Process for maximizing speed of marine vessels propelled by natural renewable energy by managing the harvesting, storage and re-use of natural energy

Abstract

A marine vessel can be propelled by using wind or solar energy. This propulsion results in the forward movement and six degrees of motion (roll, heave, pitch, yaw, surge, and sway) of the marine vessel. This invention capitalizes on the fact that solar, wind and wave energy are cyclical by nature. The present invention enables the vessel to manage stored and harvested energy from these energy sources and use the stored energy during periods when the external natural sources of energy are not available in adequate quantities to maintain a reasonable speed of advance for the marine vessel. The vessel's natural energy management system (NEMS) manages it in such a way that harvesting of the energy during high energy cycles, storing it and using it when needed during low external energy cycles, allows a marine vessel to maintain faster average speed without reliance on any fossil or chemical fuel and by only using renewable energy sources.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A process or method where an improved marine vessel is comprised of;
 a floating structure which has at least one energy capturing device;   a motor/generator that acts as a propeller to propel and as a regenerative device to harvest energy;   an energy storage device to serve as a storage bank that could be used when external energy sources such as wind and solar are not at peak;   an energy management and control system that monitors and controls energy production, storage and expenditure to maximize the vessel speed over the range;   whereby said marine vessel uses said technologies and processes integrated to create a zero emission, zero fossil or chemical fueled marine vessel which has an improved speed, where the speed over a long course is significantly increased exploiting the cyclical availability of external wind and solar energy. During high wind and solar energy cycles, significant energy is harvested at a minor compromise to vessel speed and during low wind and solar energy cycles the system expends the harvested energy to significantly increase the average speed over the course. When this happens, relatively little energy is expended to gain a significant increase in speed and distance. This is possible by applying the speed/power characteristics of marine vessel by exploiting the marine engineering principles which allows the use of available energy harvested from external sources more effectively and thus increasing the speed of the vessel.   
     
     
         2 . A process involving marine vessel of  claim 1 , wherein said marine vessel's propulsion system can harvest wind energy through the motor generator from the forward motion of the vessel, store it and use it to increase average vessel speed when winds are not as favorable. 
     
     
         3 . A process involving marine vessel of  claim 1 , wherein said marine vessel uses six degrees of freedom motion in the water (pitch, roll, yaw, heave, surge and sway) to harvest energy using a mechanism that converts the rolling, pitching, etc. motion of the marine craft into energy. 
     
     
         4 . A process in which a marine vessel of  claim 1 , wherein said marine vessel system uses Rim Driven Thrusters or propellers to harvest energy from the water on which it moves as well as propel the marine vessel. 
     
     
         5 . A process in which a marine vessel of  claim 1 , wherein said system combines a low resistance hull form like a fine single or multihull vessel, super slender, or planning hull form with a wind energy harvesting, storage and regenerative propulsion system to create a higher speed, longer range marine vessel which can make faster speeds without reliance on of fossil or chemical fuels. 
     
     
         6 . A process in which a marine vessel of  claim 1 , combines harvested wind and solar energy for storage on board a marine vessel for re-use when wind and sun cycles have low energy yield. 
     
     
         7 . A process in which a marine vessel of  claim 1 , wherein said vessel uses an energy management and control system which optimizes the energy harvesting process on a marine vessel. 
     
     
         8 . A process in which a marine vessel of  claim 1 , wherein said vessel has a management and control system which optimizes the Flettner rotor rotational speed on a marine vessel to exploit maximum wind energy usage to gain maximum vessel speed and maximize energy harvesting by changing the rotor speed automatically to optimize wind usage. 
     
     
         9 . A process in which a marine vessel of  claim 1 , wherein said vessel has a management and control system which can use multiple Flettner rotors to change the direction of a marine vessel, by rotating different rotors at different rotational speeds and in different directions. 
     
     
         10 . A process in which a marine vessel of  claim 1 , wherein said vessel has a method of applying energy harvested by autonomous naval surface or underwater vehicles to extend its autonomy using the principles in this invention.