Abstract: Disclosed is a novel type of computing apparatus which is integrated within a buoy that obtains the energy required to power its computing operations from waves that travel across the surface of the body of water on which the buoy floats. Additionally, these self-powered computing buoys utilize their close proximity to a body of water in order to significantly lower the cost and complexity of cooling their computing circuits. Computing tasks of an arbitrary nature are supported, as is the incorporation and/or utilization of computing circuits specialized for the execution of specific types of computing tasks. And, each buoy's receipt of a computational task, and its return of a computational result, may be accomplished through the transmission of data across satellite links, fiber optic cables, LAN cables, radio, modulated light, microwaves, and/or any other channel, link, connection, and/or network.

Abstract: A buoyant wave energy device is disclosed that incorporates an open-bottomed tube of substantial length in which is partially enclosed a first body of water that oscillates in response to wave action. The device incorporates a buoy to which an upper end of the tube is connected and inside of which is trapped a second body of water of substantial mass. A differential phase in the oscillations of the water trapped in the tube, and the oscillations of the buoy of augmented mass, result in the periodic compression of a pocket of air trapped at the top of the tube, and in the subsequent expulsion of pressurized air through a turbine, thereby generating electrical power.

Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for nautical stationkeeping of free-floating objects. In one example, a method includes adjusting translational motion of a body freely floating in water by rotating the body. The translational motion may be adjusted, for instance, to maintain the body within a geographic area. In certain examples, the adjustment of the translational motion may be realized via a Magnus effect induced by rotating the body. The body may be configured as, for example, a free-floating object such as a wave engine.

Abstract: A method by which an environmental energy (e.g., wave energy) is harvested, converted into electrical power, and thereafter used to electrolyze seawater into hydrogen and chlorine gases. Those gases are recombined into hydrogen chloride from which is formed hydrochloric acid solution which is diluted and deposited at a depth sufficient to ensure its neutralization and sequestration for a significant period of time (e.g., for over a millennium). By removing chloride ions from a portion of the sea adjacent to its upper surface and depositing them into a portion of the sea more adjacent to its bottom, acidity is shifted from the surface to base of the sea, and the surface ocean is given a greater ability to absorb and buffer atmospheric carbon dioxide without a corresponding increase in acidity.

Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus, system, and method, by which a plentiful supply of carbon dioxide may be provided to a fuel-conversion process operated in the deep sea far from shore thereby permitting a conversion of electrolysis-generated hydrogen gas into a carbonaceous liquid fuel. Because the cost and complexity of storing and transporting liquid fuels by ship is substantially simpler and less costly than is transporting gases, the present invention is expected to promote the extraction and distribution of energy harvested from the deep sea by permitting it to be accomplished with reasonable logistical complexity and at a reasonable and low cost.

Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein include a vessel for floating and traveling adjacent to an upper surface of a body of water. In an embodiment, the vessel comprises a support structure, a first floatation chamber coupled to the support structure, a second floatation chamber coupled to the support structure, the second floatation chamber laterally spaced apart from and fluidly coupled to the first floatation chamber, and a third floatation chamber coupled to the support structure, the third floatation chamber laterally spaced apart from the first floatation chamber and from the second floatation chamber. In an embodiment, the vessel further comprises a robot system coupled to the support structure, where the robot system comprises an end effector and a nozzle head coupled to the end effector.

Abstract: A buoyant wave energy device is disclosed that incorporates an open-bottomed tube of substantial length in which is partially enclosed a first body of water that oscillates in response to wave action. The device incorporates a buoy to which an upper end of the tube is connected and inside of which is trapped a second body of water of substantial mass. A differential phase in the oscillations of the water trapped in the tube, and the oscillations of the buoy of augmented mass, result in the periodic compression of a pocket of air trapped at the top of the tube, and in the subsequent expulsion of pressurized air through a turbine, thereby generating electrical power.

Abstract: A method by which an environmental energy (e.g., wave energy) is harvested, converted into electrical power, and thereafter used to electrolyze seawater into hydrogen and chlorine gases. Those gases are recombined into hydrogen chloride from which is formed hydrochloric acid solution which is diluted and deposited at a depth sufficient to ensure its neutralization and sequestration for a significant period of time (e.g., for over a millennium). By removing chloride ions from a portion of the sea adjacent to its upper surface and depositing them into a portion of the sea more adjacent to its bottom, acidity is shifted from the surface to base of the sea, and the surface ocean is given a greater ability to absorb and buffer atmospheric carbon dioxide without a corresponding increase in acidity.

Abstract: Disclosed is buoyant wave energy capture device, adapted to float adjacent to an upper surface of a body of water over which waves pass, and adapted to capture a portion of the radiated waves created by its own rising and falling in response to incident and/or passing environmental waves. A power take off mechanism combined with the disclosed wave energy capture device may be tuned to a specific wave frequency, and thereby optimally extract energy from a motion of a single frequency, even the wave energy capture device may be excited and/or energized by waves of any of a relatively broad range of frequencies, thereby increasing the power-generation and cost efficiencies of such devices relative to wave energy conversion devices of the prior art.

Abstract: A buoyant wave energy device is disclosed that incorporates an open-bottomed tube of substantial length in which is partially enclosed a first body of water that oscillates in response to wave action. The device incorporates a buoy to which an upper end of the tube is connected and inside of which is trapped a second body of water of substantial mass. A differential phase in the oscillations of the water trapped in the tube, and the oscillations of the buoy of augmented mass, result in the periodic compression of a pocket of air trapped at the top of the tube, and in the subsequent expulsion of pressurized air through a turbine, thereby generating electrical power.

Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus, system, and method, by which a gaseous chemical, e.g., hydrogen gas, can be retrieved by, stored within, and transported by, a low-cost autonomous vessel. The vessel is deployed, and operates, within a body of water. A submerged portion of the vessel is subjected to an ambient hydrostatic pressure that is used to compress the stored gases. A spar buoy that floats adjacent to a surface of the body of water regulates and stabilizes a depth of the submerged portion. A single pressure-tolerant chamber within the submerged portion is used to acquire gas from a gas provider and to equilibrate the pressure of the gas so acquired. The pressure-equilibrated and/or pressure-balanced gas is then drawn into a first gas storage tank through a venting of an approximately equal volume of another gas, e.g., air, from a second gas storage tank, resulting in a gas transfer at an approximately constant pressure.

Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for nautical stationkeeping of free-floating objects. In one example, a method includes adjusting translational motion of a body freely floating in water by rotating the body. The translational motion may be adjusted, for instance, to maintain the body within a geographic area. In certain examples, the adjustment of the translational motion may be realized via a Magnus effect induced by rotating the body. The body may be configured as, for example, a free-floating object such as a wave engine.

Abstract: A flow regulation system for regulating a flow of a fluid from a fluid reservoir is disclosed having a fluid reservoir container, an effluent conduit adapted to discharge fluid from the fluid reservoir container, and a fluid turbine disposed in the effluent conduit. A generator is operatively connected to the fluid turbine for converting mechanical energy of the fluid turbine to electrical energy, and a power conditioning module is energized by the generator to alter voltage and current characteristics of electricity generated by the generator. A load manager is provided to monitor operational characteristic of the flow regulation systems.

Abstract: An apparatus that floats at the surface of a body of water over which waves pass, causing a nominally vertical axis of the apparatus to tilt away from an axis normal to the resting surface of the body of water. Tilting allows a fluid to flow through a channel that in an un-tilted apparatus would require the gravitational potential energy of the fluid to increase (i.e., to flow uphill), but, because of the tilt allows the fluid to flow through the channel in a downhill direction. Successive wave-driven tilts of the apparatus incrementally raise water to a head from which a portion of its gravitational potential energy can be converted to electrical power by causing the water to return to a lower level by flowing through a water turbine, or through some other apparatus that performs a useful function when supplied with a flow of high-pressure water.

Abstract: A buoyant wave energy device is disclosed that incorporates an open-bottomed tube of substantial length in which is partially enclosed a first body of water that oscillates in response to wave action. The device incorporates a buoy to which an upper end of the tube is connected and inside of which is trapped a second body of water of substantial mass. A differential phase in the oscillations of the water trapped in the tube, and the oscillations of the buoy of augmented mass, result in the periodic compression of a pocket of air trapped at the top of the tube, and in the subsequent expulsion of pressurized air through a turbine, thereby generating electrical power.

Abstract: A pressure-regulating buoyant hydrodynamic pump is disclosed that floats adjacent to a surface of a body of water over which waves tend to pass. In response to wave-induced movements of the device, water is drawn into a mouth at a lower end of an injection tube, and water is ejected from a mouth at an upper end of the injection tube. The ejected water is deposited into an interior of the hollow buoy thereby augmenting a water reservoir therein. And water flows from the water reservoir to and through a water turbine, thereby energizing a generator, power electronics, and an electrical load. A novel water-turbine effluent buffering tube, or chamber, smooths pressure variations felt across the water turbine.

Abstract: A computing apparatus that is integrated within a flotation module, the system obtaining the energy required to power its computing operations from waves that travel across the surface of a body of water on which the flotation module sets. Additionally, the self-powered computing apparatus employs novel designs to utilize its close proximity to the body of water and/or to strong ocean winds to significantly lower the cost and complexity of cooling their computing circuits.

Abstract: Disclosed is an autonomous vessel comprising a hydrodynamic pump that converts the energy of ocean waves into electrical power when the vessel is floating adjacent to an upper surface of an ocean, and utilizes a portion of the generated electrical power produced to charge an electrical energy storage device. The vessel may submerge itself, and then propel itself beneath the water's surface, after which it may return to the surface and resume its production of electrical energy and recharge its electrical energy storage device.

Abstract: A method by which an environmental energy (e.g., wave energy) is harvested, converted into electrical power, and thereafter used to electrolyze seawater into hydrogen and chlorine gases. Those gases are recombined into hydrogen chloride from which is formed hydrochloric acid solution which is diluted and deposited at a depth sufficient to ensure its neutralization and sequestration for a significant period of time (e.g., for over a millennium). By removing chloride ions from a portion of the sea adjacent to its upper surface and depositing them into a portion of the sea more adjacent to its bottom, acidity is shifted from the surface to base of the sea, and the surface ocean is given a greater ability to absorb and buffer atmospheric carbon dioxide without a corresponding increase in acidity.

Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus that adapts the rate of its computational work to match the availability of energy harvested from a stochastic energy source; and, with respect to some types of energy harvesting, regulates the rate of energy capture, the rate of energy conversion, and the rate of consumption of stored potential energy, through its alteration, regulation, and/or adjustment, of that same computational work load.