The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 01, 2025
Filed:
Jun. 08, 2022
The United States of America, As Represented BY the Secretary of the Navy, San Diego, CA (US);
Bret R. Thomson, San Diego, CA (US);
Jason S. Bench, El Cajon, CA (US);
Kevin A. Merhoff, San Diego, CA (US);
Brandon J. Wiedemeier, San Diego, CA (US);
Nathan Todd Miller, San Diego, CA (US);
Minh Vuong, San Diego, CA (US);
Bryan B. Bui-Tuong, San Diego, CA (US);
United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
A retrofit kit retrofits a buoy to provide dynamic control of a freeboard of the retrofitted buoy. The retrofit kit includes buoyancy chambers, an air reservoir, and a valve arrangement. A method for retrofitting a buoy retrofits a buoy to provide dynamic control of a freeboard of the retrofitted buoy. The buoyancy chambers surrounding a vertical axis of the buoy with a center of mass of the buoy disposed on the vertical axis below the buoyancy chambers. The buoyancy chambers provide a variable buoyancy ranging from a minimum buoyancy to a maximum buoyancy. The air reservoir inflates of the buoyancy chambers. The valve arrangement dynamically sets the freeboard of the buoy upon inflation and deflation of the buoyancy chambers for varying the variable buoyancy between the minimum buoyancy and the maximum buoyancy.