Floating Wind Turbines for Offshore Power Generation

Floating offshore wind turbine system that can be installed in deeper waters than fixed-bottom wind turbines. The floating turbine has a support structure that floats on the water surface and has columns to support the turbine nacelle. The turbine is connected to the columns at the bottom and the top. This allows the turbine to float and move with the water, rather than being fixed to the seabed. The floating support structure has mooring legs to anchor it to the seabed.

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Controlling the inclination of floating wind turbines to optimize power generation and reduce loads. The method involves inclining the turbine platform into the wind to bring the rotor plane perpendicular to the horizontal axis. This reduces loading on the turbine and tower compared to a vertical platform. The platform is inclined based on wind speed and direction using a ballast system. This allows the turbine to operate at higher efficiency and lower loads for given wind conditions. The platform controller calculates the optimal inclination angle and directs the ballast system to incline the platform.

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Optimizing power production and load reduction in floating wind turbines by inclining the platform into the wind instead of keeping the tower vertical. This brings the rotor plane perpendicular to the wind direction, reducing energy loss and loads compared to a horizontal rotor. The platform inclination is determined based on wind speed and direction to find the optimal angle for that condition. This involves sensors, controllers, and ballast systems to incline the platform dynamically. It allows floating wind farms to operate at higher efficiencies and lower loads compared to fixed-foundation turbines.

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A horizontal axis wind turbine design that improves efficiency and stability, particularly for floating turbines. The key features are: 1) fixing the turbine nacelle and blades against yaw motion relative to the tower, while allowing the tower to yaw with the base, 2) adjusting the nacelle pitch to control turbine speed rather than blade pitch, and 3) mounting multiple turbines on a rotatable platform to avoid wake interference. This provides better efficiency and stability compared to traditional turbines that allow yaw motion and use blade pitch control.

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Offshore wind turbines that float on the ocean surface without anchoring or mooring. The turbines have a unique floating platform design with multiple points connected to both a deep water mass and a surface float. The deep mass and surface float combination forms a resonant system with a frequency less than half the wave frequency. This prevents significant vertical motion in response to waves. The turbine can generate power without needing to counteract wave forces. The floats also enable positioning without anchoring.

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A disruptive all-depth offshore turbine system that can harness ocean energy more efficiently than conventional turbines. The system has a modular design with separate top, middle, and bottom turbine subsystems for wind, waves, and tides respectively. It uses a unique shaft-less twin rotor configuration and breakthrough dual-power zone blades to improve efficiency beyond the Betz limit. The turbines are scalable, synergistic, and have all-season safety features. They aim to provide reliable low-cost ocean energy with LCOE < $0.10 kWh.

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A reduced profile wind turbine tower design that allows taller, more cost-effective wind turbines compared to conventional towers. The key innovation is a slimmer, non-tapered tower core surrounded by tubular arms that interact with the core via wings. This allows the tower to shrink in diameter while boosting stiffness and sway control. The tower shares load between the core and arms. The tower can also float on water using tensioned cables instead of foundations. The floating tower design reduces costs by eliminating expensive bases and enables transport by barge.

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Active wake control for floating wind farms to improve power generation and reduce loads on the turbines. It involves measuring wind fields at the turbines, determining wake properties, predicting wake propagation through the farm, and actively repositioning the turbines to minimize wake influence. This allows precise wake steering and reduction compared to fixed turbines. The system uses sensors, drones, LIDAR, and repositioning devices like boats, AUVs, and actuators to move and rotate turbines out of each other's wakes.

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Shaftless twin rotor wind/wave turbine system that overcomes the efficiency limitations of conventional turbines. The turbine has two subsystems, a vortical wind turbine and a wave turbine, both based on a shaftless twin rotor design. The wind turbine uses vortical blades and satellite generators to extract more power. The wave turbine floats on violent waves with multiple hinge mechanisms and toroidal pipes. It converts wave energy continuously with 360 degree freedom. The shaftless design allows full flow through the center and maximizes power density. It exceeds Betz's efficiency limit.

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A high efficiency, shaftless wind and wave turbine system that uses a pair of rotors instead of a single rotor with a central shaft. The shaftless design allows the turbine to capture more power by eliminating the blockage caused by the shaft. The system also has optimized blades with dual energy zones to further increase power output. The turbine can use wind or waves separately or together. The shaftless design also enables a floating vessel with multiple turbines that can withstand violent waves. The shaftless, dual rotor, and dual energy zone features enable higher efficiency and reliability compared to conventional turbines.

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Ducted wind turbine designed for offshore environments to generate electricity from wind and waves. The ducted turbine has a nacelle enclosed in a streamlined fairing that reduces drag and noise compared to open-rotor turbines. The fairing also protects the rotor blades from wave impact. The turbine is mounted on a floating platform or can be land-based. The platform provides stability and wave energy capture. The ducted turbine allows operating in stronger winds and waves compared to open-rotor turbines. The fairing shape reduces power loss from turbulence. The platform has stabilizing arms and legs to dampen motion. The turbine can be shut down during extreme conditions. The ducted turbine and platform design enables higher power output from offshore turbines compared to open-rotor turbines.

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Assembly method and mooring system for floating wind turbines that enables cost-effective deployment of large-scale offshore wind farms in deep water. The assembly method involves building the base in a shallow water location, then floating it to the assembly area. The center column, outer columns, tower, and turbine are added. Mooring involves chains, synthetic rope, and wire rope in any combination to anchor the platform.

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A matrix wind farm design for offshore wind power generation that allows efficient energy extraction and transport from multiple turbines. The farm uses a floating rig with openings for interchangeable turbines to be inserted and moved into position at the front of the rig. The turbines have larger propeller diameters than the rig openings, allowing them to fully rotate. This eliminates unproductive wind gaps between turbines. The rig provides a fixed platform for the turbines to extract wind energy. Electricity is transported internally through the rig instead of using external cables, reducing losses. The rig has compartments for converting and transforming the electricity before exiting the rig to connect to shore grids.

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Ducted wind turbine for offshore environments that can operate in extreme wind and wave conditions without shutting down. The ducted turbine has a cylindrical housing around the rotor blades to protect them from high winds and waves. The housing reduces wind speeds over the blades, allowing operation in higher winds compared to conventional turbines. The housing also provides stability in waves. The ducted turbine can be mounted on a floating platform or secured to the ground. The platform has stabilizing arms and legs to counter wave forces. The platform and turbine enable offshore wind power generation in harsh environments without shutting down.

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Optimizing power production and reducing loading on floating wind turbines by inclining the platform into the wind to bring the rotor plane perpendicular to the horizontal axis. This eliminates energy loss due to rotor tilt when ramping up speed. The platform controller inclines the turbine foundation based on wind speed and direction to maximize projected rotor area. It compares weather data from nearby turbines to find the optimal angle. This reduces loading on the turbine, tower, and platform structure.

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Optimizing power production from offshore wind turbines on floating platforms by inclining the platform into the wind. A controller on the platform determines the optimum angle for the platform heel based on wind speed and direction. This angle makes the rotor plane perpendicular to the wind direction, maximizing power production. The controller then moves ballast to incline the platform to that angle. It can also coordinate inclination across a wind farm to optimize power as a whole. The concept is based on tilting the rotor plane instead of the tower to avoid energy losses from reduced projected area. The platform inclination counteracts the rotor heeling moment, reducing loading on the tower and base.

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A floating offshore wind turbine design that keeps the turbine's rotation axis horizontal or vertical when mounted on a floating support, even in rough seas. The turbine is mounted on a float with an offset principal axis relative to the tower or rotor axis. This offset allows the float to tilt without affecting the turbine's axis orientation. The float has ballasts that can be shifted to compensate for the tilt and keep the turbine level.

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An integrated floating structure for offshore wind, solar, and aquaculture that maximizes resource utilization in deep seas. The structure has a cube-shaped cage with vertical-axis wind turbines at each corner. Solar panels are on the cage roof. A living quarter and netting for fish farming are inside. Mooring lines secure the structure. The cage shape reduces wave loads. The netting provides damping. The integrated structure allows simultaneous wind power, solar power, and fish farming in deep waters.

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Floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) platform that allows full rotation of the wind turbine nacelle around a vertical axis without requiring external cranes or vessels for installation, maintenance, and component replacement. The FOWT has an anchored bottom part connected to the seabed and a rotatable top part containing the wind turbine. The rotatable part can turn freely around a vertical axis. This allows the turbine to yaw passively with the wind without needing to rotate the entire structure. The bottom part has a mooring system to anchor the FOWT. A cable connects the bottom and top parts to transmit power. The cable has a joint that can disconnect during rotation to avoid torsion damage. This allows the turbine to rotate fully without disconnecting the power. The joint also has a switch to isolate the cable during maintenance. The FOWT design enables simpler installation, maintenance, and component

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A matrix wind farm with interchangeable turbines that can be moved and installed inside a grid-shaped rig on a floating platform. The turbines have wider propeller blades that extend beyond the rig openings. This allows overlapping propeller planes to maximize wind capture. The turbines are pushed through the openings to reach the front of the rig. This eliminates unproductive wind fields between turbines. The rig also has trusses to stiffen the sides. The rig design reduces drag and allows compact transportation of multiple turbines together. The turbines generate DC electricity instead of AC to minimize losses during transmission. The rig has facilities to convert and transmit the DC power efficiently to shore.

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Ocean heat pump system using wind turbines to extract thermal energy from seawater. The system involves floating wind turbines with accelerating wind concentrators and small diameter Darrieus blades. The wind turbines generate electricity to power heat pumps extracting thermal energy from the ocean. The extracted heat can be stored, transported, or used directly as needed. The system aims to harvest clean wind and ocean energy in an integrated manner for multiple uses.

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Floating wind turbine design that doesn't require anchoring, tethering, or seabed foundations for deep offshore wind farms. The turbine floats on the ocean surface using a framework with submerged beams and stabilizers with buoyant floats. The stabilizers have resonant frequencies below wave frequencies to dampen motion. The turbine is positioned by propellers that counteract thrust. The floating system allows wind power generation in deep waters where anchoring is not possible.

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A floating buoyant platform that harvests both wind and wave energy while mitigating instability issues. The platform has a housing containing both a wind turbine and wave energy converter. A rigid frame connects the housing to the platform, creating a gap between the turbine and platform. This allows the turbine to move freely with wind forces while reducing platform motion. The wave converter is also in the housing. This co-located and combined energy conversion prevents excessive platform movement compared to separate turbines and buoys. The platform can adjust wave capturing depth and retract buoys in storms.

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Integrated marine renewable energy system that combines wind and wave power generation on a single floating platform. The system uses a tension leg platform (TLP) in the ocean as the base structure. A wind turbine is installed on the TLP for wind power generation. An oscillating water column (OWC) wave energy converter (WEC) device is also integrated into the TLP. This allows capturing both wind and wave energy resources from the ocean using a single floating platform. It improves resource utilization, reduces costs, and enhances overall efficiency compared to separate offshore wind and wave power systems.

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A floating offshore platform that integrates wind and wave energy generation to maximize utilization of marine resources. The platform uses a semi-submersible floating design with wind turbines on top and an oscillating water column (OWC) wave energy converter below. The integrated system aims to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance overall economy of offshore renewable energy by leveraging the same floating foundation for both wind and wave power.

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A floating wind turbine design that maximizes power generation by allowing the turbine to heel at a specific angle instead of trying to prevent heeling. The turbine has vertical blades and horizontal struts that act as rotors. By optimizing blade and strut geometry, the turbine can find a heel angle that balances decreasing lift force on the blades with increasing lift force on the struts as wind speed increases. This allows higher power generation compared to vertical or horizontal axis turbines alone.

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A floating wind turbine that maximizes power generation in offshore locations by leveraging the heeling of the floating platform. The turbine has vertical blades and horizontal struts that can rotate around a central axis. It's designed to find the optimal heel angle for a given wind speed at a specific offshore location. By optimizing the lift forces on the blades and struts at this angle, the turbine generates more power than conventional vertical or horizontal axis turbines. This involves adjusting factors like turbine geometry, ballast, mooring cable length, and counterbalance to find the angle that balances decreasing blade lift torque with increasing strut lift torque.

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Floating wind turbine with a hybrid vertical/horizontal axis design that can generate more power than traditional VAWTs or HAWTs alone by leveraging the heeling effect of floating turbines in wind. The design method involves finding the optimal heel angle for maximum power based on the turbine geometry, blade and strut aerodynamics, and environmental conditions. By increasing the torque generated by the struts as the turbine heels, it compensates for the decreasing torque from the blades. This allows a floating hybrid turbine to be designed that assumes a specific heel angle at a target wind speed to maximize power output. The hybrid configuration generates more power than either vertical or horizontal axis turbines alone due to the increased lift forces when heeled.

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An offshore integrated floating structure for wind power, solar power, and aquaculture in deep seas that maximizes resource utilization and efficiency. The structure has vertical-axis wind turbines, solar panels, a living quarter, and a cube-shaped fish cage. The turbines, panels, and quarter are mounted on the cage. The cage has small water plane area, nets, and lifting rails for fish farming flexibility. The cage also provides a strong foundation for the turbines and panels in deep water. This integrated structure allows simultaneous wind, solar, and aquaculture exploitation in deep seas, improving resource utilization, stability, and economics compared to separate structures.

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Optimizing power generation from floating wind turbines by inclining the platform into the wind to match the rotor plane verticality. The platform controller calculates the optimal inclination angle based on wind speed and direction to maximize power. It then transfers ballast to achieve that angle. This reduces loading and improves efficiency compared to vertical platforms. The controller can also learn optimal angles from nearby turbines experiencing similar conditions.

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A floating wind turbine design that addresses the challenges of offshore wind power generation using vertical axis turbines. The turbine uses a unique structure to support the vertical axis turbines, reduce fatigue, and improve starting. The turbines are mounted between a central pylon and fairings that pivot with the platform. The blades have deflected central sections and pivot arms. This allows the turbines to rotate independently without a central shaft. The fairings shelter the blades from wind and house components. The pivoting support reduces fatigue and vortex issues. The deflected blades provide centrifugal force balance and starting assistance.

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Integrated power generation system using a floating platform to combine wind and wave energy conversion. The system is based on a tension leg platform (TLP) floating structure in the ocean. It involves installing both a wind turbine and an oscillating water column (OWC) wave energy converter on the TLP platform. This allows simultaneous capture of wind and wave energy resources. The integrated system improves utilization of the floating platform and reduces costs compared to separate wind and wave installations.

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A floating wind turbine design that maximizes power generation by letting the turbine heel at a specific angle in response to wind conditions. The turbine is a hybrid vertical/horizontal axis design with blades and struts that can both generate lift. By optimizing the blade and strut geometry, the turbine can assume a heel angle that maximizes power for the local wind speeds. This leverages the fact that as the turbine heels, lift force on the blades decreases but lift force on the struts increases. The design involves calculating the optimum heel angle for a given turbine configuration and wind speed to maximize power output.

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Offshore wind turbine design for higher availability and efficiency in offshore areas. The turbine has a vertical axis rotor with blades that can generate electricity directly from the rotor without a separate generator. The rotor blades can be twisted shapes that taper upwards or downwards. The rotor is mounted on a floating body with buoyancy to stabilize the turbine. The floating body also houses the generator, which is a large ring shape without a frequency converter. The ring generator uses magnetic bearings to support the rotor shaft vertically without contact. This eliminates traditional bearings prone to failure. The turbine can autonomously move to optimized positions using GPS and motors.

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A floating wind turbine design that improves efficiency and stability compared to conventional floating turbines. The design has the rotor axis fixed against yaw motion and controlled pitch instead of variable blade pitch. The fixed rotor axis prevents blade misalignment as the platform pitches. Controlled pitch adjusts rotor speed by tilting the rotor instead of changing blade angle. This reduces forces and keeps blades intact. Multiple turbines on a rotatable platform avoid wake interference. The platform has the combined center of gravity behind the rotation point.

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A floating system for offshore structures like wind turbines that is made in part from concrete and can be installed in deep water locations. The system has a concrete flotation base that is manufactured on land, then the building is assembled on top. This allows using the durability and low maintenance of concrete compared to metal. The flotation base is hollow and contains pressurized gas to adjust buoyancy. The building can have a telescoping shaft that retracts for transport. The system also has stays that connect the building and base, and can have mooring lines to prevent drifting. This allows transporting the system as a self-floating unit, then sinking it into place.

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A floating wind turbine design that leverages the natural heeling of the turbine in wind to generate more power than traditional vertical or horizontal axis wind turbines. The hybrid vertical/horizontal axis wind turbine is designed to assume a specific heel angle when installed offshore. By optimizing the blade and strut geometry for that angle, the turbine can generate more lift and torque than a vertical axis turbine alone. The design method involves calculating the heel angle that maximizes power for a given wind speed at a specific location. This angle is chosen to balance the decreasing lift from the blades with increasing lift from the struts. The floating turbine can also adjust its ballast, mooring length, and counterbalance to maintain the optimal heel angle in varying wind conditions.

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Integrated deep-sea renewable energy system combining wind and tidal power generation using a floating platform. The system involves a Spar-type floating wind turbine and a vertical axis tidal energy device sharing a common support structure and power transmission system. The floating platform provides stability for the wind turbine in deep water. It also supports the tidal device which benefits from the platform's motion stability. Sharing the platform and transmission reduces costs compared to separate installations. The integrated system allows efficient use of marine renewable energy sources in deeper waters.

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Predicting the behavior of waves for controlling floating systems like wave energy converters or floating wind turbines. The prediction method uses an adaptive autoregressive model to forecast wave characteristics like force or elevation. The model coefficients are made time-varying to account for slow sea state changes. The method involves constructing a single autoregressive model or multiple models, each with time-varying coefficients, to predict the wave characteristic at future times. Kalman filters are used to determine the evolving coefficients. The predicted waves are then used to control the floating system for optimal energy extraction.

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A floating wind turbine that can generate electricity in deep water without the need for fixed foundations. The turbine is mounted on a buoyant support structure that is free to roll in the water. The turbine is connected to the structure via a hinged mechanism that allows it to rotate and maintain an operational angle as the structure rolls. This floating configuration eliminates the need for fixed foundations and allows the turbine to be installed in deeper water. The structure's buoyancy and rolling motion is dampened by the surrounding water.

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A floatable offshore wind power plant that can be moored in deep water without anchors. The plant has a semi-submersible support structure with ballast tanks and buoyancy cavities. This allows the plant to sink low in the water to stabilize against waves. The wind turbine mast connects to the support structure. A single cable provides both power and mooring forces. A swivel and slip coupling connect the cable to the plant. This allows the turbine to move freely in six degrees of freedom. The low waterline cross section of the buoyancy cavities keeps buoyancy forces stable during wave motion. The semi-submersible design and cable mooring provide stability and positioning without anchors.

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Floating wind turbine assembly with improved stability for high winds, using mooring lines angled to submerge the buoyancy tanks when tensioned. The floating platform has radial tanks and a horizontal truss connecting them. The turbine mast attaches at the upper level above the truss. The mooring lines connect lower to the seafloor and upper to the truss. Tensioning the lines submerges the tanks, stabilizing the platform without relying on hydrostatics.

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A floating integrated system for combining wave energy dissipation, deep-sea aquaculture, and offshore wind power generation in one floating structure. The system has a wind power generation system, a floating breakwater system, and a deep-sea aquaculture system integrated together. The wind turbines generate electricity, the breakwater reduces wave loads on the aquaculture cages, and the aquaculture provides a platform for farming marine species in deep water.

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Floating wind turbine design that maximizes power generation in offshore environments by leveraging heeling. The turbine is a hybrid vertical/horizontal axis design that assumes a specific heel angle based on wind speed. The blades and struts generate lift forces that interact differently as the turbine heels. By optimizing blade and strut geometry, the torque from blade lift decreases while strut lift increases as the angle increases. This allows finding an angle that maximizes total torque and power. The turbine can be designed to heel at this angle for target wind speeds. This floating hybrid turbine can generate more power than conventional vertical or horizontal axis turbines alone.

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Offshore wind turbine mounted on a floating support structure that provides stability to keep the wind turbine's blade plane optimized for power generation. The floating turbine has a main cylindrical floater part, with ballast tanks to adjust the center of gravity. By changing the ballast water levels, the floating turbine can counteract tilting forces from wind thrust and nacelle drag, preventing excessive blade angle changes that can affect power output.

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A floating platform that combines wind and wave energy generation to increase overall efficiency and reduce costs compared to separate installations. The platform is a semi-submersible design with wind turbine, pontoons, and columns. It also has an oscillating water column wave energy converter. This allows simultaneous capture of wind and wave power using the same structure. The integrated system aims to improve utilization of the floating foundation, reduce costs, and enhance overall economy of offshore renewable energy.

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A slimmer, more efficient wind turbine tower design that reduces costs and allows taller, more powerful towers. The reduced profile wind turbine tower has a uniform core surrounded by axially loaded tubular arms that interact with the core via bracing rings. This allows the tower to resist lateral forces and sway with less material than a traditional tapered tower. The core takes a small portion of the moments, while the stiffer arms resist the majority. The tower's components work together to provide stability. This reduces tower diameter, weight, and costs while enabling taller towers. The tower can also be floated and anchored offshore.

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A floating platform that harnesses power from waves, wind, and sunlight to generate electricity. The platform has a buoyant section that moves with waves, a wind turbine with tilting blades covered in solar cells, and a vertical piston inside the platform that compresses air as it moves. This air drives internal blades to generate electricity. The platform converts multiple natural energies into electricity.

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Mooring method for floating wind turbine platforms that allows them to be securely anchored in deep water without expensive fixed foundations. The method involves deploying a plurality of floating wind turbine platforms in the water and connecting each platform's mooring lines to multiple anchors fixed on the seafloor. This configuration allows the turbines to move with the waves while preventing them from drifting away. The anchors receive mooring lines from multiple turbines, spreading the load and preventing any single turbine from pulling out the anchor.

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A renewable energy power generating device that converts wind and water flow into electricity using non-symmetrical lift generating aerofoil blades. The device has a rotating support structure with blades that can deform or invert to generate lift throughout the rotation cycle. This allows continuous power generation without the efficiency loss of conventional blades during the return phase. The blades can deform, collapse, or pivot to change their shape and lift characteristics. The device also has sensors, cameras, and control systems for monitoring and optimizing performance.

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