Examples include a spar buoy for use in water, the spar buoy including a bottom section configured to be completely submerged and having a first average diameter, the bottom section including an anchor cable attachment device, a top section configured to be partially submerged, the top section including an aerial tether attachment device, an intermediate section configured to be completely submerged and having a second average diameter that is greater than the first average diameter, where the intermediate section is disposed between the bottom section and the top section, the intermediate section including a buoyancy chamber having a first density less than the water, and a ballast material disposed in the bottom section and having a second density greater than or equal to the water, where the spar buoy is configured to exhibit a particular buoyancy-to-weight ratio and a particular moment ratio when in the water.

A buoyant hydrodynamic pump is disclosed that can float on a surface of a body of water over which waves tend to pass. The pump incorporates an open-bottomed tube with a constriction. The tube partially encloses a substantial volume of water with which the tube's constriction interacts, creating and/or amplifying oscillations therein in response to wave action. Wave-driven oscillations result in periodic upward ejections of portions of the water inside the tube that can be collected in a reservoir that is at least partially positioned above the mean water level of the body of water, or pressurized by compressed air or gas, or both. Water within such a reservoir may return to the body of water via a turbine, thereby generating electrical power (making the device a wave engine), or else the device's pumping action can be used for other purposes such as water circulation, propulsion, or cloud seeding.

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.

A floating drilling platform for offshore oil/gas drilling and exploration in ice-infested polar areas comprises a deck module, a hard compartment, and a soft compartment sequentially connected from top to bottom. The bottom of the deck module is connected to the top of the hard compartment by evenly distributed column. Both the hard and the soft compartments are cylinders centrally arranged with center wells. The deck module is also centrally arranged with a center well. The hard compartment, the soft compartment and the deck module are coincident with a centerline. The outer diameter of the soft compartment, as well as that of the deck module, is larger than that of the hard compartment. The top of the hard compartment is designed with a circular inclined plane upwardly and outwardly arranged at the outer edge. The top of the circular inclined plane is connected to the bottom of the deck module.

A semi-submersible marine structure is described. The structure includes a hull including a pontoon, a deck disposed above the pontoon, and a plurality of columns supporting the deck from the pontoon. The structure also includes a plurality of tendons supporting the hull from a seabed. The pontoon has the shape of a circular ring, and the plurality of tendons are arranged at regular intervals along an external circumferential surface of the pontoon.

A buoyant hydrodynamic pump is disclosed that can float on a surface of a body of water over which waves tend to pass. The pump incorporates an open-bottomed tube with a constriction. The tube partially encloses a substantial volume of water with which the tube's constriction interacts, creating and/or amplifying oscillations therein in response to wave action. Wave-driven oscillations result in periodic upward ejections of portions of the water inside the tube that can be collected in a reservoir that is at least partially positioned above the mean water level of the body of water, or pressurized by compressed air or gas, or both. Water within such a reservoir may return to the body of water via a turbine, thereby generating electrical power (making the device a wave engine), or else the device's pumping action can be used for other purposes such as water circulation, propulsion, or cloud seeding.

A wind turbine platform configured to float in a body of water and support a wind turbine thereon includes a buoyant hull platform. A wind turbine tower is centrally mounted on the hull platform and a wind turbine is mounted to the wind turbine tower. An anchor is connected to the hull platform and to the seabed, and a weight-adjustable mass is suspended from the hull platform.

A system is demonstrated for heave neutralisation of semisubmersible platforms that can be built into any conceivable configuration of such platforms. That the system is also conceivably active and predicatively can be controlled can be concluded by analysing the appended calculation models. As an example FIG. 18, column E, is mentioned, wherein the water volume increments in the rise canister are 37 cubic metres for each half metre of wave height, so that, with reference to column A, from H=10.5 m to H=12 m is 437 148 cubic metres more than 150 tonnessimultaneously with the air pressure, shown in column K, increasing from 123.86 to 131.05 kPa, a difference of just 6.19 kPa (0.0619 bar or 61.9 millibars). Large ballast volumes can be moved out and in of the system at small pressure changes and short response time.

A buoyant hydrodynamic pump is disclosed that can float on a surface of a body of water over which waves tend to pass. The pump incorporates an open-bottomed tube with a constriction. The tube partially encloses a substantial volume of water with which the tube's constriction interacts, creating and/or amplifying oscillations therein in response to wave action. Wave-driven oscillations result in periodic upward ejections of portions of the water inside the tube that can be collected in a reservoir that is at least partially positioned above the mean water level of the body of water, or pressurized by compressed air or gas, or both. Water within such a reservoir may return to the body of water via a turbine, thereby generating electrical power (making the device a wave engine), or else the device's pumping action can be used for other purposes such as water circulation, propulsion, or cloud seeding.

A floating drilling platform for offshore oil/gas drilling and exploration in ice-infested polar areas comprises a deck module, a hard compartment, and a soft compartment sequentially connected from top to bottom. The bottom of the deck module is connected to the top of the hard compartment by evenly distributed column. Both the hard and the soft compartments are cylinders centrally arranged with center wells. The deck module is also centrally arranged with a center well. The hard compartment, the soft compartment and the deck module are coincident with a centerline. The outer diameter of the soft compartment, as well as that of the deck module, is larger than that of the hard compartment. The top of the hard compartment is designed with a circular inclined plane upwardly and outwardly arranged at the outer edge. The top of the circular inclined plane is connected to the bottom of the deck module.