System and Method of Sail Propulsion for Sailing Vessels and Tugboats

Abstract

The invention relates to a system and method of sail propulsion for sailing vessels and tugboats, consisting of one or more rows of sails secured at their upper vertices or corners by means of the ends of masts, and cables or ropes located between the upper ends of the masts, or the ends of the radial arms of said masts, with masts provided in the bow and others in the stern. The sails are secured at their lower vertices or corners to rings fixed to the deck, to ropes or cables, the ends of which are attached to the deck, to small posts, to the lower region of the main masts, to the ends of radial arms fixed in the lower region of the masts, or to pulleys on which the cables are wound using motors. The rows of sails, aligned from bow to stern, include a mast at the end sails. Cables or ropes form the upper ends of the intermediate sails.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONSIndex to Related Applications[0001]This application claims the benefit of PCT / ES2015 / 000086, filed Jun. 23, 2015, which claims the benefit of Spanish patent application number P201400539, filed Jun. 23, 2014, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]In main or complementary sail propulsion five systems for vessels and tugboats thereof.DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART[0003]The propulsion of ships is not sufficiently exploited at present. There are some with sail systems but they are expensive and not suitable for most of them. The present invention uses sails, even automatically produce propulsion in a simple and economical way, and is valid even for tugboats.SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION[0004]Provide a simple and inexpensive, practical sail propulsion system for vessels and tugboats, which can be automatic, easy and quick to install in today's ships and which, by reducing fuel consumptio...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0004]Provide a simple and inexpensive, practical sail propulsion system for vessels and tugboats, which can be automatic, easy and quick to install in today's ships and which, by reducing fuel consumption and the duration of the trips, provides a great saving, It is very ecological and safe, especially for gas ships, CO2 emissions are reduced. Being the only transport system totally ecological.

[0017]The weight can be reduced by using masts made of aluminum alloys, fiberglass or carbon fiber which are also not affected by corrosion. Canvas sails, plastic like Kevlar, a registered trademark of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, Del., polyester, etc., are generally flexible but can be semi-rigid or rigid.

[0021]When sails make vision difficult, the control tower can be located in the front area or a video camera can be used to view without difficulty.

[0047]In accordance with still another added feature of the invention, the surface of the sails is reduced by lowering their top vertex attached to a closed circuit cable (22) and driven by an electric motor (16b).

Problems solved by technology

The propulsion of ships is not sufficiently exploited at present.

There are some with sail systems but they are expensive and not suitable for most of them.

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