Wave energy converter with surface electric grid

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12372052-B1
Application number	US-202418416299-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jan 18, 2024
Priority date	Mar 18, 2017
Publication date	Jul 29, 2025
Grant date	Jul 29, 2025

Abstract

An energy farm comprising an electrical grid through which power generated by the devices in the farm may be combined and transmitted. The electrical grid is formed through the electrical interconnection of devices in a farm through electrical connections that remain, in whole or at least in part, adjacent to the surface of the body of water on which the devices float. A plurality of converters of the network have no direct or immediate electrical interface with a subsea power cable (i.e. a cable on or under the seafloor), but instead transmit electricity to other converters in a daisy-chained fashion.

First claim

We claim:

1. A floating network of motion-to-electrical energy converters, comprising:
a plurality of buoyant wave-to-energy converters attached together by flexible mooring cables;
a network of electrical cables connecting the plurality of buoyant wave-to-energy converters, said network of electrical cables comprising first gauge electrical cables, second gauge electrical cables, and third gauge electrical cables, said first gauge electrical cables having a larger electrical capacity than said second gauge electrical cables, and said second gauge electrical cables having a larger electrical capacity than said third gauge electrical cables;
wherein each buoyant wave-to-energy converter is connected to a first adjacent buoyant wave-to-energy converter by at least one cable selected from said first gauge electrical cables, second gauge electrical cables, and third gauge electrical cables; and
wherein a first subset of the buoyant wave-to-energy converters are connected to the first adjacent buoyant wave-to-energy converter by a cable that is a first gauge electrical cable;
wherein a second subset of the buoyant wave-to-energy converters are connected to the first adjacent buoyant wave-to-energy converter by a cable that is a second gauge electrical cable; and
wherein a distance between two adjacent buoyant wave-to-energy converters varies, influenced by a tension on a connected flexible mooring cable.

2. The floating network of motion-to-energy converters of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of floats, each float attached to a cable connecting adjacent buoyant wave-to-energy converters.

3. The floating network of motion-to-energy converters of claim 1 , wherein one of the buoyant wave-to-energy converter converters includes an electrical socket through which the wave-to-energy converter is electrically connected to a complementary electrical plug of an adjacent buoyant wave-to-energy converter via an electrical cable.

4. The floating network of motion-to-energy converters of claim 1 , wherein a third subset of buoyant wave-to-energy converters are electrically coupled directly to first, second, and third adjacent buoyant wave-to-energy converters.

5. The floating network of motion-to-energy converters of claim 1 , wherein a fourth subset of the buoyant wave-to-energy converters, which are not members of the first subset, the second subset, or the third subset, are connected to the first adjacent buoyant wave-to-energy converter by a cable that is a third gauge electrical cable.

6. The floating network of motion-to-energy converters of claim 1 , wherein the flexible mooring cables are the electrical cables.

Assignees

• Lone Gull Holdings Ltd

Inventors

• Moffat Brian Lee
• Sheldon-Coulson Garth Alexander

Classifications

• Y02E60/16

  Mechanical energy storage, e.g. flywheels or pressurised fluids · CPC title

• Y02E10/30

  Energy from the sea, e.g. using wave energy or salinity gradient · CPC title

• B63B22/02

  specially adapted for mooring a vessel · CPC title

• F05B2240/96

  as part of a wind turbine farm · CPC title

• F05B2240/40

  Use of a multiplicity of similar components · CPC title