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:
Feb. 01, 2011
Filed:
Apr. 30, 2007
Diana Bull, Philadelphia, PA (US);
James Gerber, St. Paul, MN (US);
William Powers, Exton, PA (US);
Ocean Power Technologies, Inc., Pennington, NJ (US);
Abstract
Apparatus embodying the invention include a damping plate attached to the submerged end of a spar-like element floating in a body of water. The spar like element tends to move up and down in a vertical direction in response to passing waves. The damping plate has a pair of oppositely facing surfaces extending transversely to the vertical direction of the movement of the spar-like element and vertical structures ('lips') mounted on the oppositely facing surfaces for increasing the effective mass of water pushed during movement of the damping plate through the water. Damping plates with lips, as per the invention, may be used in wave energy converters to control the relative motion between the spar-like element and a float to increase the energy produced.