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US-12623755-B2 - Floating platform for renewable energy

US12623755B2US 12623755 B2US12623755 B2US 12623755B2US-12623755-B2

Abstract

The present application relates to a floating module, a floating platform assembled by multiple floating platforms, and an offshore system assembled by multiple floating platforms for harvesting green energies in a large body of water. The floating module comprises an external frame having a plurality of side tubes for providing buoyance to the floating module; and an internal frame coupled to the external frame. In addition, the floating module has a mooring mechanism for fixing the floating module in position at sea or ocean. Methods of making the floating module and assembling the floating platform and the offshore system are also disclosed.

Inventors

  • Tze Liong TAN

Assignees

  • G8 ENERGY PTE LTD

Dates

Publication Date
20260512
Application Date
20201121

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A floating module, comprising: an external frame having a plurality of side tubes for providing buoyance to the floating module; an internal frame coupled to the external frame, wherein a facility is configured to mount on the internal frame; and a mooring mechanism coupled to the external frame or internal frame for fixing the floating module in position, wherein the mooring mechanism comprises: at least one string comprising a plurality of elastic branch strings secured at the external frame; and a sinker coupled to the elastic branch strings and configured to be submerged under the sea for fixing the floating module at a specific location on the sea; wherein the elastic branch strings are configured to remain under constant tension with no slack to enhance stability of the floating module at the sea and to make the floating module adaptable to harsh offshore conditions.
  2. 2 . The floating module of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of side tubes are hermitically joined for preventing leakage into the external frame.
  3. 3 . The floating module of claim 1 , wherein the internal frame has a H-shaped configuration comprising a first bar and a second bar coupled to the external frame; and a panel coupled to the first bar and the second bar, wherein the first bar and the second bar have a same length and are configured to be parallel to each other.
  4. 4 . The floating module of claim 1 , wherein: the at least one string coupled to the external frame at a first end; and the sinker coupled to the at least one string at a second end opposed to the first end; wherein, in a moored configuration, the sinker is submerged and suspended in a water column such that the sinker is spaced apart from seabed with a clearance above the seabed, and the at least one string is maintained in tension.
  5. 5 . A floating platform, comprising: at least two floating modules of claim 1 , wherein the at least two floating modules are flexibly joined together.
  6. 6 . The floating platform of claim 5 , wherein the at least two floating modules are joined by thermoplastic welding.
  7. 7 . The floating platform of claim 5 , further comprising: a plurality of dampers for flexibly coupling two side tubes of adjacent floating modules, respectively.
  8. 8 . The floating platform of claim 5 , further comprising: at least one bumper between two of the plurality of dampers for preventing sliding of the plurality of dampers.
  9. 9 . The floating platform of claim 5 , wherein the floating platform is assembled by seven hexagonal floating modules that comprises one hexagonal floating module at a central position of the floating platform; and six hexagonal floating modules assembled surrounding the hexagonal floating module at the central position.
  10. 10 . The floating platform of claim 5 , further comprising: a mooring mechanism coupled to the floating module at the central position of the floating platform.
  11. 11 . The floating platform of claim 10 , wherein the mooring mechanism comprises a central sinker coupled underneath to the central floating module.
  12. 12 . An offshore system for harvesting renewable energy in a large water body, comprising: a plurality of the floating platforms of claim 5 , wherein the floating platforms are flexibly joined together; and wherein the large water is a sea or an ocean.
  13. 13 . The offshore system of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of floating platforms are configured to form at least one interior water region bound within the offshore system communicative with the large water body.
  14. 14 . The offshore system of claim 12 , comprising: a plurality of solar panels mounted on the floating platforms for harvesting and converting solar energy to electrical energy.
  15. 15 . The offshore system of claim 12 , comprising: a plurality of wind turbines mounted on the floating platforms for harvesting and converting wind energy to electrical energy.
  16. 16 . The offshore system of claim 12 , further comprising: at least one combiner box for combining the electrical energy from the solar panels.
  17. 17 . The offshore system of claim 16 , further comprising: a central inverter for changing electricity Direct Current (DC) to Alternating Current (AC).
  18. 18 . The offshore system of claim 17 , further comprising: a transformer for transmitting and interconnecting the Alternative Current with a power grid.
  19. 19 . The offshore system of claim 12 , further comprising: a dock for loading and unloading the offshore system with a ship.
  20. 20 . The floating module of claim 2 , wherein the hermetically sealed side tubes are sealed at both ends with stoppers, the stoppers being slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the side tube, or slightly larger than the outer diameter of the side tube.

Description

The present application relates to a floating module, a floating platform assembled by multiple floating modules, and an offshore system assembled by multipole floating platforms for harvesting green energies in a large body of water. The present application further relates to a method of making the floating module, and methods of assembling the floating platform and the offshore system. Traditional facilities for harvesting green energies or renewable energy (such as solar energy) are built on land for easy construction and maintenance. However, the facilities would occupy large areas of land and thus are not suitable for small countries (such as Singapore) or inside large cities (such as London) where land is in a very limited supply. Floating platforms are then developed for installing the facilities on inland small bodies of water, such as lakes, reservoirs, storage ponds, clearing pools. However, large-scaled facilities cannot be installed on the small bodies of water. In addition, the facilities may also cause environmental problems (such as invading living space of wild animals) around the small bodies of water and meanwhile deteriorated thereby. Recently, floating platforms are construed on shallow bodies of water at or near coastlines of large water bodies (such as seas and oceans) as extensions from onshore lands. However, the floating platforms still cannot be built in large scales on the shallow bodies of water where other facilities (such as fishing farms, goods harbors and recreational facilities (such as surfing)) are also located. In addition, green energies other than solar energy (such as wind energy and ocean energy) does not exist in a substantial mount at or near the coastlines. Therefore, there is a need for a floating platform that can be built and maintained on the large bodies of water far away from the coastlines for harvesting various types of green energies. As a first aspect, the present application discloses a floating module. The floating module comprises an external frame having a plurality of side tubes for providing buoyance to the floating module; and an internal frame coupled to the external frame. A facility (particularly renewable energy facility (such as solar cell)) is configured to mount on the internal frame. Preferably, the side tubes are identical such that the floating module has a symmetrical configuration. The side tubes have a hollow structure with an outer diameter ranging from 200 millimeters (mm) to 1000 millimeters (mm) and a thickness ranging from 9 millimeters (mm) to 50 millimeters (mm). In some implementations, the external frame has a hexagonal configuration assembled by six identical side tubes; and the floating module is called hexagonal floating module accordingly. Each side tube has a length ranging from 6 meters (m) to 30 meters (m) and thus the hexagonal floating module has an area defined by the external frame defines an area in a range of 90 square meters (m2) to 2330 square meters (m2). For harvesting green energies at the sea or ocean, one or more facilities (such as solar panels or wind turbines) are configured to mount on the internal frame for collecting the green energies of various types that are available at the sea or ocean. Two or more of the side tubes (such as six side tubes for the hexagonal floating module) are hermitically joined (by welding such as thermal fusing or by elbow) for preventing leakage into the external frame. The side tubes are optionally made of light-weight materials which does not soak water. Since the floating platform is installed in seas and oceans, the light-weight materials should have resistance to the harsh marine conditions, including but not limited to corrosion of saline sea water, extensive UV-exposure and severe interferences of marine livings. In addition, the side tubes should have significant mechanical strength for resisting shocks of storms and flow of ocean currents. Since temperature changes significantly in daytime and nighttime in the oceans, the light-weight materials optionally have a low thermal efficient for maintaining the floating module. In some implementations, the side tubes are made of engineering plastics, including thermal plastic materials such as High Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE), Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE), PerFluoroAlkoxy (PFA), PolyFluoroEth, Cross Link PE (XLPE), Polypropylene (PP) (such as PP Random (PPR)), PolyTetraFluoroEthylene (PTFE), EthyleneChloroTrifFluoroEthylene, PolyVinyliDeneFluoride (PVDF), Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene (FEP) and Perfluoroalkoxy Alkanes (PFA); as well as thermoset materials such as EthyleneVinylalcOHol (EVOH), PolyVinylChoride (PVC), PolyStyrene (PS), PolyCarbonate (PC), PolyMethylMethAcrylate (PMMA) and Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS). In some implantations, the side tubes are made of composite materials such as fiberglass reinforced polymers (FRP), or new carbon materials such as carbon fibers, three-dimensional