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:
Sep. 03, 1996
Filed:
Aug. 07, 1995
George W Taylor, Mercer County, NJ (US);
Ocean Power Technologies, Inc., West Trenton, NJ (US);
Abstract
An anti-fouling device comprises a layer of piezoelectric material, preferably a poled plastic material such as a PVDF polymer, for mounting on the hull of a watercraft. The layer has electrodes on opposite major surfaces thereof, and the layers are connected to a power supply comprising a battery and a d.c. to a.c. converter. The converter generates an a.c. voltage at a frequency, e.g., 20 KHz, for causing vibrations of the layer, such vibrations serving to retard the growth of water dwelling organisms in the craft. The layer electrodes are also connected to an a.c. to d.c. converter for converting a.c. energy to d.c. energy suitable for trickle charging the power supply battery. Accordingly, during transit of the craft through the water, water induced hull vibrations cause vibrations of the layer for generating a.c. energy for storage in the battery, which stored energy is used for causing anti-fouling vibrations of the energy generating layer.