Autonomous and unmanned wave energy conversion vessel with propulsion means.

Abstract

Autonomous and unmanned wave energy conversion vessel with propulsion means. The invention relates to the field of electrical energy production from wave energy. The autonomous and unmanned wave energy conversion vessel with propulsion means (1), consists of at least one hull (2) and at least one keel (3), characterized in that said keel (3) is mounted mobile in vertical translation on said hull (2), connected to each other by means of a power take-off system (4), integral with said hull (2), transforming the kinetic and potential energy of the swell, causing a relative movement of said keel (3) with respect to said hull (2), into electrical energy, said energy supplying the elements of said vessel (1) and stored on said vessel (1).The device is particularly intended to extract electrical energy from wave motion and to store, transport, and distribute it at sea and on land. Figure for abstract: Figure 2.

Description

Title of the invention: Autonomous and unmanned wave energy conversion vessel with propulsion means.

[0001] The invention relates to the field of energy production and more precisely to the field of the production of electrical energy from the potential and kinetic energy of the alternating swell contained in the vertical back-and-forth movement of the waves, called wave energy.

[0002] The present invention relates to an autonomous and unmanned wave energy conversion vessel with propulsion means, which converts the potential and kinetic energy of the swell into electrical energy, said vessel being able to store, transport, and distribute this energy on land and at sea.

[0003] Wave energy is emerging as a promising renewable energy source, offering an ecologically preferable alternative to non-renewable energy sources such as oil and coal.

[0004] Most systems that distribute energy do so only in a limited and predetermined manner and do not have the ability to distribute the accumulated energy dynamically and adaptively. They cannot distribute energy selectively to different locations and times.

[0005] Various wave energy production devices have emerged as a potential method of capturing this energy. However, current devices have many limitations and none of them have proven their ability to reliably and long-term exploit the available resource, their development being limited by several factors.

[0006] Current wave energy converter technology is based on a design in which a buoyancy body moves on the surface of the waves in phase with them, movably mounted on a second body which generally has one submerged end anchored to the seabed. The vertical oscillation of the moving buoyancy body induced by the wave ripple is converted into electrical energy. This design is weather dependent and cannot withstand extreme weather conditions, resulting in regular failures, including dislocation or breakage of the anchor.

[0007] Existing wave energy devices often rely on anchors or attachments to the shoreline or ocean floor, which limits their deployment locations. Indeed, from a certain depth of ocean floor, installation costs explode. In areas close to the shore, the presence of these structures can also disrupt seabed ecosystems and have undesirable ecological effects.

[0008] Technologies are currently expensive because cables are needed to carry electricity to the grid. Some islands have never been able to be connected to the mainland due to the cost of these cables and their long distances from the coast.

[0009] The prior art presents conversion devices which sometimes convert wave energy several times before obtaining useful energy. Their energy yields are therefore rather low compared to the kinetic and potential energy exploited.

[0010] Offshore installations often require rapid human intervention for various essential maintenance and operational activities. However, these activities are hampered by the presence of waves that can create dangerous conditions. Wave movement not only complicates safe access to offshore installations, but also introduces a risk of destabilization and capsizing. This is particularly true for floating platforms, making access to offshore installations difficult, perilous, or even impractical.

[0011] Wave energy conversion technologies rarely feature a method for optimizing energy harvesting to accommodate all wave types. There is a wave energy conversion device that has an element for optimizing the harvested energy using ballasts that can be filled with water to increase its inertia. However, this technology, usually attached to the seabed, is not mobile and there is no way for the device to achieve a transport configuration and optimize the location where the energy is collected.

[0012] There are many autonomous and unmanned vessels dedicated to energy collection, but none appear to extract and convert wave energy.

[0013] The present invention aims to solve the drawbacks of the prior art and proposes for this purpose an autonomous and unmanned wave energy conversion vessel with propulsion means, capable of converting wave energy into electrical energy in a nomadic manner and optimizing and storing, transporting and distributing this energy on land or at sea, comprising at least one hull and at least one keel, said vessel being remarkable in that said keel is mounted mobile in vertical translation on said hull, connected together by means of a power take-off system, integral with said hull, transforming the kinetic and potential energy of the swell, causing a relative movement of said keel with respect to said hull, into electrical energy, said energy supplying the elements of said vessel and stored on said vessel.

[0014] Thus, the invention proposes to extract wave energy in a nomadic manner and to convert it into electrical energy, as well as to store it, transport it and distribute it while having the advantages of having adaptability to weather constraints, good energy efficiency, easy maintenance, choice of time and place of energy discharge.

[0015] The invention is implemented according to the embodiments and variants set out below, which are considered individually or in any technically operative combination.

[0016] According to one embodiment, the ship comprises at least one anchor connected to the hull, by at least one line, which can be lowered and raised, and at least one beacon for locating said anchor.

[0017] Thanks to the anchor being able to be lowered and raised, it is possible to change the anchoring location. The ship can then exploit waves in deep water regions and those with significant energy potential by deploying in the most suitable areas. In addition, this allows wave energy to be extracted by adapting to the weather, thus reducing the risk of breakage of the anchor usually fixed in the seabed and their impact on the ecosystem.

[0018] According to one embodiment, the propulsion means of said vessel comprise at least one control unit in communication with sensors configured to measure the speed and direction of said vessel, the wind force, the relative or absolute wind speed, the pitch angle of said vessel, i.e. its angle of rotation around its transverse axis, the roll angle of said vessel, i.e. its angle of rotation around its longitudinal axis, the height, frequency and amplitude of the swell, the forces on the hull and on said propulsion means.

[0019] This embodiment allows the ship to move while adapting to external conditions. Thus, the sensors allow the control unit to control the ship's propulsion means and thus adapt its speed, acceleration or even direction.

[0020] According to one embodiment, the propulsion means of said ship comprise at least one automatic piloting device for receiving and transmitting piloting instructions, an autonomous piloting module capable of piloting said ship during the autonomous piloting phase, the assembly communicating with the control unit of the propulsion means.

[0021] This embodiment makes it possible to collect wave energy autonomously and without a crew being on board the vessel. This thus makes it possible to reduce the risks associated with energy recovery at sea.

[0022] According to one embodiment, the power take-off system connecting the hull and the keel, transforming their relative movement into electrical energy, is composed of at least one rack and at least one pinion, said rack being connected to said keel and said pinion being connected to said hull, with at least one of said pinions connected to at least one generator arranged so as to be made watertight and integral with the hull, said generator producing electrical energy.

[0023] This embodiment makes it possible to convert wave energy into electrical energy directly without loss of force through friction. The efficiency is then close to 1.

[0024] According to one embodiment, the power take-off system is equipped with a braking mechanism.

[0025] This embodiment makes it possible to inhibit the relative movement between the hull and the keel in different positions, facilitating, among other things, navigation and making it possible to put the power take-off system in a safe position.

[0026] According to one embodiment, the ship comprises ballast tanks and means for filling and emptying said ballast tanks.

[0027] This embodiment makes it possible, among other things, to manage the rolling and pitching of the ship if the ballast tanks are in the hull and to manage the immersion depth of the keel if the ballast tanks are in the keel.

[0028] According to one embodiment, the calculator controls the filling and emptying of said ballast tanks as a function of the parameters of the swell, geolocation, tide, system controls and propulsion requirements of said vessel.

[0029] This operating mode makes it possible to control the filling and emptying of the ballast tanks and thus to adapt the immersion of the keel and the hull in order to optimize the conversion of wave energy and the navigation of the vessel.

[0030] According to one embodiment, the ship comprises storage batteries capable of storing the energy produced by the power take-off system and capable of distributing it to the various elements of the ship, arranged so as to be made watertight and housed in a removable manner so as to be able to be embarked and disembarked, with at least one control system communicating with at least one sensor, configured to measure the temperature, current, intensity, state of charge and discharge of said batteries. Thus, the ship can store energy managed by a control system which communicates with sensors in order to optimize the charging and discharging of the battery.

[0031] According to one embodiment, the ship comprises at least one watertight socket and at least one locking member for said socket.

[0032] This embodiment allows the ship to discharge its energy using a suitable cable on land and at sea.

[0033] According to one embodiment, the ship is autonomous and unmanned and comprises an autonomy management system (19), consisting of several elements, with at least one telecommunications satellite (20), at least one remote control station (21) of the ship (1), said ship and said control station (21) comprising means for establishing a radio link (22) with said telecommunications satellite (20), said control station (21) piloting said ship (1) remotely via said radio link (22) with suitable antennas (23), at least one communication system which may include at least one satellite receiver (25), at least one transmitter and at least one GNSS global positioning system receiver with compass and compass (24), at least one obstacle detection means (26), such as a LIDAR or a camera carried by said ship (1), a human-machine communication interface (27), environmental sensors (28) such as anemometers, wind vanes, radars, radio frequency interceptors, optical sensors in the visible and infrared spectrum, chemical and biological sensors, marine current sensors, acoustic sensors, and bathymetric sensors,communicating with the various elements of the ship (1) such as the anchor location beacon, the automatic piloting device (12) and its associated sensors, the computer (15) which controls the ballasts (14) and the battery control system (17), the whole being able to be controlled manually or by parameters established by artificial intelligence.

[0034] GNSS is the English abbreviation for global navigation satellite systems, i.e. a global positioning system. LIDAR is the English abbreviation for laser imaging detection and ranging, i.e. a device for remote detection of obstacles.

[0035] The autonomous nature of the vessel means that it operates without human intervention. Its autonomy is managed by a system comprising numerous sensors and also making it possible to regulate the collection of wave energy and the piloting of the vessel using all the vessel's sensors and systems necessary for its proper functioning such as the anchor locator beacon, the autopilot device and its associated sensors, the computer which controls the ballasts and the battery control system, all operating automatically by parameters established by artificial intelligence and which can be fully controlled manually through the human-machine interface.

[0036] We will now describe an example of implementation of the present invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0037] [Fig.l] is an overview of the ship according to one embodiment of the system comprising a satellite and a telecommunications satellite and a remote control station.

[0038] [Fig.2] is a sectional view AA of the ship along its axis of symmetry.

[0039] [Fig. 3] schematically shows the vessel which is the subject of the invention in a right-hand view with the swell.

[0040] [Fig.4] shows a variant of the ship.

[0041] With reference to [Fig.l], according to an exemplary embodiment, the vessel (1), object of the invention, is an autonomous and unmanned wave energy conversion vessel with propulsion means (1), comprising at least one hull (2) and at least one keel (3), said vessel (1) being remarkable in that said keel (3) is mounted mobile in vertical translation on said hull (2) connected together by means of a power take-off system (4) integral with said hull (2), transforming the kinetic energy of the swell, which causes a relative movement of said keel with respect to said hull, into electrical energy, said energy supplying the elements of said vessel (1) being able to be stored on the vessel (1).

[0042] The hull (2) carries, according to this embodiment, a single anchor (9) which can be raised and lowered.

[0043] The ship comprises propulsion means (5), in this embodiment, the propulsion means (5) consist of two motors with a propeller capable of modifying the direction of the ship (1), one installed on the keel (3) and the other on the hull (2).

[0044] The hull (2) is secured to the keel (3) by a power take-off system (4) driven by the relative movement of the hull (2) and the keel (3) in response to the swell.

[0045] The ship (1) comprises, according to an exemplary embodiment, two brakes (13) capable of inhibiting the relative movement between the hull (2) and the keel (3).

[0046] The ship (1) comprises, according to an exemplary embodiment, an autonomy management system composed of different antennas installed at the highest point of the ship on the keel (3) in order to have the best reception as well as a telecommunications satellite (20) which communicates bidirectionally via a radio link (22) with a remote control station (21) and with the ship (1) via suitable antennas (23). A remote control station (21) also communicates with the ship (1) via the radio link (22) bidirectionally. In addition, a GNSS global positioning system receiver with compass and compass (24) and a satellite receiver (25)

[0047] According to an exemplary embodiment, the ship (1) comprises obstacle detection means (26). A LIDAR located at the front of the ship (1) on the hull (2) makes it possible to scan its environment regularly at 360° in order to avoid obstacles.

[0048] The human-machine interface (27) is an integral part of the remote control station (21) and allows the ship to be controlled manually or via parameters established by artificial intelligence, thus making it possible to obtain information from the various sensors and systems of the ship (1).

[0049] The environmental sensors (28) are, in this exemplary embodiment, located under the hull (2).

[0050] [Fig.2] shows a section of the ship (1). The hull (2) and the keel (3) are hollow and carry several elements of the ship (1) such as two control units (11) arranged next to the propulsion means (5) in order to facilitate their wiring. As well as an automatic piloting device (12) located, according to an exemplary embodiment, in the hull (2) close to one of the two control units (11).

[0051] According to an exemplary embodiment, the keel (3) comprises batteries (16) capable of storing the energy produced by the power take-off system (4). These batteries have the advantage of functioning as ballast in the keel (3). According to an exemplary embodiment, the ship (1) also comprises a battery control system (17), positioned in the keel (3) attached to the batteries (17), making it possible to manage the charging and discharging of the assembly.

[0052] According to an exemplary embodiment, the ship comprises at least one watertight socket (18) and at least one locking member for said socket (18) which makes it possible to deliver energy to the coast using a suitable cable. The watertightness of the socket (18) allows this electricity to be distributed on land and at sea.

[0053] According to an exemplary embodiment, the power take-off system (4) connecting the hull (2) and the keel (3) and which converts their relative movement into electrical energy is composed of a rack (6) and two pinions (7), said rack (6) being connected to said keel (3) and each pinion (7) is connected to a generator (8), themselves integral with the hull (2), transforming the rotational movement of the pinions (7) driven by the translational movement of the rack (6) into electrical energy.

[0054] According to an exemplary embodiment, the ship (1) comprises ballast tanks (14) located in the keel (3) allowing it to be raised and lowered relative to the hull (2), depending on the filling and emptying of said ballast tanks (14). Close to the ballast tanks (14) in the keel (3) is the computer (15) which controls the filling of said ballast tanks (14) and therefore the raising and lowering of the keel (3) with the aim of optimizing the extraction of wave energy.

[0055] [Fig.3] shows the ship (1) under the effect of the swell, according to this exemplary embodiment, the variation in relative movement between the keel (3) and the hull (2) can be significant.

[0056] [Fig.4] shows a second example embodiment presenting a variant of the keel (3).

[0057] The above examples of embodiment show that the invention achieves the intended aim and that it makes it possible to collect wave energy in a nomadic, optimized and adaptable manner, to store it, to transport it and to distribute it at sea or on land, without occupying the marine space or degrading the marine fauna and flora, without the need for raw materials, without modifications to the landscape, without significant cabling and maintenance costs, without fixed port infrastructures.

[0058] The vessel that is the subject of the invention proposes dynamic and adaptive wave energy extraction that can help supply areas far from the network, but close to the sea, such as islands. This vessel can be easily reassigned to other areas. Unmanned and autonomous, this vessel drastically reduces the dependence on the weather that is encountered in other wave energy technologies. And can help supply electricity to an area without intermittence.

Claims

Claims

1. Autonomous and unmanned wave energy conversion vessel with propulsion means (1), comprising at least one hull (2) and at least one keel (3), characterized in that said keel (3) is mounted mobile in vertical translation on said hull (2), connected to each other by means of a power take-off system (4), integral with said hull (2), transforming the kinetic and potential energy of the swell, causing a relative movement of said keel (3) with respect to said hull (2), into electrical energy, said energy supplying the elements of said vessel (1) and stored on said vessel (1).

2. Vessel according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises at least one anchor (9) connected to the hull (2), by at least one line (10), which can be lowered and raised, and at least one beacon for locating said anchor (9).

3. Ship according to claim 1, characterized in that the propulsion means (5) of said ship (1) comprise at least one control unit (11) in communication with sensors configured to measure the speed and direction of said ship (1), the wind force, the relative or absolute wind speed, the pitch angle of said ship (1), the roll angle of said ship (1), the height, frequency and amplitude of the swell, the forces on the hull and on said propulsion means (5).

4. Ship according to claim 3, characterized in that the propulsion means (5) of said ship (1) comprise at least one automatic piloting device (12) for receiving and transmitting piloting instructions, an autonomous piloting module capable of piloting said ship (1) during the autonomous piloting phase, the assembly communicating with the control unit (11) of the propulsion means (5).

5. A vessel according to claim 1, characterized in that the power take-off system (4) connecting the hull (2) and the keel (3), transforming their relative movement into electrical energy, is composed of at least one rack (6) and at least one pinion (7), said rack (6) being connected to said keel (3) and said pinion (7) being connected to said hull (2), with at least one of said pinions (7) connected to at least one generator (8) arranged to be made watertight and integral with the hull (2), said generator (8) producing electrical energy.

6. Vessel according to claim 5, characterized in that the power take-off system (4) is equipped with a braking mechanism (13).

7. Ship according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises ballast tanks (14) and means for filling and emptying said ballast tanks (14).

8. Vessel according to claim 1 and 7, characterized in that a computer (15) controls the filling and emptying of said ballast tanks (14) as a function of the parameters of the swell, geolocation, tide, system controls and propulsion requirements of said vessel (1).

9. Ship according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises storage batteries (16) capable of storing the energy produced by the power take-off system (4) and capable of distributing it to the various elements of the ship (1), arranged so as to be made watertight and housed in a removable manner so as to be able to be embarked and disembarked, with at least one control system (17) communicating with at least one sensor, configured to measure the temperature, current, intensity, state of charge and discharge of said batteries (16).

10. Vessel according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises at least one watertight socket (18) and at least one locking member for said socket (18).

11. Vessel according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it is autonomous and unmanned and that it comprises an autonomy management system (19), with at least one telecommunication satellite (20), at least one remote control station (21) of the vessel (1), said vessel and said control station (21) comprising means for establishing a radio link (22) with said telecommunication satellite (20), said control station (21) piloting said vessel (1) remotely via said radio link (22) with suitable antennas (23), at least one communication system which may include at least one satellite receiver (25), at least one transmitter and at least one receiver of a GNSS global positioning system with compass and compass (24), at least one obstacle detection means (26), such as a LIDAR or a camera carried by said vessel (1), a human-machine communication interface (27),environmental sensors (28) such as, as anemometers, wind vanes, radars, radio frequency interceptors, optical sensors in the visible and infrared spectrum, chemical and biological sensors, marine current sensors, acoustic sensors, and bathymetric sensors, communicating with the various elements of the vessel (1) such as the anchor locator beacon, the automatic piloting device (12) and these associated sensors, the computer (15) which controls the ballasts (14) and the battery control system (17), the whole being able to be controlled manually or by parameters established by artificial intelligence.

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