USA as Represented by Secretary of the Navy

Kenneth E Richter

David Bart Chadwick

Yolanda Meriah Arias-Thode

Lewis Hsu

Gregory Wayne Anderson

Wayne P Liu

David Bartholomew Chadwick

Alex G Phipps

Jeffrey Kagan

Matthew Lanford Bond

Adriane Q Wotawa-Bergen

Andrew Higier

A device for capturing energy, with an anode base, a rigid body, a pressure housing, a cathode array, and a wire. The anode base is connected to the rigid body, the pressure housing is connected to the rigid body, and the cathode array is connected to the rigid body. The first wire is electrically connected to the cathode array. The second wire is electrically connected to the anode base.

Self-contained and scalable microbial fuel cell array with grid-based anode and bottle brush cathode power sensors underwater

A method for improving power production comprising the steps of providing an existing linear array benthic microbial fuel cell system having an anode and a plurality of cathodes, wherein the anode is an insulated underwater cable buried beneath seafloor sediment, and wherein the plurality of cathodes are configured to be buoyant and to rise above the sea floor, wrapping the insulated underwater cable with carbon fiber bundles and a current collector, wherein the carbon fiber is coated with a binder, securing the carbon fiber bundles and current collector with a web of synthetic fiber, fraying the carbon fiber bundles, creating exposed carbon ends on the cable and removing the binder.

System and method for improving power production in linear array benthic microbial fuel cells

A microbial fuel cell comprising: a first cathode; at least two anodes electrically connected to each other and to the cathode in a reconfigurable manner; and a processor operatively coupled to the anodes and configured to monitor a parameter of each anode to determine if a given anode has been oxygen-contaminated, and further configured to convert an oxygen-contaminated anode into a second cathode by reconfiguring the electrical connections.

Reconfigurable microbial fuel cell

Growing community of inventors

San Diego, CA, United States of America

Kenneth E Richter