An alternating Open Chamber Cavity for employing a very useful safe and controllable new lifting plus lubricating hydrodynamic force for effectively improving marine transportation in a seaway, I named SAFELY CONTROLLED, AUTOMATED WATER DISSECTED LUBRICATION AND LIFT FORCE, has been discovered and innovated for use by myself; and I have also invented the automated mechanism I named “FLEXIBLE POWER-FINS”, for controlling the safe exploitation of this beneficial natural phenomenon, as well as innovated a way to significantly improve the turning capabilities of a watercraft in motion.

The present invention is a device to reduce the skin friction drag on the hull surface of a marine vehicle. The device is in a form of a channel having a wider portion facing an incoming water stream (inlet) and a narrower portion (outlet) installed over an air orifice on the hull surface, forming an array of channels. A stream of water, generated by a marine vehicle motion, enters the channels and creates a low pressure region that pulls the air into the stream of water through the air intake holes, creating a stream of air bubbles. This structure increases water flow velocity close to each air orifice, creates larger turbulent components passing through and over each channel, injects more bubbles, and avoids dispersion of air bubbles to improve the existing skin friction drag.

A marine surface vessel includes an air ventilated hull, and a deck, where the vessel includes at least one air conduit leading to at least one ventilation opening beneath a waterline of the vessel. The at least one air conduit is arranged to guide air to the at least one ventilation opening, where the deck is at least party surrounded by a gunwale, where the at least one air conduit is arranged to guide the air from at least one water drainage opening arranged to drain water from the deck.

Disclosed herein are a method and a system for forming an air layer over a portion of an engineered surface, wherein the air layer is formed with a reduced flux and preferentially steering gas away from, or toward, a specific location by way of a hydrophobic surface, a hydrophilic surface, and/or a structured surface. Moreover, disclosed are a method and a system for recovering or separating a portion of the gas or other fluid layer.

[Problem] To provide a method for further reducing the friction resistance of a friction resistance reduced ship. [Solution] Rolling and pitching vary greatly depending on variations in climate, etc.; however, when limited to an extremely short time, the rolling and pitching repeat in an almost identical or similar pattern. Therefore, if the pattern of the immediately preceding rolling and pitching is understood, the subsequent pattern can also be predicted. This is similar for vertical position variation patterns of minute bubble generation units calculated from the angle of the rolling and pitching. Furthermore, the vertical position variation also differs depending on the installation position of each minute bubble generation unit, so the present invention measures the vertical position variation for each minute bubble generation unit, while also predicting the vertical position variation at and after the current time. The predicted vertical position variation is compared with the waterline height, while the time at which the minute bubble generation units below the sea surface will be above the sea surface or the time at which the minute bubble generation units above the sea surface will be below the sea surface are predicted, and an ON/OFF valve 8 is switched at that time.

Disclosed is an air supply system for supplying air to an outside of a hull of a vessel, the vessel holding a combustion engine. The air supply system comprises one or more air discharge units (ADUs) for releasing compressed air to an outside of the hull below a waterline of the vessel. The air supply system comprises a plurality of turbocharger(s) for supplying a compressed air flow to the combustion engine of the vessel via a first flow path. The plurality of turbochargers each comprises a turbine configured to be driven by an exhaust gas flow of the combustion engine and a compressor connected to the turbine and comprising an inlet for receiving air and an outlet for providing the compressed air flow to the first flow path. The plurality of turbochargers comprises a first turbocharger and a second turbocharger arranged in series with the compressor of the second turbocharger being downstream of the compressor of the first turbocharger in the first flow path. The air supply system comprises a first sub-path and a second sub-path branching off the first flow path and supplying the sub-flow of air to the ADUs. The first sub-path branches off from the first flow path downstream of the first turbocharger and upstream of the second turbocharger and wherein the second sub-path branches off from the first flow path downstream of both the first turbocharger and the second turbocharger.

The present invention relates to a surface cover for a body which can be brought into contact with a liquid, comprising: a layer which at least partly contains gas and which is designed and arranged such that at least some sections of a layer face facing the liquid contacts the liquid; a gas-permeable layer which is arranged on the gas-containing layer on a face that faces the body and is opposite the face facing the liquid or which is integrally formed with the gas-containing layer; and a gas-supplying device which is connected to the gas-permeable layer such that gas can flow from the gas-supplying device to the gas-containing layer through the gas-permeable layer. The invention also relates to an arrangement and a use.

Disclosed is an air supply system (100) for supplying air to an outside of a hull of a vessel. The air supply system (100) comprises a plurality of air discharge units, ADUs, (20) for releasing a compressed air flow to the outside of the hull below a waterline of the vessel, wherein the plurality of ADUs (20) are configured to be arranged around a longitudinal centre line (202) of the hull of the vessel. The air supply system (100) comprises a first flow path (11A) for providing the compressed air flow to the ADUs (20). The air supply system (100) comprises one or more pressure control device(s) (30) arranged in the first flow path (11A) for feeding the compressed air flow to the ADUs (20) at pressure larger than a discharge pressure at the ADUs (20). Each pressure control device (30) comprises an inlet (34) for receiving an inlet air flow, a first outlet (35A) and a second outlet (35B) for feeding the air flow to a subset of the plurality of ADUs (20AB, 20BA; 20CD, 20DC). The first outlet (35A) is connected to a first subset of ADUs (20AB; 20CD) arranged on a first side of the longitudinal centre line (202) of the hull (201) of the vessel (200) and the second outlet (35B) is connected to a second subset of ADUs (20BA; 20DC) arranged on a second, opposite, side of the longitudinal centre line (202) of the hull of the vessel. The one or more pressure control device(s) (30) is/are configured to compensate for a difference in discharge pressure between the first subset of ADUs (20AB; 20CD) and the second subset of ADUs (20BA; 20DC).

Disclosed is an air supply system for supplying air to an outside of a hull of a vessel holding a combustion engine. The air supply system comprises one or more air discharge units, ADUs, for releasing compressed air to an outside of the hull below a waterline of the vessel. The air supply system comprises a pump for generating a first flow of sea water. The airs supply system comprises an injector comprising a first inlet for receiving the first flow of sea water from the pump, a second inlet for receiving a second flow of gas from the combustion engine, an outlet for discharging a third flow of gas to the ARUs, and an expansion portion arranged downstream of the first inlet and the second inlet and upstream of the outlet. The injector is configured to mix the first flow of sea water and the second flow of gas into the third flow of gas and the expansion portion is configured to expand the third flow of gas to increase the pressure of the third flow of gas discharged from the injector through the outlet. The air supply system is configured to evaporate the first flow of sea water using thermal energy from the combustion engine so that the third flow of gas is enriched with steam from the first flow of sea water.

A ship resistance reduction apparatus using air is disclosed. The objective of the present invention is to spray air at the bottom side of a ship to cause generated bubbles to remain at the bottom side thereof, and thus reduce frictional resistance to water, so that an increase in sailing speed and an improvement in fuel efficiency are promoted. The present invention suctions the air generated during ship maneuvering without using a separate driving source while having a simple structure, to form, at the bottom side of the bottom of the ship, an air layer comprising air bubbles, and thus can be economically manufactured and increase operating efficiency.