Mobile Ocean Energy Harvesters for Stable Compute Grid Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing energy demands of computing infrastructure are outpacing the development of energy infrastructure, particularly in remote, deep-water areas with high-energy winds and waves, where existing technologies are not cost-effective for energy harvesting.
Innovation Solution
The integration of computing and energy-harvesting hardware in mobile ocean energy 'harvesters' that form elements of a compute grid, allowing for the efficient harvesting of energy from remote, deep-water areas using buoyant energy harvesters that are free-floating and self-propelled.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If energy harvesting devices are deployed in remote, deep-water areas with high-energy winds and waves, then energy harvesting efficiency is improved, but device stability and controllability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The energy harvesting device is designed with dynamic positioning capabilities, using propulsion systems to actively adjust and maintain optimal positions in remote, deep-water areas. The device can dynamically respond to environmental conditions (winds, waves, currents) while harvesting energy, rather than being passively fixed. This allows the device to access high-energy remote locations while maintaining sufficient stability through active control.
2Reliability
If traditional fixed energy harvesting devices are used, then device stability is improved, but adaptability to remote deep-water locations deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The device transitions from a static, fixed-position design to a dynamic, mobile platform equipped with propulsion and navigation systems. This enables the device to adapt to remote deep-water locations that were previously inaccessible to traditional fixed installations, while maintaining operational stability through active position control and environmental adaptation capabilities.
3Adaptability or versatility
If mobile, self-propelled harvesters are deployed, then adaptability to remote areas is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The mobile harvester is designed as a multi-functional integrated platform that combines energy harvesting, self-propulsion, navigation, and positioning capabilities in a single device. This universal design approach allows the same platform to perform multiple functions (harvesting energy while moving to optimal locations, navigating autonomously, and maintaining position), thereby managing complexity through functional integration rather than separate specialized components.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enables the cost-effective harvesting of energy from remote, deep-water areas, reducing the need for electrical energy generation on land and providing a sustainable solution for powering computing infrastructure.
Implementation Method 1
A plurality of buoyant energy harvesters, each being configured to convert ocean wave energy into electricity
Implementation Method 2
each being equipped with a means of producing thrust to propel itself across a body of water
Data Source
AI summary
An energy-harvesting compute grid includes computing assemblies that cooperate with mobile energy harvesters configured to be deployed on a body of water. The plurality of energy harvesters are positioned on and move adjacent to an upper surface of a body of water, and the locations of the energy harvesters can be monitored and controlled. The wide-spread gathering by the harvesters of environmental data within that geospatial area permits the forecasting of environmental factors, the discovery of advantageous energy-harvesting opportunities, the observation and tracking of hazardous objects and conditions, the efficient distribution of data and/or tasks to and between the harvesters included in the compute grid, the efficient execution of logistical operations to support, upgrade, maintain, and repair the cluster, and the opportunity to execute data-gathering across an area much larger than that afforded by an individual harvester (e.g., radio astronomy, 3D tracking of and recording of the communication patterns of marine mammals, etc.). The computational tasks can be shared and distributed among a compute grid implemented in part by a collection of individual floating self-propelled energy harvesters thereby providing many benefits related to cost and efficiency that are unavailable to relatively isolated energy harvesters, and likewise unavailable to terrestrial compute grids of the prior art.