AISV - Automatically Inflatable and Stowable Volume for step reduction in WEC cost of energy

Overview

In the same way that sailing ships reef their sails to deliver both speed and survivability, the proposed concept is intended to break the fundamental conflict between a wave energy converter’s performance and survivability by introducing the ability to substantially change the machine’s hull-volume on command.

A selectable hull volume allows a WEC to grow substantially to absorb much more power during most of the year while reverting to a smaller robustly survivable form when the waves are extreme. The Automatically Inflatable and Stowable Volume (AISV) technology is intended to provide the economics of an otherwise unsurvivable machine with the survivability of an otherwise uneconomic machine.