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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