support produces a reactive force moment as necessary condition for any rotary movement conversion.
The initial ship angular rocking motion like pitching or rolling characterized by small swings and velocity amplitudes. So the first stage of its conversion is to increase scale of that motion. Then it must be converted to one way revolution, tuned down, accelerated and we have the rotating shaft as output of the rocking energy converter. It can drive the ship propeller, a pump or/and electric power generator of carried GRP-plant in order to get power for accumulation and consumption.
Almost in all these cases we should have the step-up gearing which converts slow and small but powerful relative rocking motion of the ship body and the gyroscope frame to the fast shaft rotation. Even though the body is the initial rocking motion source but for an observer sitting on board it seems as if the gyroscope has angular motions and the ship does not. So for the converter it does not matter which component we will consider mobile.
The gyroscope treats the alternate force moment causing its alternate precession (hesitation). If to image Earth as motionless and force moments against the rocking are equal in both directions then the rocking will occur about some middle position (line) and gyroscope alternate precession will also occur about some mean direction line. The best line is the plumb. The gyro axis mean (GAM)-line must stay upright perfectly. But asymmetric rocking force moments, ship movements and Earth rotation (apparent precession) drift the GAM-line from the plumb. And this drift can lead the gyroscope to ‘turn over’ and stop to interact with the ship rocking. So we need to provide for the automated turning back the GAM-line to the plumb.
This is not a simple plant, but industry has sufficient experience to build platforms stabilized by gyroscope systems for different mobile objects and to create gearing with high speed up ratio. So it can produce the GRP-plants right now to rig floating objects.
The GRP-plants can give the next benefits:
1. Access to ecological clean natural energy sources.
2. Improvement all ship performance parameters right until whole scale ship power supply.
3. Creating new automated self powered floating objects for continuous navigation.
4. Power supply for coastal settlements and also sea and ocean settlements in the future.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF INVENTION
The general idea of the claimed invention is the utilization rocking process through interacting with gyroscope support. For that the rocking driven power plant should be mounted on a ship. The heart of the GRP-plant is the gyroscope fulcrum supporting. That GRP-plant can produce electricity, power a pressure hydra-pneumatic system, propel a sip or drive any other mechanical device.
The considering GRP-plant can be set on any floating mean. For that it should have enough buoyancy to carry the GRP-plant and it should have enough mechanical strength to transmit wave energy through its rocking to the GRP-plant. Every floating mean can be provisionally or not provisionally considered as a ship. A ship presents the most common case of floating means.
Ship trim against waves is a reason of ship pitching or rolling with force moment applied to the gyroscope through the converter if it has loaded. The converter is transforming the slow rocking process to the fast one way output shaft rotation. The gyro fulcrum hinders free ship rocking through the loaded converter and causes trim increasing. The more loaded converter the gyroscope as its reaction creates the more reactive fulcrum torque. And the faster gyro precession is happening. Fortunately the rocking process is happening periodically to both side. So the gyro precession goes to both sides also and the mean gyro axis can be stable enough time.
And this is the basic prerequisite for successful solution the general problem ‘using gyroscope as the fulcrum support for converting the ship rocking motion to customary power’. But the fortune is not expanding in time. Many reasons are existing to drift the GAM-line from the plumb. The most significant is the Earth revolution.
Totally we need to solve the next basic problems in order to reach our purpose:
1. Developing the mechanical structures converting the ship rocking to customary power.
2. Creating the method for analysis a gyroscope and a rocking ship force interaction.
3. Searching and developing the basic schema and devices to control effectively the gyro precession in order to rush the GAM-line to the plumb.
4. Creating architectures for the ship using the GRP-station for powering and propulsion.
5. Developing the automatically controlled force moment generator.
6. Developing the floating power plant energized by the heaving process.
To get more sea energy we should weaken other reasons able to retard the rock process. These are pitch moment inertia, a joined water mass inertia and a resistance of water and air friction. If the ship body is madden light and with streamline low heavy keel as floating pendulum then the greatest part of retarding reasons disappears because it is rocking and copies seas process almost without its trim. After this we can consider the only one resistance reason. This is resistance of the GRP-plant mechanism loaded by the power consumers.
REFERENCES:
patent: 468668 (1892-02-01), Lowe
patent: 1573343 (1926-02-01), Holeka
patent: 2048339 (1936-07-01), Kalfas
patent: 23
Morano S. Joseph
Vasudeva Ajay
LandOfFree
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