US patent for Eco Marine Power

Eco Marine Power (EMP) has been granted a United States patent for its Aquarius MRE technology related to its wind and solar power system for ships.

The company now intends to explore joint development project opportunities in the United States.

Aquarius MRE is a system of rigid sails, marine-grade solar panels, energy storage modules and marine computers that would enable ships to use renewable energy from the wind and sun.

The array of rigid sails are automatically positioned by a computer system to best suit the prevailing weather conditions and can be lowered and stored when not in use or in bad weather.

EMP’s technology can be incorporated into existing ship designs such as cruise ships, RoRo vessels, large ferries, car carriers or into future design concepts such as the ‘Aquarius Eco Ship’.

Aquarius MRE technologies could also be suitable for applications such as unmanned surface vessels, naval ships, coastguard vessels and offshore renewable energy projects.

The rigid sails used by Aquarius MRE are based on EMP’s Energy Sail technology. Each EnergySail can be configured with a mix of sensors, photovoltaic panels or other power generation devices. When a ship is at anchor or in port, batteries can provide an alternative source of power, reducing the fuel used by auxiliary generators.

Aquarius MRE sub-systems are currently being evaluated on the ‘Blue Star Delos’ which operates in the Aegean Sea and tested in Onomichi, Japan.