GAS TRANSPORTATION AND STORAGE SYSTEM

Field

[0001] This invention relates to a gas transportation and storage system, and in particular a hydrogen transportation and storage system.

Background

[0002] There are many ways of generating and storing energy to supply electricity at predetermined locations. Some examples include: burning coal; converting gravitational potential energy into electricity; converting wind or running water into electricity; and converting hydrogen into electricity.

[0003] Water can be electrolysed into hydrogen. Oxygen from air and stored hydrogen can then recombined into water in a fuel cell to generate electricity without burning the hydrogen. This means no pollutants are generated. Electricity to generate hydrogen may come from various sources. However, greener or renewable sources of electricity such as solar or wind generated electricity are desirable to reduce carbon emissions.

[0004] The problem with relying solely on renewable sources of energy such as solar or wind is that they are subject to variability of environmental conditions on any given day. For example, if there is no wind or sun to generate green energy via a wind turbine or solar panel, then there will be a gap in the demand for electricity vs the supply of electricity. Large volumes of stored hydrogen could produce enough electricity to fill the energy generation gap when there is little wind and on cloudy days. Storing and transporting large quantities of oxygen, hydrogen (or other gases used for energy generation) can be problematic. One particular problem is hydrogen embrittlement of a hydrogen storage container (called a hydrogen container), when hydrogen is stored at a pressure that is too great. Another problem is the logistics of transporting large quantities of gas to store, supply or generate electricity at predetermined locations.

[0005] It is an object of the present invention to substantially overcome, or at least ameliorate one or more of the above disadvantages.

Summary of Invention [0006] According to a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a transport vessel for transporting gas on water, the transport vessel comprising: at least one gas container positioned within the transport vessel for storing gas; at least one gas pipe to receive and send the gas to/from the gas container; at least one valve to control the receiving and sending of the gas; a main body configured to receive the gas container and ballast that is external to the gas container for providing neutral buoyancy, wherein the ballast is configured to provide structural strength to counteract longitudinal bending and torsion of the main body; and wherein the main body is configured in a hydrodynamic shape for reducing drag when the transport vessel is moving on or in water.

[0007] According to a second aspect, the present disclosure provides a transport vessel for transporting gas comprising: a hull configured in a hydrodynamic shape for reducing drag when the transport vessel is moving on or in water, wherein the hull comprises therein: ballast to provide neutral buoyancy, the ballast configured to provide structural strength to counteract longitudinal bending and torsion of the hull, and one or more gas containers for storage of gas; a keel for providing structural strength for counteracting longitudinal bending and torsion of the hull, and for keeping the transport vessel upright; and at least one buoyancy tank for raising and/or lowering the transport vessel in the water by increasing or decreasing buoyancy of the transport vessel.

[0008] The transport vessel may have at least one thruster or engine with a propeller and rudder for controlling and moving the vessel through the water.

[0009] The transport vessel may have a partition assembly for partitioning the gas container into a partitioned container, wherein the partitioned container comprises at least a first partitioned portion and a second partitioned portion, wherein the first partitioned portion is arranged to store and/or transport the gas and the second partitioned portion is arranged to store one or more of a battery, a fuel cell, a control system and a communication system.

[00010] The transport vessel may have a ballast that has a concrete and steel composite structure or matrix.

[00011] The transport vessel may have a concrete and steel composite structure or matrix that has a combination of one or more of: concrete reinforced bar configurations, one or more steel bars, prestressed and/or post-tensioned cables, one or more pipes filled with concrete. [00012] The transport vessel may have at least one buoyancy tank for raising and/or lowering the transport vessel in the water.

[00013] The transport vessel may have a communication system and a control system for remote controlling of the transport vessel.

[00014] The transport vessel may have at least one sensor for remote controlling of the transport vessel.

[00015] The transport vessel may have at least two hydroplanes for regulating depth of the transport vessel when in motion.

[00016] The transport vessel may have a connection mechanism for connecting the transport vessel to a further transport vessel or at least one self-propelled vessel for towing the transport vessel.

[00017] The transport vessel may have a connection mechanism arranged to provide one or more of a fixed distance between the transport vessel and either the further transport vessel or the self-propelled vessel; bending relative to the transport vessel and either the further vessel or the self-propelled vessel in a longitudinal direction, both parallel and perpendicular to a surface of the water; and rotating of the transport vessel relative to either the further vessel or the self- propelled vessel.

[00018] The transport vessel may have an anti-jackknifing mechanism for reducing or preventing the transport vessel and either the further vessel or the self-propelled vessel becoming jackknifed.

[00019] The transport vessel may have post construction ballast weights to keep the vessel upright, stable and horizontal with respect to the water level.

[00020] The transport vessel may have one or more air compressors for injecting air into compressed air containers for reducing water in the buoyancy tank.

[00021] The transport vessel may have at least one gas pipe connecting the fuel cell to the first partitioned portion to provide gas to the fuel cell. [00022] The transport vessel may have at least one valve and at least one gas pipe arranged to be in communication with the first partitioned portion for filling and removing gas from the first partitioned portion.

[00023] According to a further aspect, the present disclosure provides a gas container for transportation and/or storage of a gas, the container comprising: a cylindrical body with a hemispherical front end and a hemispherical back end, and a keel comprising an I-beam attached longitudinally along the container, and one or more valves to introduce and/or extract liquid and/or gas into/from the container.

[00024] The gas container may have two or more legs arranged to support the keel above a landing surface on which the container is to be stored.

[00025] The gas container may have at least two anchors to anchor the container to a landing surface

[00026] Other aspects are also disclosed.

Brief Description of Drawings

[00027] Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now described, by way of examples only, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[00028] Fig 1 shows a side schematic overview of the present invention, according to a preferred embodiment.

[00029] Figs. 1A and 1B form a schematic block diagram of a general-purpose computer system in the form of a server upon which arrangements described can be practiced;

[00030] Fig 2 is intentionally left blank.

[00031] Fig 3 shows top schematic view of hydrogen containers on a seabed connected to a fuel cell which is connected to a grid.

[00032] Fig 4 shows another top schematic view of the hydrogen containers on the seabed connected to an electrolysis unit to generate hydrogen gas. [00033] Fig 5 shows a hydrogen generator at an open cut mine.

[00034] Fig 6 shows a hydrogen container according to an embodiment.

[00035] Fig 7 shows a front view of the hydrogen container.

[00036] Fig 8 shows another front view of the hydrogen container and a control surface.

[00037] Fig 9 shows a watercraft towing a series of hydrogen containers.

[00038] Fig 10A shows a schematic side view of an anchor and the hydrogen container.

[00039] Fig 10B shows a schematic top view of the hydrogen containers connected to anchors on the seabed.

[00040] Figs 10C and 10D and 10E show a schematic side view of the hydrogen container on the sea bed.

[00041] Fig 10F shows a schematic top view of a hydrogen container connector.

[00042] Fig 11 A a schematic section view of a smart buoy according to an embodiment. [00043] Fig 11 B shows a top view of the smart buoy shown in Fig 11 A.

[00044] Fig 11C shows a pair of pins located inside the smart buoy shown in Figure 11A. [00045] Figs 12-17 are intentionally left blank.

[00046] Fig 18 shows attaching a pipe to the hydrogen container.

[00047] Fig. 19 is intentionally left blank.

[00048] Fig. 20 shows an example of a first configuration of a rectangular truss in a front perspective view (top) and cross section view (bottom) according to the present disclosure; [00049] Fig. 21 shows an example of a container with beams and reinforcement beams according to the present disclosure;

[00050] Fig. 22A shows an example of a cross section view of a container supported in a truss according to the present disclosure;

[00051] Fig. 22B shows an example of a cross section view of a container supported in a truss according to the present disclosure;

[00052] Fig. 23A shows an example of a cross section view of a container supported in a truss according to the present disclosure;

[00053] Fig. 23B shows an example of a cross section view of a container supported in a truss according to the present disclosure;

[00054] Fig. 24A shows an example of an octagonal truss according to the present disclosure;

[00055] Fig. 24B shows an example of a vessel with seven hexagonal trusses according to the present disclosure;

[00056] Fig. 24C shows an example of a vessel with eight hexagonal trusses according to the present disclosure

[00057] Fig. 25A shows an example of a container with an I-beam attached to an anchor according to the present disclosure;

[00058] Fig. 25B shows an example of a container in a triangular truss attached to an anchor according to the present disclosure;

[00059] Fig. 25C shows an example of a container with legs attached to box sections according to the present disclosure;

[00060] Fig. 26 shows an example of submersible transportable vessel suitable for semi permanent storage of fuel ingredients on an underwater surface according to the present disclosure; [00061] Figs. 27-30 are intentionally left blank.

[00062] Fig. 31 shows an example of internal bracing in a container according to the present disclosure;

[00063] Fig. 32 shows an example of an exoskeleton with spherical gas containers according to the present disclosure;

[00064] Fig. 33 shows a composite steel and concrete ballast arrangement according to the present disclosure;

[00065] Fig. 34 shows details of additional metal plates for use in the composite steel and concrete ballast arrangement of Fig. 33 according to the present disclosure;

[00066] Fig. 35A shows two vessels with a connection therebetween according to the present disclosure;

[00067] Fig. 35B shows two vessels with a connection therebetween according to the present disclosure;

[00068] Fig. 36 shows a partitioning arrangement according to the present disclosure;

[00069] Fig. 37 shows a towed vessel that has been converted into a self-propelled vessel with partitioning arrangements shown in Fig. 36 according to the present disclosure;

[00070] Fig. 38 shows an external view of a converted towed vessel operating as a self- propelled vessel according to the present disclosure;

Description of Embodiments

[00071] Although the description refers to gas containers as hydrogen containers in various embodiments, it will be understood that other gases used for energy generation may also be stored in these gas containers.

[00072] Fig 1 shows a side schematic overview of the present invention, according to a preferred embodiment. Fig 1 shows a renewable energy system 10 that is electrically connected to a hydrogen generation system 20. The renewable energy system 10 may be in the form of a wind farm or solar farm 12, mine shaft 14, open cut mine 15 or a combination thereof and serves to provide ‘green’ electrical energy to the hydrogen generation system 20. The hydrogen generation system 20 may include an electrolysis unit 22 and a fuel cell 24. The electrolysis unit 22 is used for the generation of hydrogen. When connected to the fuel cell 24, electricity may be produced with the generated hydrogen from the electrolysis unit 22 and sent back into an electrical grid (not shown). Fig 1 shows the hydrogen generation system 20 floating on a pontoon 26 at sea. The pontoon 26 may generate electricity in the same way as described in the Applicant’s PCT application PCT/AU2020/051408, the entire contents of which being incorporated herein by reference, to power the electrolysis unit 22 and thus produce hydrogen for storage. Whilst the schematic overview of the present invention shown in Figure 1 illustrates the renewable energy system 10 on land and the hydrogen generation system 20 at sea, it is envisaged that the renewable energy system 10 may also be at sea in the form of, for example a solar farm.

[00073] Storage of hydrogen on the seabed is also shown schematically in Fig 1. Hydrogen containers 30 preferably have a negative buoyancy so that they can sink and be stored on the seabed. So that the hydrogen containers 30 do not move on the seabed, the containers 30 are connected to one or more anchors via intelligent / smart buoys, which will be described below. The hydrogen containers 30 also have a ballast system to control the rate at which they sink to the seabed, and the rate at which they can rise to the sea surface. Allowing the containers 30 to rise to the surface allows a watercraft 60 to connect to the container(s) 30 and transport the container(s) 30 to another location. As shown in Fig 1, the container(s) 30 are towed fully submerged in the water, preferably at about 15m below the water surface 65 to avoid any unwanted turbulence.

[00074] At least one server 100 is provided. The server may be located at any suitable location, such as in the hydrogen production, transportation, distribution and/or electricity generation facility for example, which may be referred to as a hydrogen production facility for brevity. The server may in the form of a computer as described with reference to Figs 1 A and 1 B below. In this example, the server receives communications and communicates via a wide area network, such as the Internet as depicted by “clouds” 105 in Fig. 1. The server may also receive communications and communicate via one or more alternative communication media as described herein. [00075] Sensors 107 are depicted in Fig. 1 as a box with an X inside. These sensors are configured or arranged to be in communication with the server via one or more sensor communication channels. In this example, the sensors communicate with the server either directly via the Internet, or via alternative communication media such as a satellite communication channel using a satellite 108.

[00076] For example, the sensors may communicate with the server via one or more sensor communication channels, such as, a mobile telephone communication channel, a wired telephone communication channel, a co-axial communication channel, an optical fibre communication channel, a power line communication channel, a satellite communication channel, an FM communication channel, an AM communication channel, a line of sight optical communication, and a microwave communication channel. The type of sensor communication channel may be dependent on the type of sensor and the location of the sensor.

[00077] The sensors may be one or more of a number of different types of sensor, such as, for example, a wind vector sensor, wind direction sensor, wind speed or wind velocity sensor, a wave sensor, a location sensor, an orientation sensor, strain gauges and a ballast pressure sensor. For example, one or more wind speed sensors may be adapted or arranged to detect wind velocity. The location sensor may be a GPS sensor. The orientation sensor may be a gyroscopic sensor. One or more of the sensors that form part of the system may also be built into commercially available electronic devices, such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops, for example.

[00078] The server may store details of each sensor that has been deployed, along with an associated unique ID for the sensor. The location of the sensor may also be stored by the server. The location may be a fixed location, or may be associated with the location of a movable resource to which the sensor is attached, where the movable resource provides the server with details of its location.

[00079] As shown, and described in more detail herein, there is provided a computer (or server) controlled method of controlling a hydrogen production facility, a gas or liquid storage facility, a gas or liquid transportation facility, a gas or liquid distribution facility and/or an electricity generation system using the transported gas or liquid. According to this method, and associated computer or server system, one or more of the following steps can be implemented by the various components of the herein described system. [00080] For example, one or more hydrogen production, storage, transportation, distribution and/or electricity generation procedures (which may be referred to as hydrogen production procedures for brevity) may be controlled remotely, i.e. not controlled by a person locally, using any suitable remote communication, feedback and control systems. A remote-control system including remote controllers (e.g. joysticks, keyboards etc.), feedback devices (including cameras, microphones, sensors etc.) can be controlled by a trained operator to remotely control the one or more hydrogen production procedures. One or more signals generated by one or more feedback sensors may be captured by the computer or server, or a connected device in communication with the computer and/or server, when remotely controlling the one or more hydrogen production procedures. The captured one or more signals may be analysed by the computer or server over time for adaptation and/or automation of the hydrogen production procedures based on the analysis performed. For example, a defined period of time for analyzing may be programmed into the computer or server.

[00081] As a further example, the one or more hydrogen transport and/or storage procedures may include releasing a hydrogen container from one or more hydrogen pipes, one or more compressed air pipes, electrical power connections and communications.

[00082] As a further example, the one or more hydrogen transport and/or storage procedures may include attaching a hydrogen container to one or more hydrogen pipes, one or more compressed air pipes, electrical power connections and communications.

[00083] As a further example, the one or more hydrogen transport and/or storage procedures may include connecting communication channels between a hydrogen container, a transport vehicle and one or more computing devices arranged to control the one or more hydrogen production procedures.

[00084] As a further example, the one or more hydrogen transport and/or storage procedures may include disconnecting communication channels between one of more of a hydrogen container, a transport vehicle and one or more computing devices.

[00085] As a further example, the one or more hydrogen transport and/or storage procedures may include filling one or more hydrogen containers of hydrogen, for example, at the place of generation of the hydrogen. [00086] As a further example, the one or more hydrogen transport and/or storage procedures may include emptying one or more hydrogen containers of hydrogen.

[00087] The system may be adapted or arranged to analyse the captured signals from the one or more feedback sensors using an artificial intelligence or machine learning system. The system may then adapt and/or automate the hydrogen production, transport and/or storage procedures based on the analysis performed by the artificial intelligence or machine learning system.

[00088] The system may be adapted or arranged to analyse the captured signals from the one or more feedback sensors using one or more computing devices. Following this analysis, computer assistance may be provided during subsequent remotely controlling of the one or more hydrogen production procedures, as described herein, based on the analysis of the captured signals overtime.

[00089] As an example, one or more of the feedback sensors may be a position sensor affixed to a robotic arm. As a further example, one or more of the feedback sensors may be a wave speed sensor arranged to determine the speed of waves in the vicinity of the sensor. As a further example, one or more of the feedback sensors may be a wave height sensor arranged to determine the height of waves in the vicinity of the sensor. As a further example, one or more of the feedback sensors may be a wind speed and/or direction sensor arranged to determine the speed (or velocity) and/or direction of wind in the vicinity of the sensor. As a further example, one or more of the feedback sensors may be a transport vehicle speed and/or direction sensor to determine the speed and/or direction of a transport vehicle, for example, based on GPS giving absolute spherical position. As a further example, one or more of the feedback sensors may be a water depth sensor for determining the depth of water in the vicinity of the sensor. As a further example, one or more of the feedback sensors may be a water pressure sensor for determining the water pressure of water in the vicinity of the sensor. As a further example, one or more of the feedback sensors may be a sensor to measure the location of the hydrogen cylinder, for example, GPS location. As a further example, one or more of the feedback sensors may be a water flow sensor to measure the relative speed of the hydrogen container or the surface tug to the surrounding water to calculate current from the relative water speed and GPS location. As a further example, strain gauges attached to the gas containers can measure the strain on a particular part of the gas container in different weather conditions and gas pressures. This information can provide input to the control system as to when the vessel should submerge to reduce stresses caused e.g. by bad weather to maintain a suitable safety factor. As a further example, one or more of the feedback sensors may be a pressure sensor for sensing pressure of the hydrogen in the container. For example, this may be used to measure the storage efficiency of containers, which allows selection of those with the best storage for long term storage, and helps optimize the pressure. That is, leakage increases with pressure, so the system can optimize the pressure of the hydrogen container for how long the hydrogen container will contain hydrogen at which pressure etc. An Al based system may be adapted to manage the storage efficiency of the hydrogen containers.

[00090] As a further example, one or more of the feedback sensors may be a water temperature and salinity sensors, the feedback of which is used to determine buoyancy.

Server Description

[00091] Figs. 1A and 1B depict a general-purpose computer system 100 in the form of a server, upon which the various arrangements described herein may be practiced.

[00092] As seen in Fig. 1A, the computer system 100, in the form of a server, includes: a computer module 1301.

[00093] Optionally, the server may have input devices such as a keyboard 1302 and a mouse pointer device 1303, and output devices including a printer 1315, a display device 1314 and loudspeakers 1317. An external Modulator-Demodulator (Modem) transceiver device 1316 may be used by the computer module 1301 for communicating to and from a communications network 1320 via a connection 1321. The communications network 1320 may be a wide-area network (WAN), such as the Internet (305 in Fig. 3), a cellular telecommunications network, or a private WAN. Where the connection 1321 is a telephone line, the modem 1316 may be a traditional “dial-up” modem. Alternatively, where the connection 1321 is a high capacity (e.g., cable or optical fibre) connection, the modem 1316 may be a broadband modem. A wireless modem may also be used for wireless connection to the communications network 1320.

[00094] The computer module 1301 typically includes at least one processor unit 1305, and a memory unit 1306. For example, the memory unit 1306 may have semiconductor random access memory (RAM) and semiconductor read only memory (ROM). The computer module 1301 also includes a number of input/output (I/O) interfaces including: an audio-video interface 1307 that couples to the video display 1314, loudspeakers 1317 and microphone 1380; an I/O interface 1313 that couples to the keyboard 1302, mouse 1303, scanner 1326, camera 1327 and optionally a joystick or other human interface device (not illustrated); and an interface 1308 for the external modem 1316 and printer 1315. In some implementations, the modem 1316 may be incorporated within the computer module 1301, for example within the interface 1308. The computer module 1301 also has a local network interface 1311, which permits coupling of the computer system 100 via a connection 1323 to a local-area communications network 1322, known as a Local Area Network (LAN). As illustrated in Fig. 1B, the local communications network 1322 may also couple to the wide network 1320 via a connection 1324, which would typically include a so-called “firewall” device or device of similar functionality. The local network interface 1311 may comprise an Ethernet circuit card, a Bluetooth ^® wireless arrangement or an IEEE 802.11 wireless arrangement; however, numerous other types of interfaces may be practiced for the interface 1311.

[00095] The I/O interfaces 1308 and 1313 may afford either or both of serial and parallel connectivity, the former typically being implemented according to the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standards and having corresponding USB connectors (not illustrated). Storage devices 1309 are provided and typically include a hard disk drive (HDD) 1310. Other storage devices such as a floppy disk drive and a magnetic tape drive (not illustrated) may also be used. An optical disk drive 1312 is typically provided to act as a non-volatile source of data and a means of non volatile storage of data. Portable memory devices, such optical disks (e.g., CD- ROM, DVD, Blu-ray Disc™), USB-RAM, portable, external hard drives, and floppy disks, for example, may be used as appropriate sources of data to the system 100.

[00096] The components 1305 to 1313 of the computer module 1301 typically communicate via an interconnected bus 1304 and in a manner that results in a conventional mode of operation of the computer system 100 known to those in the relevant art. For example, the processor 1305 is coupled to the system bus 1304 using a connection 1318. Likewise, the memory 1306 and optical disk drive 1312 are coupled to the system bus 1304 by connections 1319.

[00097] The server methods described herein may be implemented using the computer system 100 wherein the server processes to be described, may be implemented as one or more software application programs 1333 executable within the computer system 100. In particular, the steps of the server processes may be effected by instructions 1331 (see Fig. 1 B) in the software 1333 that are carried out within the computer system 100. The software instructions 1331 may be formed as one or more code modules, each for performing one or more particular tasks. [00098] The software may be stored in a computer readable medium, including the storage devices described below, for example. The software may be loaded into the computer system 100 from the computer readable medium, and then executed by the computer system 100. A computer readable medium having such software or computer program recorded on the computer readable medium is a computer program product. The use of the computer program product in the computer system 100 preferably effects an advantageous apparatus for use in an emergency response system as described herein.

[00099] The software 1333 is typically stored in the HDD 1310 or the memory 1306. The software is loaded into the computer system 100 from a computer readable medium, and executed by the computer system 100. Thus, for example, the software 1333 may be stored on an optically readable disk storage medium (e.g., CD-ROM) 1325 that is read by the optical disk drive 1312. A computer readable medium having such software or computer program recorded on it is a computer program product. The use of the computer program product in the computer system 100 preferably effects an apparatus for use in an emergency response system as described herein.

[000100] In some instances, the application programs 1333 may be supplied to the user encoded on one or more CD-ROMs 1325 and read via the corresponding drive 1312, or alternatively may be read by the user from the networks 1320 or 1322. Still further, the software can also be loaded into the computer system 100 from other computer readable media. Computer readable storage media refers to any non-transitory tangible storage medium that provides recorded instructions and/or data to the computer system 100 for execution and/or processing. Examples of such storage media include floppy disks, magnetic tape, CD-ROM, DVD, Blu-ray™ Disc, a hard disk drive, a ROM or integrated circuit, USB memory, a magneto optical disk, or a computer readable card such as a PCMCIA card and the like, whether or not such devices are internal or external of the computer module 1301. Examples of transitory or non-tangible computer readable transmission media that may also participate in the provision of software, application programs, instructions and/or data to the computer module 1301 include radio or infra-red transmission channels as well as a network connection to another computer or networked device, and the Internet or Intranets including e-mail transmissions and information recorded on Websites and the like.

[000101] The second part of the application programs 1333 and the corresponding code modules mentioned above may be executed to implement one or more graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to be rendered or otherwise represented upon the display 1314. Through manipulation of typically the keyboard 1302 and the mouse 1303, a user of the computer system 100 and the application may manipulate the interface in a functionally adaptable manner to provide controlling commands and/or input to the applications associated with the GUI(s). Other forms of functionally adaptable user interfaces may also be implemented, such as an audio interface utilizing speech prompts output via the loudspeakers 1317 and user voice commands input via the microphone 1380.

[000102] Fig. 1B is a detailed schematic block diagram of the processor 1305 and a “memory” 1334. The memory 1334 represents a logical aggregation of all the memory modules (including the HDD 1309 and semiconductor memory 1306) that can be accessed by the computer module 1301 in Fig. 1A.

[000103] When the computer module 1301 is initially powered up, a power-on self-test (POST) program 1350 executes. The POST program 1350 is typically stored in a ROM 1349 of the semiconductor memory 1306 of Fig. 1B. A hardware device such as the ROM 1349 storing software is sometimes referred to as firmware. The POST program 1350 examines hardware within the computer module 1301 to ensure proper functioning and typically checks the processor 1305, the memory 1334 (1309, 1306), and a basic input-output systems software (BIOS) module 1351, also typically stored in the ROM 1349, for correct operation. Once the POST program 1350 has run successfully, the BIOS 1351 activates the hard disk drive 1310 of Fig. 1B. Activation of the hard disk drive 1310 causes a bootstrap loader program 1352 that is resident on the hard disk drive 1310 to execute via the processor 1305. This loads an operating system 1353 into the RAM memory 1306, upon which the operating system 1353 commences operation. The operating system 1353 is a system level application, executable by the processor 1305, to fulfil various high level functions, including processor management, memory management, device management, storage management, software application interface, and generic user interface.

[000104] The operating system 1353 manages the memory 1334 (1309, 1306) to ensure that each process or application running on the computer module 1301 has sufficient memory in which to execute without colliding with memory allocated to another process. Furthermore, the different types of memory available in the system 100 of Fig. 1A must be used properly so that each process can run effectively. Accordingly, the aggregated memory 1334 is not intended to illustrate how particular segments of memory are allocated (unless otherwise stated), but rather to provide a general view of the memory accessible by the computer system 100 and how such is used. [000105] As shown in Fig. 1B, the processor 1305 includes a number of functional modules including a control unit 1339, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) 1340, and a local or internal memory 1348, sometimes called a cache memory. The cache memory 1348 typically includes a number of storage registers 1344 - 1346 in a register section. One or more internal busses 1341 functionally interconnect these functional modules. The processor 1305 typically also has one or more interfaces 1342 for communicating with external devices via the system bus 1304, using a connection 1318. The memory 1334 is coupled to the bus 1304 using a connection 1319.

[000106] The application program 1333 includes a sequence of instructions 1331 that may include conditional branch and loop instructions. The program 1333 may also include data 1332 which is used in execution of the program 1333. The instructions 1331 and the data 1332 are stored in memory locations 1328, 1329, 1330 and 1335, 1336, 1337, respectively. Depending upon the relative size of the instructions 1331 and the memory locations 1328-1330, a particular instruction may be stored in a single memory location as depicted by the instruction shown in the memory location 1330. Alternately, an instruction may be segmented into a number of parts each of which is stored in a separate memory location, as depicted by the instruction segments shown in the memory locations 1328 and 1329.

[000107] In general, the processor 1305 is given a set of instructions which are executed therein. The processor 1305 waits for a subsequent input, to which the processor 1305 reacts to by executing another set of instructions. Each input may be provided from one or more of a number of sources, including data generated by one or more of the input devices 1302, 1303, data received from an external source across one of the networks 1320, 1302, data retrieved from one of the storage devices 1306, 1309 or data retrieved from a storage medium 1325 inserted into the corresponding reader 1312, all depicted in Fig. 1B. The execution of a set of the instructions may in some cases result in output of data. Execution may also involve storing data or variables to the memory 1334.

[000108] The disclosed arrangements use input variables 1354, such as sensor variables derived from sensor signals for example, which are stored in the memory 1334 in corresponding memory locations 1355, 1356, 1357. The arrangements produce output variables 1361, such as sensor variables derived from sensor signals, which are stored in the memory 1334 in corresponding memory locations 1362, 1363, 1364. Intermediate variables 1358 may be stored in memory locations 1359, 1360, 1366 and 1367. [000109] Referring to the processor 1305 of Fig. 1B, the registers 1344, 1345, 1346, the arithmetic logic unit (ALU) 1340, and the control unit 1339 work together to perform sequences of micro-operations needed to perform “fetch, decode, and execute” cycles for every instruction in the instruction set making up the program 1333. Each fetch, decode, and execute cycle comprises: a fetch operation, which fetches or reads an instruction 1331 from a memory location 1328, 1329, 1330; a decode operation in which the control unit 1339 determines which instruction has been fetched; and an execute operation in which the control unit 1339 and/or the ALU 1340 execute the instruction.

[000110] Thereafter, a further fetch, decode, and execute cycle for the next instruction may be executed. Similarly, a store cycle may be performed by which the control unit 1339 stores or writes a value to a memory location 1332.

[000111] Each step or sub-process described with reference to a server is associated with one or more segments of the program 1333 and is performed by the register section 1344,

1345, 1347, the ALU 1340, and the control unit 1339 in the processor 1305 working together to perform the fetch, decode, and execute cycles for every instruction in the instruction set for the noted segments of the program 1333.

[000112] The server related methods described herein may alternatively be implemented in dedicated hardware such as one or more integrated circuits performing the functions or sub functions of the emergency response system as described. Such dedicated hardware may include graphic processors, digital signal processors, or one or more microprocessors and associated memories.

[000113] Various processes are described herein which may utilize machine learning and/or artificial intelligence algorithms. These algorithms may be stored on a machine readable medium in the form of machine readable instructions, which when executed by a computer or computer system perform the machine learning and/or artificial intelligence processes. For example, these algorithms may be executed on one or more computing devices and/or servers. For example, a computing device may be a server that retrieves the required data from one or more sources, such as one or more components of the system described herein. The server may be in communication with one or more other computing devices or components of the herein described system using any suitable communication media. [000114] Figure 1 shows an example implementation of a system with a server in communication with various components of the herein described system. The server shown in Figure 1, may be a server implemented using the computing system as described with reference to Figures 1A and 1B.

[000115] Fig 3 shows a top schematic view of the hydrogen containers 30 stored on the seabed. The containers 30 are connected by pipes to the fuel cell 24 on the pontoon 26 of the hydrogen generation system 20, which is shown floating on the water surface 65, to generate electricity from the stored hydrogen. The stored hydrogen is moved from the containers 30 to the fuel cell 24 via a pump 70 and one or more pipes 72.

[000116] Fig 4 shows a similar configuration to the hydrogen containers 30 stored on the seabed in Fig 3. However, instead of the fuel cell 24, the electrolysis unit 22 is shown on the pontoon 26 of the hydrogen generation system 20, which floats on the water surface 65. The electrolysis unit 22 receives ‘green’ electrical power from the methods described above. The pump 70 delivers hydrogen generated by the electrolysis unit 22 to the one or more hydrogen containers 30 on the sea bed via the pipes 72.

[000117] Fig 5 illustrates hydrogen generation at the renewable energy system 10 using solar farm 12 and an open cut mine 15. The renewable energy system 10 is connected to the hydrogen generation system 20 having the electrolysis unit 22, which in this embodiment, is land based. Hydrogen generated by the electrolysis unit 22 is pumped into containers 30 when attached to the pontoon 26. Once the containers 30 are filled with hydrogen, they can be transported away from the pontoon 26 by watercraft 60 or allowed to settle on the seabed. Alternatively, the hydrogen container 30 may be located on the sea bed and filled with hydrogen as is shown in Figs 10C, 10D and 10E, which will be described later on.

[000118] Fig 6 shows a schematic section view (above) and a side view (below) of the hydrogen container 30. In this embodiment, the hydrogen container 30 includes: a body 31 with a first hemispherical end 32 spaced apart from a second hemispherical end 33; a cylindrical sidewall 34 connecting the first and second ends 32, 33 to form the body 31 of the hydrogen container 30; a cavity 35 defined by the body 31 ; and one or more bands 37 attached to the sidewall 34 to increase an amount of allowable pressure contained within the cavity 35 of the hydrogen container 30. A valve (with a cover) is also provided to allow hydrogen to enter and exit the container. In one configuration, each of the one or more bands 37 include four segments 38,

38’, 38”, 38”’ that are connectable with one another to surround the sidewall 34 of the hydrogen container 30. It will be understood that the bands may have one, two, three or more segments. Where there is one segment, a first end of the segment may connect to the other, second, end of the segment. Where there are two segments, a first end of the first segment may connect to a first end of a second segment. A second end of the second segment may connect to a second end of the first segment to form the band. Similar arrangements are possible with further segments to cause the at least one band, made up of the segments, to form around the hydrogen container.

[000119] As shown in Fig 6, the four segments 38-38’” each have two corresponding ends / lugs 39, 39’, 39”, 39”’ to connect with a corresponding lug of one of the other four segments.

For example, segment 38 has two lugs 39. One lug 39 connects to lug 39’ of segment 38’. The other lug 39’ will connect with lug 39” of segment 38” and so on until a complete ring is formed around the body 31 of the hydrogen container 30.

[000120] It is envisaged that the lugs 39-39”’ of each segment 38-38”’ are forcibly pressed together by, for example, a hydraulic press. In an alternative embodiment, the lugs 39-39”’ may be connected to each other by one or more fasteners shown in Fig 7. In such an embodiment, an aperture is provided in the lugs 39-39”’ to allow the fastener to pass through. A skilled person would understand that the fastener and aperture need to be engineered to withstand the forces resulting from the expansion of the hydrogen container 30 when pressurized.

[000121] Fig 7 shows two other preferred forms of the hydrogen container 30. The hydrogen container may have two segments 38, 38’ or even 3 segments 38, 38’, 38”. These segments are joined via corresponding lugs 39, as described above, to form bands 37 around the hydrogen container 30. Therefore, the hydrogen container 30 may have at least two segments 38 forming the band 37. When the lugs are connected, they may also be connected to a beam (B), which is preferably structural such as an I-Beam for example. As multiple bands 37 with corresponding lugs 39 are used and may be connected to the beam (B), the load of the hydrogen container is spread across the span of the beam. In turn, the beam is connected to a pulley (P) which is connected to another pulley attached to an anchor in or on the seabed as shown in Fig. 13. As with all references to anchors in this document, the anchor can be an anchor drilled into the seabed, or it can be a mass greater than the displacement of the hydrogen cylinder such as the anchors described in the Applicant’s PCT application PCT/AU2020/051408. Mechanical advantage is achieved by having the rope go around multiple pulleys. A winch/generator system, for example as disclosed in Fig. 13, may include at least one winch/generator. The winch/generator may be located on a pontoon (or on another surface). The winch may pull at least one attached rope of the winch/generator system to lower the hydrogen cylinder using at least one pulley of the winch/generator system to store energy, and then, when the hydrogen cylinder is allowed to rise (e.g. by releasing the rope), energy is generated by the winch via the generator.

[000122] Fig 7 also shows a front view of the hydrogen container 30 secured in a truss-like structure 80 in pontoon 26. The truss-like structure 80 has a plurality of members 82 which have arms 82’. The arms 82’ are connectable to the lugs 39-39”’ of the bands 37 to hold the hydrogen container 30 securely. Also shown in Fig 7 is a triangular shaped truss 80, representing an alternative embodiment to the square shaped truss 80 described above.

[000123] Turning to Fig 8, an example of a container transport vessel for transporting and/or storing one or more containers is provided. In this example, the container is a hydrogen container 30 as described herein. It will be understood that the containers being transported and/or used for storage may be for other gasses or solids as required. For example, the container may be used to transport and/or store oxygen, compressed natural gas, water, and other liquid and gaseous chemicals. The container can also be used to transport and/or store food such as grains and flour, powders such as cement, dry concrete aggregate, and other chemicals, metals and fabricated objects that can withstand the internal pressure that the container may require to counteract the water pressure when submerged.

[000124] The hydrogen container is shown in a truss-like structure 80 with arms 82’ holding the hydrogen container 30. This structure is a support structure that supports the container. Within, or as part of the support structure, there are tanks 84 which may be in the form of an air/water tank and/or a dense ballast to adjust the overall buoyancy of the hydrogen container 30. One or more controllers 90 may be provided to control the amount of air/water in the tanks 84 to adjust the buoyancy. The controllers 90 may have, or be connected to, control valves for controlling the flow of water/air into and out of the tanks 84. For example, air may be provided by additional air tanks (e.g. compressed air). Water may be pumped in from the sea.

[000125] Static ballasts may be provided as part of the support structure, where the static ballast includes dense beams or concrete that are formed to provide one or more of i) a counterweight to the positive buoyancy of the at least one buoyancy tank, ii) structural integrity to the container transport vessel, and iii) a foundation which can rest on a seabed and on which the container can rest for storage. Also, the static ballast may include a container connection device for connecting to at least a portion of the container, for example, to hold the container in place and stop it from moving too much. For example, the container connection device may connect to the band and/or the segment of the container, as described herein.

[000126] The ballast in the support structure allows the hydrogen container 30 and the container transport vessel to have an overall positive or negative buoyance to either float to or near the water surface for moving and/or filling/emptying of the containers, or drop down toward or gently on the sea bed for storage, as required.

[000127] Also shown in Fig 8 are a pair of moveable control surfaces 86 and a corresponding pair of controllers 88 to operate said moveable control surfaces 86 and control their respective position to maintain a desired depth range when moving. It will be understood that the container transport vessel may have one, two or more moveable control surfaces. The control surfaces 86 may be in the form of a hydroplane and operable by compressed air or a hydraulic mechanism. Alternatively, the hydroplane may be moved by a connected electric motor using a gear mechanism. The compressed air, hydraulics, electric motor, gears etc. may be controlled via one or more controllers 88. One or more sensors in the controllers may be used to sense the position of each of the control surfaces to enable accurate control of the position, for example, the angle. The control surfaces 86 are preferably positioned near or at the bow and/or stern of the hydrogen container 30 so as to adjust the level of the hydrogen container 30 when the hydrogen container is moving (e.g. being towed). As the control surface (e.g. hydroplane) is rotated about its axle by the control system, the angle of the top surface of the hydroplane with respect to the structure 80 changes and so causes the structure 80 to be pushed down or raised up as the water moves over the top surface and applies a force. Preferably, the hydrogen container 30 and the truss-like structure 80 are configured to attach to the floating pontoon 26.

[000128] It will be understood that there may be one or more controllers for controlling the position of the one or more control surfaces. It will be understood that there may be one or more control surfaces, such as hydroplanes.

[000129] Further, the controller or control system may be controlled remotely and may have a communication and power link that can be connected and disconnected from a towing vessel arranged to tow the container transport vessel. Also, the control system may be controlled remotely to control connection and disconnection of one or more pipes to the container for filling and emptying the container. [000130] Fig 9 shows the watercraft 60 which is powered by at least one, preferably two thrusters 65 and is shown in Figs 15 and 16 towing submerged hydrogen containers 30. The tow rope is attached to a submerged towing point 62. The closest hydrogen container 30 to the watercraft is connected to the watercraft 60 by a smart buoy 50. Other hydrogen containers 30 are connected to the closest hydrogen container 30 via smart buoys 50. The watercraft 60 could be an existing ocean going surface tug. In Fig 9, the watercraft is hydrogen powered with large hydrogen fuel storage tanks forming a catamaran like structure.

[000131] According to various examples described herein, the filling of the hydrogen container may occur at a place of generation of the hydrogen and the towing of the hydrogen container tows the hydrogen to a place of consumption of the hydrogen thus providing a much more efficient hydrogen generation and consumption system overall.

[000132] Fig 10A shows a schematic side view of the anchor 40 illustrated in Fig 1. The anchor 40 has an end preferably drilled into the seabed so that it is secure. As described above, an alternative method of anchoring is to use heavy weights as disclosed in the Applicant’s PCT application PCT/AU2020/051408. At the opposite end is a swivel 42. Attached to the swivel 42 is a ligature that is connected to the smart buoy 50. The ligature may be in the form of a rope or chain, for example. The smart buoy 50 is shown connected to the hydrogen container 30, that is located on the seabed.

[000133] Fig 10B shows a top view of the anchor 40, smart buoy 50 and hydrogen container 30 configuration that is shown in Fig 10A. In Fig 10B however, three containers 50 are shown connected to their respective anchors 40 on the seabed. The purpose of the swivel 42 on the anchor 40 is to allow the containers to align themselves parallel to the ocean current. Furthermore, it is envisaged that many more anchors 40 may be placed on seabed to provide more hydrogen container 30 storage on the seabed as required.

[000134] Figs 10C, 10D and 10E show a more detailed view of the anchor 40. A hydrogen pipe 44 to transfer hydrogen to and from the hydrogen container 30 is connected to the anchor 40. Also shown is a winch 46 to adjust the length of the ligature that connects the hydrogen container 30 to the anchor 40. Pulling the hydrogen container closer to the anchor is usually achieved when the hydrogen container is floating. Fig 10D shows that as the hydrogen container 30 gets pulled closer to the anchor 40, the smart buoy 50 floats higher toward the water surface. [000135] Fig 10F shows an end of the hydrogen pipe 44 having a male fitting such as a bayonet gas fitting 45. The male bayonet fitting 45 is to be inserted into female hydrogen pipe connection 46 located on the hydrogen container 30. The female hydrogen pipe connection 46 is generally cylindrical and has a conical guide 47 to guide the bayonet 45 of the hydrogen pipe into the connection 46. Located with the female hydrogen pipe connection 46 is a sealing gel 48 which seals around the bayonet fitting 45. The bayonet fitting 45 then engages with a female bayonet gas fitting 49 to allow the passage of hydrogen to and from the hydrogen container 30 via hydrogen pipe 44.

[000136] As shown in Fig 18 watercraft 60 has one or more arms 66 that are remotely controllable. Fig 18 in particular shows steps to connect a pipe to a hydrogen container as follows:

[000137] Using positive buoyancy, the hydrogen container 30 floats from the seabed to the water surface.

[000138] The watercraft 60 tows the hydrogen container 30 close to hydrogen pipe 44. The arm 66 from the watercraft 60 grabs hydrogen pipe 44 that is attached to the buoy 50.

[000139] A second arm 66 grabs the hydrogen container 30 and the pipe 44.

[000140] Item 3A of Fig 18 shows a top view of the watercraft 60 with two arms 66. One arm is connected to the buoy 50 and the other arm 66 is connected to the container 30.

[000141] Item 3B of Fig 18 shows the arms 66 bringing the floating container 30 and the buoy 50 with hydrogen pipe closer together. Also shown at step 3B is the arm 66 connecting the pipe attached to the buoy 50 to the hydrogen container 30.

[000142] Item 3C of Fig 18 shows the arm 66 of the watercraft 60 holding the hydrogen container 30 in place whilst the other arm 66 is connected to the buoy 50 and another hydrogen container 30, located on the seabed.

[000143] Fig 19 shows a dual skinned hydrogen container 30 with H2 molecules in an inner container 34’ and air in a space 35’ between the inner container 34’ and the outer container 34.

[000144] Other aspects of the invention will now be described. [000145] Other details regarding embodiments of the invention are produced below.

Background

[000146] Water can be electrolyzed into hydrogen. Oxygen from the air and stored hydrogen can then be recombined into H20 in a fuel cell to generate electricity without burning the hydrogen. No pollutants are generated. Electricity to generate hydrogen can come from solar or wind. Large volumes of stored hydrogen could produce sufficient electricity to fill the energy generation gap when there is little wind and on cloudy days.

[000147] There are significant advances in the generation of hydrogen and its combination into water to generate electricity. Technologies once required the use of expensive materials like platinum, but new materials have been developed, and the electrolytic and recombination process are becoming lower cost and more energy efficient at the same time. Electrolysis currently requires clean water, but promising new advances allow the efficient electrolysis of sea water.

[000148] 1 mole of water contains 6.0221 x 10**23 molecules of water. 1 mole of water weighs approx. 18g which is the atomic weight of hydrogen x 2 plus the atomic weight of oxygen.

When hydrolyzed, the one mole of H2 (or any gas) by the idealized gas law occupies 22.4 litres at Standard Temperature and pressure (STP). So 18g H20 produces 22.4 litres of hydrogen at STP. 1 litre (or 1kg) of water will produce 1000/18 = 55.55 litres of hydrogen at STP or 1 litre of hydrogen at 55.55 atmospheres (atm).

[000149] 1 mole of H2 weighs about 2 grams and fills 22.4 litres at 1 atm and is very energy dense by weight. 1 litre of hydrogen at 50 atm stores 0.13 KWh. 1 litre of gasoline has energy of approx. 34.5 MJ. 1 KWh = 3.6 MJ, so I litre of gasoline contains 9.58 KWh, which is about 70 times more energy dense per unit volume than hydrogen gas at 50 atm.

[000150] To increase the energy density of a hydrogen-based fuel for transportation, hydrogen can be converted to ammonia NH3, transported and turned back into H2 and then combined with oxygen in a fuel cell to produce electricity. Special ships need to be constructed to transport ammonia under pressure which makes these ships expensive. They need to travel fast to earn a return of investment. Significant storage facilities need to be constructed at both the departure and arrival points so that the ship can rapidly discharge its cargo and return for another load. As ships travel on the ocean surface, they must be built to be able to withstand waves and storms.

[000151] In addition, turning H2 into ammonia and back to hydrogen adds significantly to the cost of the hydrogen and loses energy in the process, making the process less energy efficient.

[000152] Hydrogen is seen as dangerous: everybody has seen films of the Hindenburg airship burning. The Hindenburg did not explode; it burned. If hydrogen escapes from a container, it will rapidly rise and will dissipate into the air in an open space. At worst, it will burn. Store hydrogen underwater, and it will not burn or explode. Petrol is used all the time, usually safely. Petrol vapor is heavier than air, will not rise and disperse quickly like hydrogen, but will mix with air, and is likely to explode when a flame is applied.

[000153] Because of its low energy density by volume, the storage and transport of hydrogen is still a major problem. To overcome the low energy density by volume, hydrogen is compressed to high levels to allow it to be used in cars, buses, trucks, trains and planes. Cummins Diesel is a partner in a syndicate where a small 4-seater plane powered by batteries and a 120KW fuel cell has flown 30 two test flights in Germany, showing the small size and weight that powerful fuel cells can achieve. The plane currently has a maximum speed of 200kph. It is predicted by 2030 that a plane that can carry 40 passengers a distance of 2000 kms. There are reports of new hydrogen powered ships being developed, and boilers in ships and power stations being retrofitted by hydrogen burners. Projects are also underway to transform internal combustion engines and gas turbines to burn hydrogen, and for the use of hydrogen to produce “green steel” and in the chemical industry. Once a hydrogen economy has been established, there will be uses for hydrogen other than the generation of electricity, and the distribution of hydrogen is likely to become a significant business.

[000154] A problem with the hydrogen economy becoming established is that potential suppliers want an established market for hydrogen before they invest in generating hydrogen, and potential users of hydrogen want a reliable supply of hydrogen before they will invest in equipment that consumes hydrogen. Embodiments overcome this problem because it both creates hydrogen, transports hydrogen to places where there is a strong demand for electricity, and then consumes hydrogen to generate electricity, which has a ready market. Any hydrogen can therefore be consumed to generate electricity, allowing investment in the production of hydrogen which can then be used in multiple markets other than the generation of electricity. [000155] A problem with hydrogen is that storing hydrogen at high pressures can cause hydrogen embrittlement of steel, so the storage of hydrogen as a gas is seen as problematic.

[000156] Described herein is a new and highly efficient energy system utilizing hydrogen, and includes methods of efficient and low-cost storage, transport and distribution of hydrogen that obviates the problems described above. Hydrogen is stored in a purpose-built hydrogen container: a large, low cost steel pipe with hemispheres at either end at relatively low pressures. The pipe is transported internationally on the surface in good weather, and underwater, in poor weather, at a depth where the water is calm so that the hydrogen container does not need to be built to withstand surface storms. The hydrogen containers can be stored at sea and hydrogen can be generated on floating pontoons and pumped directly into the hydrogen container, generated on land close to the sea and pumped into a hydrogen container, or generated inland and trucked or piped either to the shore to be pumped into a hydrogen container, or trucked or transported by rail or piped to a plant where the hydrogen can be converted to electricity. Fuel cells on floating pontoons can generate electricity from the hydrogen and power the grid via an undersea cable. Hydrogen transported in hydrogen containers can be converted to electricity at sea or on the seashore, or discharged into pipes, trucks or railcars for transport on land to fuel cell installations for the conversion to electricity located near grid connections or for use in industrial processes.

[000157] The techniques described herein can be used for the energy efficient and cost-efficient storage, transport and distribution of other liquid or gaseous substances that contain energy, such as natural gas or other gases such as methane that can be generated using a renewable energy process.

[000158] Currently, natural gas is refined with the lighter molecules removed and then liquified. Both the refining and the liquification are energy intensive. The LNG is then transported at over 25 knots in expensive, purpose-built ships that discharge their cargo into specially built on shore storage.

[000159] In contrast, offshore natural gas could simply be compressed as it is stored in a hydrogen container (possibly as significantly higher pressures), towed underwater to a floating platform on which there is a gas turbine, and the electricity is generated by the gas turbine and transmitted by cable to a substation for connection to the grid. Alternatively, the gas could be piped to a gas turbine close to the shore. All the energy is captured, even the energy involved in the compression of the gas. Less energy is used transporting the gas. Less C02 is therefore produced by this process than with LNG, and furthermore, it will cost substantially less. The amount of energy transported will simply depend on the number of hydrogen containers that are towed.

[000160] This low-cost technology will enable many smaller jurisdictions to develop cost effective energy solutions using hydrogen fuel cells and/or gas turbine driven generators powered by natural gas or some other fuel.

[000161] Maritime transport accounts for 3.4 to 4% of climate change emissions, primarily C02. The rate of growth of C02 emissions is growing so fast it is alarming climate scientists. The system of slow transport of multiple underwater containers can significantly reduce greenhouse emissions from shipping, and developing watercraft, such as large and powerful hydrogen powered ocean surface tugs to transport the hydrogen will eliminate C02 pollution in the delivery of hydrogen fuel. However, existing watercraft such as ocean-going surface tugs however powered could be used. Closer to shore, smaller hydrogen powered watercraft, such as surface tugs, currently used in harbour navigation could be developed.

[000162] The maritime transport emissions of C02 can be reduced if other non-urgent commodities are transported slowly in submersible containers. Grain could fill a container that is then pressurized with C02 to kill insects, to protect the grain and to provide structural strength to the container. A large number of other materials could be transported in this way including bulk cement and bulk chemicals. Storing the containers at sea will dramatically reduce storage costs and will provide strategic supplies to minimize supply chain problems in the case of a pandemic, trade wars and hostilities. It will also allow e.g. a construction company to buy bulk cement when it is low cost and there are good exchange rates and then import it and store it until needed. Such a system could potentially reduce the costs and risks of commodity trading.

[000163] When the stored material is needed, a container can be floated close to the shore where it can be attached to a crane. The buoyancy regulation devices can then be unattached, and the container is lifted from the water and then loaded onto a waiting rail car or a truck.

There is no needed for a storage facility onshore to store containers as there is with the storage of containers delivered by large container ships. The length and width of the submersible container will depend on rail and shipping size constraints at the destination. The buoyancy equipment can be reattached to an empty container for delivery to refilling destination. Many of these activities can be remotely controlled and eventually some processes can be automated by recording all the information relevant to the process and feeding this information into a machine learning system to develop algorithms to reduce the number of processes that need to be remotely controlled and the efficiency of the processes by continual optimization. This is further discussed below.

[000164] Port Headland in Western Australia is a shallow, tidal harbour and ships must unload quickly to avoid being grounded when the tide goes out. Storing the containers at sea and then bringing the containers into the harbour and straight onto a truck or rail car will significantly reduce freight handling costs in places with reduce harbour accessibility.

A Low-Cost Hydrogen Container

[000165] A large low-cost steel container is constructed that can store hydrogen under pressure. This container is called a hydrogen container but such a container can hold other gases and liquids, including clean water. It could also hold granular materials such as cement or grains. Such a hydrogen container could be a steel pipe with a hemisphere at each end that can withstand being filled with high pressure hydrogen. The inside of the hydrogen container can be lined with one or more materials to reduce the hydrogen penetration into the steel if this is effective and cost effective. This container can be used both to store and to transport hydrogen, eliminating the double handling of the fuel reducing costs and increasing energy efficiency.

[000166] Longitudinal and tortional bracing can be designed into the skin of the hydrogen container, can be constructed inside the hydrogen container or the ballast system added to the hydrogen container to control the buoyancy of the hydrogen container. The bracing will enable the hydrogen container to rest safely on a rough seabed. Adjusting the negative buoyancy can enable the hydrogen container to rest gently on the seabed, reducing stress to the hydrogen container and damage to the sea bed.

[000167] The hydrogen container is delivered to a user and remains in the hydrogen container until the hydrogen in the hydrogen container is used, when it will be taken to a refilling station, refilled and then delivered to the same or another user. It is analogous to the way gas is delivered to consumers in gas bottles for BBQ’s.

[000168] The hydrogen containers will be left with customers while the customer uses the energy, and large enough to provide energy security for the users. [000169] Take for example, a 20m diameter pipe 100m long with an inner radius of 10m with hemispheres at each end has an inner volume of 35,600 m3. 1 litre of hydrogen at 50 atm stores 0.13 KWh. The hydrogen container at 50 atm would therefore store approx. 4.6 GWh. If the hydrogen container held natural gas compressed to 50 atm, the energy stored would be 1.3 GWh. More energy can be transported at higher pressures.

[000170] The pressure of hydrogen in a hydrogen container may be limited to avoid hydrogen embrittlement which will limit the lifespan of the container. Natural gas has much larger molecules. Higher natural gas pressures can therefore be achieved without reducing the lifespan of the container.

[000171] Hydrogen containers may be constructed in different sizes. The factors to determine the optimal size or sizes of hydrogen containers is described below.

[000172] The Australian National University has estimated that Australia needs 450GWh of storage for Australia to be able to adopt 100% renewables. Thus approximately 100 hydrogen containers would store the required energy to allow Australia to power itself from renewables.

[000173] Several methods can significantly improve the longevity of a hydrogen container:

[000174] The type and thickness of the steel from which the hydrogen container is made.

[000175] Banding the outside circumference of the hydrogen container with a steel rope or a steel band that compresses the pipe. The banding will be positioned horizontally and spaced to maximize the pressure the hydrogen container can contain with the lowest number of bands: i.e. the most efficient spacing of bands. This will reduce the expansion and contraction of the hydrogen container when filled and emptied, reducing work hardening and stopping the expansion of micro cracks into which hydrogen can migrate when the hydrogen container is under pressure. A band could be constructed from 4 identical segments each of which is a quadrant (covers 90 degrees of the circumference). The segments are slightly smaller than the circumference. The bands segments are assembled around the circumference. Segment 1 is attached to segment 2, and segments 1 and 2 are attached to segment 3, and segments 1, 2 and 3 are attached to segment 4. Segments 1 and 4 are pushed together with a hydraulic press to suitably compress the circumference of the hydrogen container without damaging the hydrogen container, and the segments 1 and 4 are then joined. [000176] The hydrogen container can be designed so that when joined and tensioned, the banding straps can be welded to the hydrogen container with the banding straps cover circumferential welds, reducing the likelihood of hydrogen escaping via micro cracks in the circumferential welds.

[000177] Using two or more skins for the container. These skins can be connected at multiple points to gain the structural advantage of two skins. Bands or wire rope can be used to compress the inner skin, and a grout can be used to fill the cavity between the skins. An alternative method is to fill the space between the walls with air at a higher pressure than the pressure of the hydrogen in the inner cavity.

[000178] At a depth of 15m, the water is calm, and a hydrogen container will be supported on all sides by the water. By not exposing the hydrogen container to the turbulence of the surface, the twisting and flexing encountered by surface travel will not be encountered and hydrogen containers with some work hardening and hydrogen embrittlement can likely continue to function efficiently at 15m when they could break up in a storm if travelling on the surface.

[000179] The temperature fluctuations of the hydrogen container at 15 m below the surface will be low and will be gradual, which will reduce the thermal expansion and contraction of the hydrogen container and will reduce work hardening caused by thermal expansion and contraction. Monitoring the stress on the gas containers using strain gauges will provide information to the control system about when the vessel should submerge to maintain an adequate safety factor will also reduce work hardening in the gas containers.

[000180] Reducing the storage pressure of hydrogen in the hydrogen container as this slows the hydrogenation of the container.

[000181] Using a particular type of steel on the inner surface of a container made in layers, and/or coating the inside of the hydrogen container with a material that is non-reactive to hydrogen and forms an airtight seal when bonded to the inside surface of the hydrogen container to reduce the ability of hydrogen to penetrate micro cracks. An efficient way to do this is to have a robot spray the inside of the hydrogen container evenly, several times, so that if there is any pin holing in the surface, it will be covered by a subsequent layer of coating.

[000182] The efficiency of a hydrogen container as a hydrogen store can be measured by the pressure inside the container, or if the hydrogen container has two layers, measuring the pressure inside the hydrogen container and between layers will provide information if hydrogen is leaking. If hydrogen is not leaking, then it is unlikely that hydrogenation of the steel is a current problem.

[000183] In order to better predict and ameliorate the effects of hydrogenation of the steel over time, the hydrogen containers can be filled at different pressures and their longevity can be measured. Small hatch plates can be installed in the cylinder and removed, and the steel examined under a microscope for hydrogenation. Similarly, different steels with different thicknesses can be trialed as hatch plates.

[000184] The pressure of hydrogen in hydrogen containers in use will be constantly measured and decreasing pressure without intentional release of hydrogen will mean hydrogen leakage. The leakage rates will vary with pressure. Embodiments include a system to minimize the leakage of hydrogen by techniques which include filling different containers at different pressures, and choosing different containers for different storage and transportation tasks. For example, delivery of hydrogen which will be quickly loaded into railcars may mean that a higher pressure will be used than an application where the hydrogen will be stored for months.

Ocean Transportation

[000185] Water at the surface of the ocean can be very rough, but the turbulence drops quickly with depth. At 10m, there is very little turbulence. In a bad storm, submariners notice little turbulence at 20-30m. The deepest draught of large ships like aircraft carriers and the Queen Mary II are less than 13 m. Collisions with ships will not occur if an object is submerged 15m below the surface. So, if a hydrogen container is submerged at 15m, it will be safe from collisions from ships.

[000186] Instead of using special built ships to transport hydrogen or ammonia, the hydrogen can be transported using these hydrogen containers travelling 15m below the surface chained together like train carriages and pulled by an ocean-going surface tug or submerged propulsion unit, for example. One powerful surface tug can slowly pull a large number of hydrogen containers, and can likely transport more energy in one voyage than a large specialist tanker would transport.

Maintaining Consistent Depth [000187] The hydrogen containers need ballast to reduce the buoyancy of the container.

Ballast can be provided by external weight which can be attached to the bands on the outside of the hydrogen container that stop the hydrogen container expanding when filled with hydrogen, by having internal weights inside the hydrogen container which will reduce the volume of hydrogen stored, by having grout filling the space between the skins if the hydrogen container is two skinned, or a combination of the above.

[000188] The ballast system may provide the longitudinal and tortional strength required by the hydrogen container.

[000189] The depth of the hydrogen container can be measured by the surrounding water pressure and this will be constantly monitored by the hydrogen containers. Active buoyancy control can be provided by floats that can be filled with water or air to maintain neutral buoyancy at a desired depth, for example 15m. A number of buoyancy tanks will be distributed over the length of the hydrogen container so that if the hydrogen container is lower at one end than the other end, water will not flow from the raised end to the lower end to destabilize the container. Compressed air tanks (not shown) may be controlled by the control system to enable the water to be evacuated from the buoyancy tanks. An air compressor could be installed on each container, compressing air through a snorkel. Alternatively, compressed air tanks can be refilled at the departure and arrival sites. As the surface tug is travelling slowly, a tender vessel with compressed air tanks and could be used to refill the compressed air tanks on the hydrogen containers at sea.

[000190] Attachable ballast could be constructed from a round pipe with hemispheres at both ends. The ballast may minimize drag as the hydrogen container is towed. The ballast pipe could be filled with dense matter such as a concrete slurry made from ilmenite and compacted to remove air to increase weight. A small amount of a binder such as cement could be used to give the ballast rigidity and strength and stop the ingress of water. Reinforcing steel in the concrete in the ballast pipe can be used to provide additional longitudinal and tortional strength as required by the hydrogen container design.

[000191] The density of water will change with salinity and temperature, which can cause the hydrogen container to move from neutral buoyance to develop positive or negative buoyancy. Although the change in buoyancy might be small, the hydrogen container will rise or sink, and over time, active measures will be needed to maintain the desired depth. Ways this can be achieved include the following, for example [000192] The ballast tanks can be adjusted by forcing out water with compressed air, or by releasing air, using a control valve under control of at least one controller and/or control system.

[000193] One or more moveable control surfaces (e.g. hydroplanes) may be attached to the hydrogen container. These control surfaces may be controlled by at least one controller and/or control system to rotate to raise or lower the hydrogen container to help the hydrogen container maintain a desired depth when being towed. The energy to power the hydroplanes could be provided by the compressed air used to maintain approximately neutral buoyancy. The hydroplanes can be attached to the front and/or the rear of the hydrogen cylinders.

[000194] Sensors may be used to measure the depth of the hydrogen container and provide feedback to the controller to assist in controlling the control surfaces and/or the ballast. For example, the controller may be programmed to reach a pre-programmed depth and maintain that depth within a defined threshold by controlling operation of the control surfaces and/or ballast.

[000195] Feedback of the depth of the hydrogen container may be sent by a controller to an external communication site to enable remote operation of the control surfaces and/or ballast. Signals may be sent from the external communication site to the controller to control operation of the control surfaces and/or ballast.

[000196] When the hydrogen container is stationary, the hydrogen container can be given a small negative buoyancy to gently rest on the seabed, or a small positive buoyancy to rest on the underside of a pontoon by controlling the ballast. The hydrogen containers can be additionally secured by ropes to moorings or by having extensible robotic arms secure the hydrogen container to the pontoon. This is discussed below.

Ocean Transport Efficiency

[000197] The energy used to power a vessel increases with the speed of the vessel. High speed transportation is necessary with expensive purpose-built ships. Instead, the supply chain with hydrogen cylinders can be designed to eliminate the need for high speed transportation.

[000198] Energy supply companies will want to have a reserve of hydrogen so that they can continue to provide electricity without interruption much as companies running coal fired power stations want large reserves of coal close to the power station. Traditionally this means that they would have large tanks of hydrogen near their fuel cell facility. However there is another model where is a large reserve of energy stored in a number of smaller containers, and where new supplies of hydrogen arrive before the stored supplies are used. The storage is therefore partially in the supply chain as well as at the destination. This allows the transport of the hydrogen containers to be slow, e.g. 8 knots, meaning that the trip from Cairns in Australia to Tokyo in Japan is about 7 days.

[000199] This supply chain model allows for the cost of transportation to be dramatically reduced. The cost of transport by an ocean-going surface tug will be a fraction of the cost of transport in an expensive specially designed ship. In fact, the costs setting of the hydrogen generation, storage and transport, and the generation of electricity from the hydrogen may be similar to the cost of a specialized ship.

[000200] If rough weather is encountered, the surface tug can release the towing line to take action to survive the storm, e.g. by turning into the weather. Once the storm is over, the surface tug can reconnect to the containers and continue its journey. Alternatively, a submersible propulsion unit can submerge and continue the journey submerged.

[000201] The containers will all be connected to the surface tug via a power and communication cable. Information will be logged and transmitted including: ID of the hydrogen container (each hydrogen container will have a unique ID), destination, what is in the hydrogen container and information about its state, who the hydrogen container is being delivered to, transaction references etc., plus current data: precise GPS location, depth as measured by the water temperature, salinity and pressure outside the hydrogen container, temperature and pressure of the hydrogen inside the container, if there are two skins, the pressure and temperature between the skins, the relative speed of the hydrogen container to the water (this and the GPS position will provide a measure of ocean currents etc.), a measure of the energy in onboard batteries to power communications if the communication cable is disconnected, and so on. The hydrogen container may also have a separate hydrogen store that will drive a fuel cell to keep the batteries on the hydrogen container charged. One implementation of this separate fuel store will have a one-way valve from the main container to the separate hydrogen store so that when the pressure in the main container exceeds the pressure in the hydrogen store, hydrogen will flow into, but not out of, the separate hydrogen store. A separate pipe connection to the main hydrogen pipe connection can also be provided. Having a fuel cell in or on a hydrogen container will mean that the smart buoy halves connected to the hydrogen container will be able to be charged by the hydrogen container they are attached to by a power cable attached to the towing rope. This hydrogen store can be independently refilled when the cylinder is being recharged with hydrogen. The batteries will also be recharged whenever the hydrogen container loads and unloads fuel.

[000202] In order to be able to find a jettisoned hydrogen container, the hydrogen container will deploy an antenna or a smart buoy with an antenna attached to it with a communications capability that will broadcast the exact location of the container. Smart buoys have batteries to operate when they are separated from a surface tug. When connected to a surface tug, to a hydrogen container or at anchor, the smart buoys can be recharged. As a backup, drones can be used to triangulate radio signals from the antenna. The smart buoy is described below.

[000203] The transport system can be made even more efficient by calculating and optimizing the course that an ocean-going surface tug will take by using known ocean currents and current ocean current modelling to reduce the voyage time by selecting routes where the ocean current will assist the voyage and avoiding routes that would take the surface tug into currents that would impede the voyage. A knowledge base of useful ocean currents will be collected for this purpose from surface tugs and containers transporting hydrogen. When sufficient data is collected, machine learning algorithms can be developed to further improve route selection. Adverse currents may determine the power and speed of the ocean-going surface tug, and may limit the number of hydrogen containers that a surface tug may be able to tow.

Determining the Optimal Design and Size (or Sizes) of Hydrogen Containers

[000204] There are multiple factors required to determine the optimal size or sizes of hydrogen containers which include:

[000205] Cost of manufacture of different sized containers built with different construction techniques, such as double skinned containers and pressures that the containers are safely designed for.

[000206] These costs will include the cost per unit volume of the container, the energy storage per m3 (doubling the pressure doubles the energy stored), the total energy storage in the hydrogen container and the energy input required to create the containers so that the system can be optimized for energy efficiency. [000207] Doubling the diameter of the hydrogen container will increase the area by 4 and the volume by 8. Larger containers may require thicker walls, but the physical strength to resist rough weather at sea that a containers will need will be significantly lower if it is towed at 15m below the surface than if it was towed on the surface.

[000208] The containers will need to be constructed at the water’s edge. This may require a purpose-built factory using specialized manufacture equipment. Manufacture costs per unit volume are likely to reduce with increased size but there are likely to be upper size limits.

[000209] Lifetime of the hydrogen container as a hydrogen storage facility can be extended as discussed above. Longer lifetimes will mean lower amortized costs and amortized energy inputs.

[000210] Optimal size of hydrogen containers may also depend on their ability to be reused in other applications, such as floating pontoons which will depend on the optimal size and configuration of the floating pontoons. If the same sized hydrogen container can be used in all applications, the cost of manufacture will reduce significantly and the amortization costs and amortized energy inputs of the storage and transport of energy will be reduced by the value of the hydrogen container for other purposes.

[000211] The energy generation capacity of the floating or onshore fuel cell plants that will generate electricity from the stored hydrogen. The hydrogen storage system should have the capacity to maintain supply of electricity from the fuel cell to the grid or other user whenever it is needed. At minimum, there will be two berths to enable the discharge of hydrogen from the hydrogen containers to power the fuel cells: one berth that is discharging and the other cell to enable the empty fuel cell to be removed and replaced by a full fuel cell. More berths can be added. In addition, the speed of response to the request for more energy is very important as very fast response times have significantly higher prices. Installing a quickly responding battery close to the fuel cell may increase the price of the energy provided.

[000212] The size of hydrogen containers will be chosen where possible to reduce operational costs. The smaller the containers, the more frequently they will be emptied, and the more frequently empty containers will be exchanged for full containers. Frequent hydrogen cylinder changes will increase operational costs and may require extra equipment, such as additional surface tugs. The size of the hydrogen container should therefore be large enough for one hydrogen container to supply a fuel cell for sufficient time for another hydrogen cylinder to be conveniently connected to the fuel cells. 2-3 days is likely to be a convenient time.

[000213] The size, the shape and the hydrodynamic qualities of the hydrogen container can be optimized to minimize drag when it is being towed and minimize the energy used to transport say 1 KWh of energy, which will be the volume of hydrogen x pressure.

[000214] The hydrogen production capacity in the early stages of the project will be limited and it will be more efficient to deliver smaller hydrogen containers more frequently than a large hydrogen container less frequently

[000215] The market demand: it is likely that smaller cities with low to medium energy demands will want smaller hydrogen cylinders to store hydrogen, as well as smaller fuel cell plants to generate electricity. Being able to address a bigger number of locations will increase the benefits of the system, including improving grid utilization efficiency, discussed below.

[000216] Risk can be reduced by having smaller hydrogen containers: the cost of losing a hydrogen container or losing the contents of a hydrogen container will reduce with size

[000217] Cost and energy input of the manufacture of the containers. Doubling the diameter of the hydrogen container will increase the area by 4 and the volume by 8. Larger containers may require thicker walls, but the strength that a hydrogen container will need will be significantly lower if it is towed at 15m below the surface than if it was towed on the surface

[000218] Hydrogen containers can be delivered at different pressures so that for example, a smaller island may only need a hydrogen container filled at a lower pressure. However, this depends on the location of the island, because if it is remote, it may be more efficient to order several full containers and not have a delivery for an extended time.

[000219] The following information relating to outside constraints needs to be collected:

[000220] The size, shape and weight and generational capacity of industrial fuel cells supplied by third parties, plus the size, shape and weight of all the other components of a fuel cell pontoon [000221] The size, shape and weight and generational capacity of industrial hydrogen generating electrolysis plants supplied by third parties, plus the size, shape and weight of all the other components of a hydrogen generation cell pontoon

[000222] The size constraints applied by suitable robotic equipment of sufficient quality to make highly sealed and suitably strong hydrogen containers

[000223] Resistance to towing of different shaped hydrogen containers when towed at different speeds, which will be calculated using simulation software

[000224] Pontoon design input for the reuse of hydrogen containers

[000225] Locating the manufacturing facilities in an area with a significant tide will enable energy savings by positioning the ballast system in a tidal dry dock. At high tide float the hydrogen container into the dry dock and position over the ballast system. At low tide, permanently connect the ballast system and float out the hydrogen container connected to the ballast at high tide. Similar procedures can be done to transfer a used hydrogen container from the transport of hydrogen to incorporation in a truss as part of a pontoon.

Storing hydrogen containers at the destination at sea

[000226] Instead of building a large on shore facility, any number of hydrogen containers can be safely stored at sea by slowly sinking the hydrogen container so that it sits gently on the seafloor in shallow enough water for the hydrogen container to be able to withstand the external water pressure. The ballast system provides the structural support to allow the hydrogen container to rest on an uneven seabed. Additionally, the hydrogen containers can be secured by attaching the hydrogen container to a secure mooring, so that if the hydrogen container starts to float, it will still be held in place.

[000227] To enable the hydrogen container to sink slowly, ballast pressure sensors are placed on the ballast system which measure the pressure at a number of points on each on the underside of the lowest ballast cylinders. When the ballast pressure sensors detect a set pressure value has been sensed, then the ballast system will be sealed off by the system to stop more water entering or air escaping. [000228] As they are underwater, the hydrogen containers are out of sight, and being below the draught of even the largest ships, the hydrogen containers will not interfere with navigation.

[000229] The only cost is the cost of selecting the location of places where hydrogen containers can be stored, and building permanent moorings if this is required.

[000230] Mooring a hydrogen container to an anchor point has another significant advantage. A pipe can be laid to the anchor point and once the hydrogen container is attached by a rope to the anchor point, a robotic device can navigate along the rope, dragging a pipe connection, power and communications, and connect the hydrogen container to the pipe, power and communications so that it can discharge or store hydrogen and provide detailed monitoring information.

[000231] Where hydrogen containers are stored at sea, they can be moored to an anchor. The hydrogen container can rest on the seabed or be floating. If the hydrogen container is floating, it will reposition itself based on currents and tides, so a circular area of the length of the anchor chain plus the length of the hydrogen container will be required for each container. This area will be larger where the water is deeper because there will be a longer anchor chain.

[000232] Usually the hydrogen containers will be stored at sea, but they could be stored in harbours. In some shallow harbours, the containers may need to raise themselves to avoid grounding themselves on the harbor floor. Once in position, the containers could lower themselves onto the harbor floor instead of being moored. The ballast tanks can provide structural support.

[000233] Being able to safely store what is effectively an unlimited amount of energy close to a large city will ensure energy security. The costs are minimal: the amortized costs of the moorings, the rent on the hydrogen containers and the interest on the value of the energy stored.

Charging and Discharging the Floating Hydrogen Container

[000234] As it is convenient to store hydrogen containers on the seabed in shallower water, hydrogen can be piped to a floating hydrogen generation plant either floating, or on land, preferably in a place where grid connection is convenient and low cost. [000235] The generation of hydrogen from electrolysis may take place in deeper water if a pontoon is used to store energy for the electrolysis, e.g. from a solar farm during the day for electrolysis at night. Alternatively, the pontoons storing energy can be in deeper water and can be connected by a submarine electric cable to the hydrogen generation system closer to shore.

[000236] In the shallower water, one option is to have a pipe attached to the anchor chain that a robotic device can attach to the hydrogen container so that the hydrogen container can be emptied or filled while it is moored, reducing operational costs. The pipe would be laid along the seabed and attach to either a fuel cell platform for the generation of electricity or an electrolysis unit for the generation and storage of hydrogen.

[000237] Another option that may be used in deeper water is to charge and discharge hydrogen containers at specially built floating pontoons for charging the discharging the container. Lines are attached to the floating hydrogen container to pull it under the pontoon. Once in place the hydrogen container will expel water from its buoyancy floats and rise into a housing that will hold the hydrogen container in place with the force evenly distributed along the surface of the floating hydrogen container. The hydrogen container can also be pulled into location under the pontoon and then be secured by two or more remotely controlled extensible robotic arms that will attach to specifically designed places on the hydrogen container. A pipe is sealed over a hatch and the hatch is then opened remotely to allow for the ingress or ingress of the hydrogen.

Using the Grid to Transfer Renewable Energy

[000238] The grid has been designed to distribute power from power stations fueled by coal, gas, nuclear etc. and delivered to consumers. There are fewer consumers at the grid edges, so the grid capacity is lower. Connecting a solar or wind farm at the edge of the grid can be expensive because the connection should happen at a place in the grid which can handle the capacity at peak times.

[000239] The grid usually has spare capacity so transferring energy at night time can be achieved in the evening and at night without overloading the grid. To transfer energy at night will usually mean that surplus energy is stored during the day at a solar farm already connected to the grid and transferred at night to an energy storage facility at night which is situated inside the grid where it can be used to provide power when energy demand is high. An energy storage facility to power coastal cities could be situated at sea and connect to substations in the city, probably near the shore. Siting Hydrogen Generation and Hydrogen Fuel Cells

[000240] There are vast areas of Australia and other countries that can be used for economic solar generation: low land costs and which are sunny for most of the year. The problem is how to store and transport the energy. One way is to build a connection to the grid. Existing wind or solar farms can increase their energy generation and store surplus power which can then be transferred at night to storage inside the grid where it can be used to provide power when energy demand is high. Another way is to generate hydrogen and distribute the hydrogen by existing rail or by truck to fuel call facilities inside the grid where the hydrogen can be turned directly into electricity when the demand is high. Yet another way is to generate hydrogen in an inaccessible area, store and transport it in a hydrogen container, and then use it to generate energy at sea or close to the shore, or unload the hydrogen and transport it to fuel cell plants close to grid connection locations. The hydrogen can act as an energy store in the same way coal is currently used to provide base power.

[000241] Hydrogen generation plants (electrolysis) require energy input. They operate most efficiently on a 24/7 basis. If these plants are powered by solar power, then energy storage will be required for nighttime and when the weather is not sunny. The electrolysis plants can be located on a solar farm.

[000242] A solar farm by the sea can have a hydrogen generation plant on shore pumping hydrogen it produces to fill rail or truck mounted containers for distribution on land, or by pumping the hydrogen directly into a submerged hydrogen container at sea close to the solar farm.

[000243] Alternatively, the electrolysis can be located on a floating pontoon that can be towed into place and can be moved.

[000244] Similarly, hydrogen piped from submerged hydrogen containers at sea can be used to power a hydrogen fuel cell on land close to the hydrogen containers, or can be used to power a hydrogen container at sea on a floating pontoon, which is connected to the grid via a cable.

Siting Floating Hydrogen Fuel Cells at Sea

[000245] Hydrogen plants to generate hydrogen from water are relatively small and light (they power planes) and can fit onto a sufficiently large floating pontoon. Electrolysis plants currently require two inputs: electricity and clean water which can be provided by a cable and a hose from shore but new technologies may allow the efficient and cost efficient generation of hydrogen from seawater.

[000246] If hydrogen is stored at 55.55 atm, then 1 litre of water will produce 1 litre of hydrogen and the same containers used to transport the hydrogen could be used to transport clean water to the hydrogen generation plant.

[000247] Seawater can also be purified by reverse osmosis but this in energy intensive and therefore expensive.

[000248] Clean water can also be collected from rain and from the atmosphere, even in the driest of places. Atmospheric Water Generators (AWG) harness the humidity in the air and generates clean high-quality drinking water at low cost. The higher the humidity the higher the output. Some low-cost systems that passively collect fog and dew have been developed.

[000249] A further method is to use the sun to passively desalinate water. Seawater is put into a container and covered by a transparent sheet such as polythene. The sun heats seawater which creates water vapor (clean water) that condenses on the inside of the polythene and runs down the polythene where it is collected.

[000250] Electrolysis plants that use membranes to separate hydrogen and oxygen typically require clean water as seawater degrades the membrane. New technologies that use specially designed and shaped anodes and cathodes to separate the oxygen and hydrogen should enable the electrolysis of seawater are being developed and show promise.

[000251] Hydrogen generation plants at sea can pump hydrogen directly into a floating underwater hydrogen container. Green power sources could include one or more wind turbines, a solar farm, either on shore or floating, wave generation and generation of electricity using turbines in currents. When full, the hydrogen container can be transported to a floating fuel cell plant and used directly by that plant to generate electricity which is provided by a cable to shore. There is no double handling of the hydrogen. The energy used to compress the hydrogen can be reclaimed by using a small turbine at the floating fuel cell plant.

[000252] If natural gas is stored in the hydrogen containers, then the floating pontoon used to generate electricity could contain a marine gas turbine connected to a generator such as is used in ships. The gas turbines can be started quickly and can be used to even out peaks and troughs in energy demand, as well as to stabilize the grid. Alternatively, the gas turbine may be located onshore with the gas piped from the hydrogen container to the gas turbine.

[000253] As there is electricity available, the pontoons and equipment can be protected by using sacrificial anodes. Other benefits include:

[000254] Safe storage of vast amounts of hydrogen underwater close to cities giving those cities energy security at little cost.

[000255] Hydrogen generation plants and fuel cell plants can be sited near most coastal cities, which are major consumers of energy, and can provide a direct supply of electricity directly into the city. This is likely to reduce grid loading and help stabilize the grid voltage and frequency. Siting the floating fuel plants near existing substations will reduce grid connection costs.

[000256] A plant can be submerged during normal operation so that an unsightly plant is not usually visible. With fuel cells generating electricity, air will be needed to supply oxygen for the chemical process, and so a snorkel and probably onboard air storage will be needed. It may be impractical to submerge a gas turbine due to the high volume of air needed.

[000257] No need to buy expensive land assets to install plant on land.

[000258] Mass production of the plants in purpose-built factories by the sea, floating them into place. This will reduce unit costs and allow for the international roll out of this technology quickly and with minimal delays and quality problems.

[000259] Floating hydrogen generation platforms seem ideally suited to generate hydrogen for transportation and sale of hydrogen in hydrogen containers from energy provided by wind farms in the ocean.

Optimizing the size and location of fuel cell pontoons generating electricity.

[000260] Floating energy generation facilities can be located in multiple areas that have the right sea and seabed conditions and suitable connections to the grid. In order to optimize the locations of the energy generation facilities for grid optimization, the following information should be collected and entered into a computerized digital geographic information system that can be queried by external systems. The collected data should be in digital electronic form suitable to be imported into a geographic information system. Some information may only be available in analogue form such as map images and printed maps and will therefore need to be digitized:

[000261] Topography and geology of seabed, which includes water depth, access to sea and whether permanent anchors can be drilled into a rock seabed.

[000262] Commercial and recreational uses include shipping channels, recreation and fishing.

[000263] Weather information which includes monthly high and low tide marks and their times, a distribution of wind speed by direction, a distribution of waves height and direction including reflected waves from shoreline cliffs.

[000264] Grid connection access options and routes. Around a city there will likely be multiple options to connect. Multiple pontoons can feed into the one grid connection. A grid connection capacity may be limited by substation capacity, so running an undersea or onshore cable to a larger substation may be required, or more than one grid connection may be required. Looking at reasons, such as planning permissions, that may restrict or delay a grid connection.

[000265] Areas where the site of a pontoon would be opposed on visual grounds. This will be opinion information from knowledgeable individuals.

[000266] Locations where materials for heavy submerged weights can be sources from, and locations where they can be constructed and transported and installed beneath a pontoon.

[000267] Town and cities the areas near the coast will likely be at the extremities the grid and providing power to the grid extremities could reduce strain on other parts of the grid.

Connecting to a large substation near the coast that can power a significant urban area will increase system efficiencies. This can be initially a peak demand service but will probably be run at full capacity as this will allow other areas to access more power. A second or third power generation can be floated in and can use the same grid connection. Storing hydrogen at sea can provide low cost, safe energy storage.

Moorings [000268] Moorings can be achieved by dropping heavy objects to the ocean floor which should be suitable to moor hydrogen containers and the floating hydrogen generation and electricity generation pontoons. If pontoons are to be dragged down to store energy, the most cost- effective mooring will be by drilling into rock on the ocean floor to enable a large uplift force to be resisted. Areas with a suitable seabed and water depth should be selected.

Reuse of Hydrogen Containers

[000269] Hydrogen containers with actual or suspected work hardening or hydrogen embrittlement can be used for other purposes, such as buoyancy for floating pontoons. The hydrogen containers would be used to store air, which is comprised of molecules that are much larger than hydrogen. The airtightness of the hydrogen container can simply be tested by pumping in compressed air. Depending on the state of the used hydrogen container, relining the container with a coating to fill any cracks may make commercial sense.

[000270] To use the container as a floating pontoon component, a truss will be built around the container. This can utilize the places where the buoyancy control equipment was located.

[000271] Remotely Controlled Operations of the Connection and Disconnection of Hydrogen Containers Using Smart Buoys

[000272] The remote control of a robotic arm(s)

[000273] The core activity for remote control of the connection of a hydrogen container to a surface tug is the remote control of the robotic arm. The robotic arms can be mounted on an ocean-going surface tug, or on a smaller vessel, most likely a smaller surface tug. Controlling the robotic arm on a small vessel that will connect smart buoys is considered in detail. Similar procedures can be achieved by using robotic arms to position hydrogen containers and to connect hydrogen pipes to hydrogen containers.

[000274] The robotic arm is fixed securely on a base plate and can swivel through 360 degreed horizontally. It has an arm that has at least three joints and three parts of the arm. The part closest to the horizontal base plate can raise or lower through nearly 90 degrees. The second part of the arm may be telescopic, and the third part can rotate nearly 180 degrees in 3 dimensions. The third part can attach to other devices. Sensors on the robotic arm can precisely record where the arm and its components are at all times, the angles between the arm components, the extension of the arms, the angle with the horizontal plate etc., and make this information available to a control system.

[000275] Consider a robotic arm that is controlled by someone in close proximity to the robotic arm. The human operator uses their vision to judge the location of the arm and the desired location of where the arm should be, and then uses their hands to drive the physical controls of the robotic arm so that the robotic arm is then in the desired location.

[000276] Remote control can be achieved by having the same physical controls in a different location. The remote operator would use a multiplicity of cameras and lights to judge the location of the arm and the desired location of where they want the robotic arm. These cameras and lights can be mounted on the vessel on which the robotic arms are mounted, on the smart buoys, on hydrogen containers, and on the robotic arms. The cameras and lights are connected to batteries, a control panel to control the cameras and lights, and a communications channel so that the information from the cameras and other sensors can be provided to the operator. The information from these cameras could be contemporaneously shown in different windows on a computer screen.

[000277] A manual operator is likely to move the arm in the x plane, then the y plane and then the z plane.

[000278] In addition to showing the operator visual information, the cameras and other can be used to measure and or calculate the precise distance and direction in 3 dimensions between the robotic arm and the desired location of the robotic arm. One way of doing this is to use stereoscopic information provided by multiple cameras located close together so that the precise relative location of the device and the desired location can be calculated. This in turn can allow a computer to calculate the precise information that needs to be provided to the controls to move the robotic arm from its current location to the desired location moving the arm in the x, y and z planes simultaneously. Another method of measuring distance is to attach a laser measurement device to the arm to that precise information about the distance between the robotic arm and say a smart buoy can be measured and communicated back to the control system. Other sensors can also be used including as accurate GPS location and laser distance measurement equipment mounted on surface tugs and hydrogen containers etc.

[000279] If the robotic arm is attached to a floating vessel, then the position of the robotic arm and the desired location will change over time, both horizontally and vertically, caused by such effects as waves, currents, winds etc. In addition, the vessel may tilt as the arm is extended, which again will be determined by the angle of the arm to the centreline of the boat, how far the arm extends beyond the centreline, the height of the arm, the weight of anything attached to the arm etc.

[000280] A human operator will likely wait until the vessel is e.g. on a wave crest, to move the robotic arm into the desired location.

[000281] However, by having sensors on or near the vessel measure effects like the speed, direction and propagation of waves surrounding the vessel to which is attached the robotic arm, it is possible to predict the 3D position of the vessel at a time in the near future and hence calculate how the position of the robotic arm will move over time as a result of wave, wind and tide action without having to wait for a lull in say wave action. It will therefore be possible to calculate how to move the robotic arm attached to a moving vessel so that it remains in the desired location, which might be a smart buoy, which can move relative to the vessel and well as the vessel moving relative to the smart buoy.

[000282] The software to control the devices such as the robotic arm will use the measurement devices described above on the robotic arm, on the surface tug or other vessel, on the smart buoys etc. to provide active real time feedback to the control system of the robotic arm so that, as the arm moves, the movement instructions are constantly being changed to improve the accuracy of motion of the robotic arm.

[000283] A computer simulation can be developed to assist an operator to perform tasks using remotely controlled equipment. In the case of the vessel with the robotic arm, this software will have simulated input from the various sensors that could be attached to a vessel or to the robotic arm, time lags for the signal to be sent, received, decoded, and sent to the control system to drive the device. The speed of the device to respond will be measured. The response of the device will be simulated.

[000284] The vessel with the robotic arm can be more realistically simulated by having a physical robotic arm in a lab which can move off vertical in 360 degrees and can move in any direction that a robotic arm attached to the vessel could move. The desired location or locations can be simulated by another robotic arm that can move anywhere in a suitably large sphere and can move horizontally in 360 degrees away from, parallel or closer to the simulated vessel. Instruments on the robotic arms and at the desired location, and simulated instruments on the vessel with the robotic arm and at the desired location will provide input to the simulation software.

[000285] A vessel with the robotic arm can be operated by a number of different human operators as well as having different automated strategies trialed. All experimental information will be recorded and will be used as input data to a machine learning algorithm to develop better algorithms to assist human remote control of operations and also automated control of operations.

[000286] A floating smart buoy will be attached to the towrope attached to the surface tug, a smart buoy will be attached to either end of each hydrogen container and smart buoys will be attached to mooring lines and lines used to position hydrogen cylinders to load or unload fuel.

[000287] When connected by a power and communications cable, smart buoys can communicate with each other via the cable. The floating smart buoys will have antennae to communicate with the surface tug when not connected to the surface tug via a communications cable. These intelligent buoys will have lights, camera arrays, distance measuring equipment and communications to provide additional information of where the smart buoy is and to facilitate the hooking of smart buoys by remotely controlled robotic arms. The sensors in the smart buoys, the hydrogen containers and the surface tug will communicate with each other.

The surface tug will communicate with a remote control room where humans can control operations if required. The smart buoys can be remotely instructed to disconnect automatically, and when this happens, the smart buoys will surface and then be able to communicate directly with the control room.

[000288] Operations other than towing the hydrogen containers involving the ocean going surface tug may include: connection and disconnection of hydrogen containers being towed, mooring of hydrogen cylinders and the connection of hydrogen cylinders to cables which are able to position the hydrogen container to connect to pipes to load and unload its fuel, the refueling of the ocean going surface tug, and the docking of the ocean going surface tug.

[000289] To connect smart buoys to pipes to allow hydrogen to be transported to or from a hydrogen container, the hydrogen container will connect to a smart buoy attached to the anchor chain. Once connected, a robotic device will move along the anchor chain and connect a rope which is also connected to a submerged winch. When connected, the winch will pull the hydrogen container close to the anchor. At a predetermined distance from the anchor, the hydrogen container will slowly lose buoyancy and gently settle on the seabed. When the hydrogen container is settled on the seabed, a remote controlled robotic device use the rope to which the winch is attached to propel itself along the rope, drag a pipe to the hydrogen container and connect the pipe to the hydrogen container to allow hydrogen to be transported to or from the hydrogen container.

[000290] The hydrogen pipe will have a male conical shaped housing on the end of the pipe to be connected to the hydrogen container, which will have a female shaped conical housing. The robotic arm inserts the male conical housing into the female conical housing and turns the housing to engage a bayonet clip to hold the housing in place. When the housing is in place, and a water tight seal is made, a smaller pipe with a high-pressure gas bayonet fitting at the end will extend into the female conical housing passing through a pressurized gel seal. The male pipe gas fitting will then attach to the female gas fitting and lock into place. The gas can then start flowing. See Figure 10F.

[000291] To refuel a hydrogen powered tug, the smart buoy attached to the tug is attached to the smart buoy attached to the anchor with the hydrogen pipe for refueling. A robotic device travels along the anchor chain and attached a rope attached to a winch to the tug. The rope is wound in to position the tug directly over the anchor. A robotic device climbs the cable dragging a hydrogen pipe that is attached to the tug, allowing the tug to be refilled. When refilled, the pipe is disconnected, and the robotic device takes down the hydrogen pipe. Then the cable attached to the winch is disconnected and a robotic device climbs down the anchor rope until it is on the anchor side of the smart buoy attached to the anchor. Then the tug and the anchor smart buoys disconnect.

[000292] For most situations, hydrogen cylinders will be stored on the ground in shallow water.

In deep water, having an anchor chain will need to be at least the distance between the floating hydrogen cylinder and the anchor. This will mean that the hydrogen cylinder could be anywhere in a large circle whose centre is the anchor.

[000293] An alternative is to have a moored pontoon which has a cradle on its underside that is designed to securely hold a hydrogen container with positive buoyancy. The pontoon is shaped so that the hydrogen container will self centre as the hydrogen cylinder rises due to positive buoyancy. Extensible remotely controlled robotic arms on the pontoons that will grab the hydrogen containers at specially designed grab points to align the hydrogen containers, and to do other activities, such as docking the tug. When not in use, these robotic arms will clean each other, and will then fold up and insert themselves into a watertight container to reduce the negative effects of the marine environment on them.

[000294] Remote controllers may use the simulations and scale models to conduct the operations described above. The information collected will be used as feedback to make operations easier, such as taller posts on the smart buoys, larger hoops and positioning the post so that the two smart buoys can connect. It may allow the positioning of cameras and other sensors to make the remote control easier. Different ways to manage the operations will be trialed and the optimal method for the circumstances encountered may be determined.

[000295] Once strategies have been developed to manage the remote control operations using simulations and scale models, full scale prototypes may be developed and these strategies will be tested and improved based on the feedback from these experiments. The operations will then be analysed to see what parts of the operations can be automated using computer code. The computer code will make the operations simpler, faster, more reliable, and easier to learn. The computer code will also be programmed to look out for things that can go wrong and if a potential problem is identified, then alarms will be sounded and corrective measured suggested.

[000296] Information from every operation will be recorded and will be used as input into machine learning based Al systems to enable the development of better algorithms with a higher degree of automation.

Training people to operate the remote controls

[000297] A system will be developed to train people to manage the system remotely. This will involve the new remote controllers learning the system reading, watching videos and using simulations. The new remote controllers will then practice using the real-life prototypes under supervision, and then will progress to real life operations under supervision. After a new remote controller has demonstrated that they can operate the system by themselves, they will be authorized to operate independently. However, the system will be constantly monitoring itself for things that might be going wrong, and will raise the alarm and suggest corrective action if a potential problem is indicated by the software.

Real time collection of information from sensors [000298] Multiple sensors may be used on all installations and objects in the system to measure relevant information for the control of the system including:

[000299] Accurate location in 3D space of all the hydrogen containers, the suspended weights or submerged pontoons used in energy storage systems, surface tugs, railcars, trains and other system objects;

[000300] Detailed information about the precise location of robotic arms, and the components of the robotic arms, including where the end of the arm is relative to its base, the tilt of its base and the direction of the tilt;

[000301] State of all system objects such as the energy being stored mechanically and as hydrogen, the pressure in the hydrogen containers and in the cavity between the skins of a multi-skin hydrogen container etc.;

[000302] Actual and predicted weather conditions including wind, sunshine, temperature, current and tidal flows etc.;

[000303] Detailed system information operations such as, hydrogen pumped and/or compressed, pump temperatures and throughputs etc.;

[000304] Described herein is a composite structure that has a rigid exoskeleton, a container suitable for gas, e.g. hydrogen, with circumferential expansion constraining rings and a connection between the exoskeleton and the container which may prestress the container, or may utilise dynamic stressing of the container so that the inner pressure and the outer pressure are approximately equal. The energy involved in the prestressing is relatively low because the distance moved by the components around the container to increase the useable pressure in the container is minimal, although the force being applied is large.

[000305] Provided are examples of nine variables that may be taken into account to increase the useable pressure of the hydrogen container:

• The thickness of the container wall;

The type or types of steel; • The diameter of the container;

• The number of containers in a vessel. For example, smaller cylindrical containers may be used in the construction of the container. Further, these cylindrical containers may be constructed to make a nested configuration e.g. a four-container cross-section (assuming a square cross section);

• The size of the circumferential expansion constraining rings. That is, both the area that is in contact with the container and the thickness of the I-beams. This assumes that the strap is an I-beam, as described herein.

• The number of circumferential I-beam straps, and therefore the distance between the I- beams;

• The number of polyhedral sections of the truss, and therefore the distance between the truss supports. Although some of the figures have a square cross section, it will be understood that these are by way of example only, and that they can take other shapes. Although the size of the truss members may be reduced, the force (pressure x area) will reduce because the area will be smaller;

• Additional external bracing - e.g. parallel to the cylindrical container. This bracing may be welded to the circumferential I-beam straps as well as to the container. One or more curved plates may be welded between the I-beam and the container to transfer the load over a wider area. Having a number of plates allows the distribution of load from the compressed gas over a larger area so that the induced stress is less than the allowable material stress;

• External prestressing or dynamic stressing of the container using the exoskeleton and either a static force exerted by a threaded rod and nut, or a dynamic force using hydraulic cylinders. Internal bracing of the container may be used so that the container resists external pressure. External bracing of the container may be combined with internal bracing to reduce the movement of the container and allow higher pressures to be achieved whilst minimizing work hardening of the container and hydrogen embrittlement. [000306] Fig. 20 shows an example of a first configuration of a rectangular truss in a front perspective view (top) and cross section view (bottom). The rectangular truss 1901 is a rigid exoskeleton that is formed from reinforced columns 1903, where each column has a round cross-section, to create a truss with an overall square cross section. For example, the columns may be formed from steel pipes that have concrete within the pipe aperture. Alternatively, the columns may be pre-formed concrete columns. The concrete columns are connected to each other via nodes 1905. For example, the nodes may be formed from steel and welded to each end of the steel pipes forming the columns. The truss 1901 is formed to support a high-pressure container (not shown) therein, where the container is placed in the truss prior to completing the truss structure. The container may be a hydrogen or oxygen container or contain another gas.

[000307] Fig. 21 shows an example hydrogen container 2001 (for example, with attachments for storage and/or transportation) with longitudinal reinforcement sections (2003A-E, 2005A-C, 2007A-C for example) which may be, for example, I-beam sections. The longitudinal reinforcement sections are located between and welded to circumferential expansion constraining rings (2009A-F), for example circumferential I-beams, providing additional reinforcement around the circumference of the container. Multiple longitudinal reinforcement sections are located around the circumference of the container 2001, in between the circumferential expansion constraining rings. Each of these sections are also welded to the container 2001 itself. Additionally, curved plates 2011 (or multiple curved plates) with the same curvature of the cylinder may be fixed between the longitudinal reinforcement sections (2003A- E, 2005A-C, 2007A-C for example) and the container 2001 to increase the area that each longitudinal reinforcement section is directly supporting. Further, one or more curved plates 2013 with the same curvature of the cylinder may be fixed between the circumferential expansion constraining rings (2009A-F), see cross sections A-A and C-C of Fig. 21. Where multiple curved plates are used (as shown in the example in the right-hand C-C cross section of Fig. 21), the stresses induced into the material of the container will be reduced, allowing higher pressure gas to be contained.

[000308] A square cross section through the truss 1901 is shown in Fig. 22A through the cylinder at cross section B-B shown in Fig. 21, in which a hydrogen container 2001 is located inside the truss 1901 and supported by the truss 1901 at multiple points (e.g. 2101A-H). The dotted circle in cross section B-B shows the dimensions of the circumferential I-beam in cross section A-A. A threaded rod 2103 (for example) and a nut 2105 (for example) apply a force to the associated circumferential expansion constraining ring 2009 (e.g. any of 2009A-E) to reduce expansion of the container 2001. The threaded rod 2103 is located into a truss connecting member 2107, such as a strong steel tube, that abuts the inside of the truss against a column or node via a plate 2109 that distributes the force. These elements provide static prestressing on the associated circumferential expansion constraining ring 2009. A cross-section C-C is also shown in Fig. 22A.

[000309] In Fig. 22B, instead of the threaded rod and nut, hydraulic jacks (2111 for example) may be used to provide dynamic stressing to allow the force on the circumferential expansion constraining ring 2009 to be counterbalanced by the force applied by the hydraulic jacks 2111. Each hydraulic jack 2111 is located into a truss connecting member 2113, such as a steel tube, that abuts the inside of the truss against a column or node via a plate 2115 that distributes the force

[000310] In Fig. 23A, the cylinder 2001 is supported in the cross section between the square truss elements at, for example, 8 points by the longitudinal reinforcement sections (for example, 2003C, 2005C, 2007C etc.) that connect longitudinally between the square truss construction and the cylinder 2001. At each of these points, a threaded rod (2205) and a nut (2207) provides force to a respective longitudinal reinforcement section, e.g. I-beam (e.g. 2003C, 2005C, 2007C etc.) that are longitudinally attached to the cylinder 2001. In Fig. 23B, instead of the threaded rod and nut as shown in Fig. 23A, a hydraulic jack 2211 is used to dynamically control the pressure being applied to the longitudinal reinforcement sections located between the circumferential expansion constraining rings (e.g. 2009A-E). For example, there may be more than one hydraulic jack 2211 between two circumferential expansion constraining rings (e.g. 2009A-E) where the hydraulic jacks 2211 apply different forces depending on the measured or calculated force measured at the respective longitudinal reinforcement section at the location of the hydraulic jack.

[000311] The truss is therefore arranged not to move when subjected to force from the container, as the truss is much stronger. If the threaded rod and nut option is used, the threaded nut may be adjusted mechanically, for example, that will apply a force onto the circumferential expansion constraining rings and longitudinal reinforcement section on the container. This will put the container into compression. As the pressure increases, the container will try to expand but the truss will prevent this. The truss will therefore automatically apply an equal and opposite force to the container to keep it from moving. Different tensions may be applied for different support positions on the container. [000312] The hydraulic system may provide more flexibility and may enable greater pressures to be applied, which may counteract any movement in the truss.

[000313] The force being applied can be measured by using any suitable accurate measurement instrument to measure the movement of the container at the location of a hydraulic jack, and/or calculated from as the force at that point at a particular internal pressure. For example, an optic fibre stress gauge may be used, which uses diffraction gratings which are made with small partial cuts into the fibre. When under stress, the size of the cut expands and this changes the size of the cut and changes the wavelength of the light reflected at the cut and the light transmitted, which can then be measured. These types of stress gauges are efficient underwater as they operate when wet. The optic fibre stress gauges can be positioned circumferentially and longitudinally to provide movement and stress measurements in the container.

[000314] To keep the container from moving, a force to counteract the gas pressure can be increased as the pressure increases. Static forces can be used to counteract the gas pressure provided that the container can withstand the compressive force when the gas container is empty. Dynamic force e.g. by using hydraulics, will enable the use of forces that are higher than the container could withstand when empty. More precise calculations may also be possible using finite element design.

[000315] Dynamically stabilizing the hydrogen container, the container expansion and contraction may be minimized, thus reducing work hardening and hydrogen embrittlement.

[000316] Fig. 24A shows a cross-section and perspective view of an octagonal truss 2301 forming a rigid exoskeleton for storing hydrogen containers therein. This truss 2301 has a smaller octagonal cross-sectional area than the square truss described above. Again, the truss is formed form multiple columns, e.g. 2303 and nodes 2305, in the same way as described with reference to Fig. 20. Fig. 24B shows an example of seven hexagonal trusses (e.g. 2301) joined together as a single vessel 2307. The trusses may be joined together by welding them together, for example. It will be understood that other shaped trusses may be used to form a rigid exoskeleton such as hexagonal trusses, etc.

[000317] Fig 24C shows a vessel 2307A that is similar to that shown in Fig.24B. In Fig. 24C there are eight hexagonal trusses (e.g. 2301A, 2301 B. 2301C) that form a rigid exoskeleton of the vessel 2307A for storing hydrogen containers therein. In this example, two of the hexagonal trusses (2301 A and 2301 B) are located at the lower end of the vessel 2307A to provide a base to allow the vessel to rest on a surface 2309 in a stable manner.

[000318] Instead of having an underwater container (e.g. hydrogen container) resting on the seabed using weight to counteract the buoyancy of the container, the container may be held down close to the seabed by the use of sea anchors. In Fig. 25A, the hydrogen container 2401 is attached to an I beam 2403 which can be attached to one or more sea anchors 2405 to counteract the buoyancy of the container 2401. For example, the container may be attached to the I-beam by one or more ropes or chains that can be attached to one of more anchors drilled into the seabed, or by large weights that are positioned on the seabed. The containers may be attached to drilled sea anchors and transported containing some water, so that they float.

When the containers arrive at the location where they are to be attached to the drilled in sea anchor which has a rope attached to a buoy, pipes will be attached, and additional water is added so that the container has neutral buoyancy and can be manoeuvred along the rope so that when it is close to the sea anchor, strong rope(s) or chains can then be attached to the sea anchor or sea anchors e.g. by a robotic submersible vessel. Where the pontoon is attached to a weight greater than the water displaced by the container, the container and weight will be floated into place under another pontoon, pipes will be connected and then the anchor will be slowly lowered to seabed. The container 2401 has a gas pipe connection and/or valve (2407, 2409).

[000319] In Fig. 25B, the hydrogen container 2401 can be located inside a triangular truss 2409, which can be attached to one or more sea anchors 2405 to counteract the buoyancy of the container 2401. The connections to pipes, power and comms are also shown in Fig 26.

[000320] In Fig 25C, a container 2411 is shown with legs 2413A/B. The legs are relatively short as they reduce water resistance compared to relatively longer legs. The legs 2413A/B are attached to two box sections 2415A/B. The container 2411 is transported filled with enough water so that only a small portion of the container 2411 is above the water level. While floating, the container 2411 is attached to gas pipes via a gas pipe connection 2413 and to communications and power. The container 2411 is positioned over the sea anchor(s) 2405 to hold the container down. Additional water is added to the container 2411 via a water inlet valve 2415 so that the container 2411 has neutral buoyancy, and so requires very little force to pull it down. A double rope 2417 is attached to a pulley 2419 attached to the anchor 2405 and a floating buoy (not shown). One end of the rope is attached to a self-closing clip 2421 on a short rope hanging from the container 2411. The container 2411 is pulled down so that the box sections 2415A/B settle on the seabed, and a self-operating clip engages with the anchor 2405. Any remaining air in the container 2411 is flushed out by water. Subsequently, the water is flushed out of the container as the gas for storage in the container 2411 enters the container 2411 via the gas pipes and gas pipe connection 2413. Alternatively, the container could be attached to the sea anchor using a robotic device.

[000321] Fig. 26 shows incoming hydrogen supply pipe 2601 and incoming oxygen supply pipe 2603 that are provided for supplying hydrogen gas and oxygen gas to the respective hydrogen container 2603 and oxygen container 2605. Further outgoing hydrogen supply pipe 2607 and outgoing oxygen supply pipe 2609 are provided for supplying hydrogen gas and oxygen gas to a fuel cell (for hydrogen) and/or to the shore from the respective hydrogen container 2603 and oxygen container 2605. In this example, the containers are held down on the seabed using feet 2611A/B, box sections 2613A/B and sea anchor 2615 arrangements described above with reference to Fig. 25C.

[000322] The storage container attached to the seabed is designed to resist the sea pressure at that depth. The container has a height, and the pressure at the base of the cylinder will be greater than the pressure at the top of the container. The container is designed to withstand the pressure at the base of the container. This can be managed by permanently leaving gas at sufficient pressure to withstand the sea pressure at the base of the container, or by designing the container wall strength to be able to withstand the external sea pressure at the base of the container. For example, the container may store 54 atmospheres of pressure when full and store 4 atmospheres when discharged, in which case the pressure inside and outside the base of the container will be equal if the base is 40m below surface level. If the skin can withstand 2 atmospheres of pressure, then more gas can be extracted from the container. The walls of the storage container can also be internally braced as shown in Fig 31 and explained below.

[000323] FIG. 32 shows a vessel having an exoskeleton 3100 (e.g. truss) with spherical gas containers 3102, with a longitudinal top view 3120, and a cross section 3104. Also shown are the nose cone 3115, fuel cell, battery, engine, propeller and rudder assembly 3110, and hydroplanes 3105. The exoskeleton around each sphere is a cube and the sphere can be attached and supported by the apparatus for each apex of the cube and each reinforcing point intermediate node as shown in Fig 22 and/or Fig 23. That is, the top, bottom, front, back, left and right of the sphere are connected and supported by the cubic exoskeleton by multiple spherical plates attached to the exoskeleton. The longitudinal view is a top view showing multiple spheres contained in cubic exoskeleton boxes. As a further example, the vessel may not have an engine and propeller but may be towed by another vessel.

[000324] Also described is a transport vessel for transporting hydrogen that travels on the water surface in calm weather and submerges when there is bad weather. This avoids the need for the vessel to be designed to cope with large torsional and longitudinal bending forces that could be applied to the vessel on the water surface in bad weather. For example, at 15m, the sea is fairly calm, at 30m it is usually calm. It is more efficient to make the vessel submersible than to strengthen the vessel for surface operation.

[000325] Submersible and surface transport requires that the transport vessel has approximately neutral buoyancy so that the transport vessel can be raised and lowered using compressed air to expel water from buoyancy tanks. For example, if the transport vessel displaces 1000m3, it will weigh approx. 1000 tonnes. T o offset the large displacement caused by the gas containers, a composite structure of steel and concrete may be used. As steel is likely to be more expensive than concrete per kg, lowering the amount of steel and increasing the amount of concrete may be more economical.

[000326] According to one example, a concrete and steel ballast may be used in the form of a concrete and steel composite structure or matrix to provide longitudinal bending and torsional strength to counteract any forces on the vessel. Fig. 33 shows a composite steel and concrete ballast arrangement for a transport vessel. The vessel has a main body 3301 that is configured to receive one or more hydrogen gas containers (labelled 1 to 8). The main body includes ballast 3303 that is external to the hydrogen containers for providing neutral buoyancy. In this example, the ballast is formed from concrete within the main body poured around the containers to which shear studs may be attached e.g. by welding and the steel reinforcing which may be welded to the containers (1 to 8). The ballast is configured to provide strength to counteract longitudinal bending and torsion of the main body. Concrete reinforcing bars and/or a steel truss (not shown to simplify figure) may be used to keep the containers in position during construction of the transport vessel.

[000327] Longitudinal reinforcement (3305A, 3305B, 3305C, 3305D, 3305E) is provided in the form of one or more concrete reinforced bar configurations, one or more steel bars, prestressed and/or post-tensioned cables and one or more pipes filled with concrete, all of which may be connected to steel reinforcing e.g. by welding. [000328] Where radial expansion of a container (e.g. 3) may be counteracted by other containers (e.g. 2, 7, 1, 4, 5, 6) in proximity to the container 3, no further reinforcement on the container may be required. However, for other containers (e.g. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) a gradual increase in wall thickness around a portion of the circumference of the container may be provided. For example, a series of curved metal (e.g. steel) plates (e.g. 3307A, 3307B, 3307C) may be positioned around a portion of the circumference of each container (e.g. 7, 6, 1 respectively). This increased wall thickness reduces gas pressure radial expansion where the expansion is not counteracted by other containers in proximity and also counteracts the longitudinal bending and torsion of the transport vessel

[000329] A longitudinal towing beam 3309 is used for attaching the vessel to a towing (e.g. self- propelled) vessel (not shown).

[000330] At least one buoyancy tank (3311 A, 3311 B) are provided for raising and lowering the transport vessel in water.

[000331] A keel 3313 provides strength to counteract longitudinal bending and torsion and to assist in keeping the vessel upright.

[000332] The steel may be configured in many different ways including: a container gradated asymmetrical wall thickness to allow extra strength to counteract longitudinal bending and torsional stresses at maximum gas pressure without places where stresses will accumulate, a container with circumferential I beams attached to it to resist radial expansion where the I beams could put the container wall in compression, shaped steel reinforcing bars could be formed into structure that will resist longitudinal bending and torsional stresses when separated into a column structure and then bound together with concrete, shear studs can be used to tie the cylinders and the hull (if there is one) together in a steel composite structure or matrix, longitudinal rods and steel cable could be used as un stressed, prestressed and post stressed to contain longitudinal bending and torsion, compressed air tanks and buoyancy tanks can also be integrated into the composite structure to provide additional strength, and other similar strategies. The hull will be understood to be the covering of an exoskeleton (as described herein), e.g. a covering of a steel composite structure or matrix (as described herein).

[000333] Also shown is a compressed air container 3312 that is connected via connections (not shown) to an air compressor 3314. The air compressor 3314 is powered by a power source (not shown) and is used to inject air into the compressed air container 3312. The air from the compressed air container 3312 may then be used to reduce the amount of water in the buoyancy tank 3311A by injecting air into the buoyancy tank 3311A and forcing the water out. Any number of compressed air containers and air compressors may be used. A similar arrangement may also be used for the buoyancy tank 3311 B. A fuel cell and batteries may be added to the compressor housing to provide power to operate the compressor, with gas to power the fuel cell coming from the gas in the containers in the vessel.

[000334] Fig. 34 shows details of additional metal plates for use in the composite steel and concrete ballast arrangement describe above. That is, additional steel plates can be added to the external surface of a gas container to minimize stress point loadings.

[000335] A series of curved metal (e.g. steel) plates (3307C) are positioned around a portion of the circumference of container 1. A first metal plate 3401 is attached to the outer circumference of the container 1. A second metal plate 3403 is attached to the outer circumference of the first metal plate 3401. A third metal plate 3405 is attached to the outer circumference of the second metal plate 3403. A fourth metal plate 3407 is attached to the outer circumference of the third metal plate 3405. Each metal plate from the first metal plate (3410) through to the fourth metal plate (3407) has a shorter circumference and can be placed equidistantly around the metal plate underneath to distribute forces more evenly. The different forces (a/a, b/b, c/c, d/d) counteract each other during radial expansion. Whereas, the force e is not counteracted by another force and so the plates (3401, 3403, 3405 and 3407) provide additional protection against radial expansion where force e is exerted (at the position of the metal plates).

[000336] Fig. 35A and 35B show two vessels, a first vessel 3501 that is towing a second vessel 3503 with a connection therebetween. The first vessel 3501 may be a self-propelled vessel or a further towed vessel. The second vessel 3503 is a towed vessel that is not self-propelled.

[000337] One or more cable tensioning devices (3505, 3507, 3509, 3511) are positioned longitudinally within the vessels (3501, 3503) such that a first cable tensioning device 3505 in the first vessel 3501 is connected to a second cable tensioning device 3509 in the second vessel 3503 via a tensioned cable 3513. A third cable tensioning device 3507 is connected to a fourth cable tensioning device 3511 in the second vessel 3503 via a tensioned cable 3515.

[000338] A first longitudinal beam 3517 in the first vessel 3501 and a second longitudinal beam 3519 in the second vessel 3503 are connected via a connection mechanism, which is shown in detail in Fig. 35A. Each of the vessels (3501, 3503) are connected to each other by way of swivel joints 35803 that uses a swivel connected to two hinges with a horizontal pin 35805 and vertical pin 35807 to connect a horizontal axis 35809 and vertical axis 35811 of the joint 35803.

[000339] The connection mechanism is arranged to provide a fixed distance between the first vessel 3501 and the second vessel 3503. Further, the connection mechanism is arranged to allow bending relative to the first vessel 3501 and the second vessel 3503 in a longitudinal direction both parallel and perpendicular to a surface of the water. Further, the connection mechanism is arranged to allow rotation of the first vessel 3501 relative to the second vessel 3503.

[000340] Therefore, one or more of the cable tensioning devices (3505, 3507, 3509, 3511) with the tensioned cables (3513, 3515), connection mechanism (35803, 35805, 35807, 35809, 35811), provides an anti-jackknifing mechanism for reducing or preventing the first vessel 3501 and the second vessel 3503 becoming jackknifed.

[000341] The shape of the vessel cross section 3301 shown in Fig. 33 minimizes the negative effects of wind on the vessel 3503 e.g. by being shaped so that wind flows over the vessel 3503 with low wind forces applied to the vessel 3503. The vessel 3503 can also partially submerge to improve fuel efficiency when in negative wind conditions.

[000342] The bow 3521 of the vessel 3503 is designed to travel efficiently both on the surface and when submerged. The bow 3521 is shaped symmetrical in the vertical plane and the weight distribution in the vessel 3503 is balanced so that when towed horizontally at sea, it will track straight along the water surface. The long, thin shape of the vessel 3503 and the shape of the bow 3521 will allow the vessel 3503 to partially go through waves, allowing waves to cover the vessel 3503, which will reduce drag and increase fuel efficiency. Submerged, the vessel 3503 will track horizontally and will not require correction from the hydroplanes (3529A, 3529B), which will increase drag. The vessel 3503 will not be fully symmetrical in the vertical plane.

The front of the bow 3521 is shaped as a cone with a rounded apex with a ratio of height to the diameter of the cone approx. 1.5 times. The bow 3521 will continue as a cone until the diameter of the base of the cone reaches somewhere between about 0.7 to 0.8 of the height and width of the vessel. At this point, curved steel plate 3523 is used to complete the surface between the bow 3521 and the hull to provide an efficient hydrodynamic surface to attach the bow 3521 to the hull. When travelling on the surface, the vessel is designed so that the apex of the cone will be above the water surface in still weather, and so will operate in a similar way to a surface ship with a bow. The stern 3527 of the vessel 3503 is constructed in a similar way to the bow 3521 , except with the cone replaced by a hemisphere. Both the bow 3521 and stern 3527 may be built to be able to withstand impacts.

[000343] Fig. 35B shows an optional flexible cover 3531 that may be placed between the first vessel 3501 and the second vessel 3503.

[000344] The stern of a first vessel, the bow of a second vessel, and the length of the connection between the two vessels may be modelled and optimized to reduce drag, both for surface and submerged travel. Raising the hydroplanes so that they are in the air during surface travel will reduce drag.

[000345] By addressing the longitudinal bending and torsional stresses using a composite steel concrete structure, the containers can store hydrogen at higher pressure because their strength will be applied to containing radial expansion, and not having to retain some strength to combat bending of the structure. This will reduce the steel required in the gas container walls. The shape of the vessel will be long and thin to minimize water resistance, but there will be a limit to the length, because the bending forces will increase with length. To enable large quantities of hydrogen and/or other gases to be transported in the one trip, a number of shorter vessels can be connected together and towed by one self-propelled vessel. The connections between the vessels may be solid connections similar to the connections between carriages on a train, so that if the towing vessel slows down or accelerates, the towed vessels will do the same. These connections will also provide redundant power and communications, with the communications optionally being provided by optic fibres suitable for operation when wet.

[000346] Jackknifing of a configuration of towing and towed vessels is only likely to happen if there is a relative deceleration of a vessel towing another vessel. Usually there will be a positive force applied by the towing vessel to the vessels it is towing to overcome drag. Sensors in the connection between the vessels can measure this force and alert operators if the force between the vessels is reducing. The vessels will travel slowly, so any jackknifing situation will develop slowly, giving time to stabilize the situation.

[000347] A number of different operational procedures may be implemented to avoid jackknifing. Such as, for example: 1. Sudden impacts by the lead vessel can be avoided by plotting routes where there are no obstacles, sensing obstacles and avoiding them and submerging if threated by surface ships

2. Increasing the power of the towing vessel can increase the force between the vessels in the configuration and bring the configuration back into line

3. Using a braking mechanism to slow down the last vessel in the configuration which will straighten the configuration relative the direction of travel.

4. One braking mechanism is to turn the hydroplanes in the last vessel to a position where they are perpendicular to the direction of travel, which will act as a brake. On the surface, the hydroplanes may not be in contact with the water when the hydroplane is horizontal, but may impact the water when the hydroplane is rotated downward.

5. Another braking mechanism may use flaps that lie flat along the vessel surface and provide little or no drag when not in use, but the flaps can move away from the vessel to create drag, similar in operation to flaps in an airplane (not shown).

6. Submerging a vessel or vessels at the end of the configuration will increase drag and bring the configuration into line.

7. Fitting bow and/or stern thrusters to the vessels will assist these vessels to straighten themselves in the configuration line, and can assist maneuvering the vessel e.g. to load or unload gas

8. The last vessel in a configuration may be equipped with a propulsion unit that could go into reverse to straighten the vessels into the direction, may assist maneuvering the vessel configuration e.g. to load or unload gas, and can provide forward power at an appropriate level to increase the speed to the vessel configuration without causing jackknifing instabilities

9. The braking of the last vessel may also be coupled with increased power in the towing vessel to bring the configuration into line.

[000348] Mechanisms to sense potential jackknifing situations and minimize jackknifing events can be installed as described above with reference to Fig. 35. As described, one such mechanism may require the installation of at least four tensioned steel cables (e.g. top right, bottom right, top left and bottom right) between two vessels to restrain the deflection of a vessel in any direction of one vessel relative to the other. Increases in tension in one or more of these cables will indicate there may be a potential jackknifing situation. If there is a movement of one vessel relative to another so that the centre lines of the vessels are at an angle during deceleration, at least one cable may be further tensioned. This cable may be able to extend but the force on the cable may increase the more it extends. The tension and the extension of the cables tensioned can be provided by large springs, which provide linearly increasing force with extension, using the force applied to the cable to compress air in a cylinder like car suspension, or using hydraulics such as used to absorb force from a plane landing on an aircraft carrier, where the force applied by the mechanism can increase at a faster rate than the force provided by a spring, which is linear.

[000349] One method to connect the vessels is to extend one or more longitudinal beams beyond the bow and stern of the vessels, and then connect these beams of the different vessels using a connection containing a hinge in the vertical plane, a hinge in the horizontal plane and a swivel. These longitudinal beams will likely be a large, capped thick walled pipe that is held in place by reinforcing bars and shear studs welded to it. It is likely concrete filled and may have additional steel reinforcing inside. For example, Fig. 33 shows the position of the longitudinal beam 3309 used for towing. Fig 35 shows how longitudinal beams (3517, 3519) situated near the centre of gravity of a vessel extends beyond the bow and stern of the vessel and is connected to another vessel. The benefits of using a single beam located near the centre of gravity of the vessels are that there is less likely to be deviation by a vessel from the direction in which it is being towed, reducing drag, and the single beam parallel to the direction of towing will present the least drag.

[000350] The gas will be contained in longitudinal cylinders with the length many times the diameter. These containers may contain the pressure of the gas and as such are likely to have thick walls. The thick walled gas container may be built in layers to simplify construction and reduce costs:

1. Offset metal plates may be used to reduce the chances of manufacturing defects such as welds leaking.

2. The steel being used on the inner surface of the containers may be selected so that that the material is less susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement. Mild steel may be used on the outer layers of the containers.

3. Manufacturing the gas container using a layered approach may enable the container to have asymmetric wall thicknesses, so that the thicker part of the container wall can provide strength to counteract longitudinal bending and torsion as well as radial forces.

4. Filling a structure with concrete may reduce the likelihood of point failure in a container resisting high gas pressure. Fibres may be added to the concrete to increase the tensile strength of the concrete. [000351] Fig. 36 shows a cross section of a partitioning arrangement for use in converting a transport vessel that is usually towed into a self-propelled vessel, that may become the towing vessel, by partitioning the hydrogen gas containers therein so that a first partitioned portion of the container can be used to store hydrogen, and a second partitioned portion can be used to store one or more batteries, one or more fuel cells, one or more communication systems, and one or more control systems.

[000352] A partition assembly can be positioned inside a gas container 3601 as seen in Fig 36. The partition assembly has an outer layer 3603 that follows the contour of the inner circumference of the gas container 3601 while leaving a cavity 3609 between the outside surface of the outer layer 3603 and the inner surface of the gas container 3601. The cavity 3609 may be filled with grout, or another suitable filling material.

[000353] A right-hand hemisphere layer 3605A and left-hand hemisphere layer 3605B and placed opposing each other inside the outer layer 3603 to form an inner cavity 3607 that may be filled with concrete or grout, for example. Each of the right-hand hemisphere layer 3605A and left-hand hemisphere layer 3605B are generally C-shaped in cross-section but are formed as opposing hemispheres. A number of single and/or double weld points 3611 are provided around the partition assembly to weld the right-hand hemisphere layer 3605A and left-hand hemisphere layer 3605B to the outer layer 3603, and to weld the outer layer 3603 to the inner surface of the gas container 3601. Further, circumferential sleeves 3613 are welded to the left and right hand side outer portions of the right-hand hemisphere layer 3605A and left-hand hemisphere layer 3605B and also welded to the inner surface of the gas container 3601 to provide a seal between the first and second partitioned portions.

[000354] Once manufactured, the partition assembly may be slid into the gas container and welded into position. According to one example, the partition assembly has a pipe whose outer diameter is almost the same size as the inner diameter of the gas cylinder, two hemispheres that are welded half way along the inside of the partition assembly pipe, and the cavity between the two hemispheres and the inside of the partition assembly pipe is filled with concrete, grout or other similar substance. The gas container is slid into position in the gas container and welded into place. A sleeve is then welded over the partition assembly and to the inside of the gas container. This will mean there are three welds on each side of the partition assembly between the gas container and the partition assembly. The partition assembly may be used to create a long and a short gas cylinder out of the original gas cylinder by way of positioning of the partition assembly. The hemisphere on the long partition may be welded from both the inside of the cavity of the partition assembly as well as the outside of the cavity, whereas the hemisphere on the short side may be welded only on the outside of the cavity. Two or more partition assemblies may be inserted into a cylinder to form multiple cavities that may then be equipped with equipment, including sensors to enable the measurement of any leaks from any of the partitioned portions.

[000355] Fig. 37 shows a towed vessel 3701 that has been converted into a self-propelled vessel with partitioning arrangements. The vessel 3701 has a cone shaped bow 3703 and a stern 3705. In this example, there are three main gas containers 3707A-C arranged inside the vessel 3701 along the length of the vessel 3701. A first and third gas container (3707A, 3707C) are partitioned using partition assemblies (3709A, 3079B) as described above with reference to Fig. 36. The partition assembly 3709A creates a partitioned portion 3711A in the gas container 3707A. The partition assembly 3709B creates a partitioned portion 3711B in the container 3707C.

[000356] The vessel 3701 also has at least two thrusters (3713A, 3713B) that can operate in a 360 degree range to control and move the vessel 3701 through the water. The vessel 3701 also has at least two hydroplanes (3715A, 3715B) that can control the directional movement of the vessel 3701 in the water.

[000357] In the partitioned portion 3711 A are located a battery 3717, a fuel cell 3719 and a control system and/or a communications system 3723. A gas pipe 3721 provides gas from the partitioned gas side of the gas container 3707A to the fuel cell 3719.

[000358] The vessel 3701 also has one or more valve arrangements (e.g. 3725A, 3725B) and gas pipes (e.g. 3727A, 3727B) arranged in communication with the gas side of the gas containers (3707A-C) to enable gas to be retrieved from the gas containers and/or to fill up the gas containers with gas. These are not shown for container 3707C for drawing clarity reasons.

[000359] Fig. 38 shows a side view and rear view of a converted towed vessel operating as a self-propelled vessel. The vessel 3801 has a cone shaped bow 3803 and a stern 3809. A curved steel plate 3805 is used to complete the surface between the bow 3803 and the hull 3807. Sensors such as cameras, water speed and water pressure gauges, radar, wind gauges, sonar, GPS positioning devices (3811 A, 3811 B) are provided on the outer surface of the vessel. An antenna 3813 is used to assist in communications. A telescopic antenna 3815 is provided to assist in communications when the vessel is travelling under the surface of the water. One or more air compressors 3816 may be fitted to provide air to one or more air containers (not shown) for injecting air into one or more buoyancy tanks (not shown) as described with reference to Fig. 33. The vessel may have hydroplanes 3817. A thruster mounting 3819 is provided on either side of the vessel and supports the thrusters (3821, 3821 A, 3821 B). A connection mechanism 3823 is used to connect to a towed surface float 38560 via a cable 38564. One example of a towed surface float 38560 is has a high bow and ballast (e.g. a counterweight) in the stern 38562 so that the bow is some distance above the surface of the water when it is towed by a tow rope 38654 attached to the submerged vessel 3801. Near the front of the surface float 38560 are radio antennae 38570 and other communications devices 38568 which may include a satellite communications device, a GPS device for establishing position, sensors such as cameras, navigation lights 38566, and the like. There is a long towing cable 38564 connecting the towed surface float to the submersible vessel 3801 so that the cable makes an angle less than 30 degrees to the surface water, which will mean that the force on the surface float will be largely horizontal, and that the towed surface float’s bow and the attached devices, including the communications devices and navigation lights, will remain above the surface of the water when towed. In addition to towing, the long towing cable may provide power to the towed surface float (from the submersible vessel 3801) and provide communications between the towed surface float 38560 and the submersible vessel 3801.

[000360] Therefore, a non-self-propelled vessel may be converted to a self-propelled vessel by partitioning at least one long gas container in a vessel into two shorter containers, allowing fuel cells and batteries to be inserted into one or more of these shorter partitions together with an upgrade of the control systems. The fuel cells may be connected to the gas stored in the gas cylinders by pipes which can be controlled by electrically operated valves. In addition to the fuel cells and batteries, an electric engine connected to a propeller can also be fitted into a partition at the rear of the vessel below water level to allow the vessel to be self-propelled and to tow other vessels. However, this is not the preferred implementation because of the close proximity of a towed vessel to the propellers and rudders.

[000361] The control system may be upgraded to allow self-propelled navigation and towing of other vessels, and be fitted with thrusters that can rotate 360 degrees to steer the vessel that are mounted on the outside of vessel so that they are removed from any towed vessels. As the electric engines are not required in the partitioned gas cylinder, the gas cylinders can be at the top of the vessel making access easier. [000362] Strain gauges, likely made from optic fibre, will be added longitudinally and circumferentially every 1-3 metres to the gas containers. Strain gauges will be added to the hull to measure longitudinal stresses and stresses perpendicular to the longitudinal plane. The information from these strain gauges will be recorded and used to analyse and predict the settings to optimize safely and minimize transport costs.

[000363] The storage of hydrogen at sea may be provided in purpose-built containers that are not required to contain hydrogen at such high pressures as transport vessels. For example, these containers may be cylinders that have hemispherical ends that have a wall thickness of, for example, 30-40mm, and are made from 2 layers of steel which reduces the chance of manufacturing defects The inside steel layer may use a steel that is less prone to hydrogenation. An I beam may be attached (e.g. welded) to the container longitudinally along the length of the container to act as a keel and to provide structural strength for the journey as the container is transported to the location where it is to be stored. The I beam may be used to provide the longitudinal strength to hold the container in place when it is attached to anchors on the seabed (or landing surface). The container may also have two or more short legs so that when it is sunk into place it does not contact the top of the anchor, or indeed any other obstacles such as rocks. The containers may be floated into place by partially filling them with water to reduce their surface profile. The container may be held in place by two anchors to stop any twisting of pipes and cables and to anchor the container to the seabed (or landing surface). A separate cable may be attached to each anchor. Each anchor may be attached to a buoy that will float on the surface.

[000364] Prior to submerging the container, gas pipes, valves, power and communications may be attached to each container while the container is on the surface. The pipes may be connected to one or more compressed air cylinders during the installation to finely regulate depth. Each cable attached to an anchor may be attached to a strong cable attached to the I beam. The containers may be filled with water and slowly submerged over 2 anchor points.

The cables attached to the anchors may pull the container into place and allow a mechanism on the strong cable attached to the I beam to attach itself to the anchor.

[000365] The container may then be filled with water to purge any air. The container may then be filled with hydrogen and/or oxygen which will cause the container to have negative buoyancy and will be restrained by the anchors. The pressure inside the container may always be high enough so that the container wall plus the gas pressure is higher than the water pressure. [000366] Further embodiments are described below.

[000367] According to an aspect, the present disclosure provides a hydrogen container including: a body with a first hemispherical end spaced apart from a second hemispherical end; a cylindrical sidewall connecting the first and second ends to form the body of the hydrogen storage container; a cavity defined by the body; and one or more bands wrapped around the container to increase an amount of allowable pressure contained within the cavity of the hydrogen container, wherein each of the one or more bands include one or more segments with ends that are connectable with one another to surround the sidewall of the hydrogen container.

[000368] According to yet a further aspect, the present disclosure provides a container transport vessel for transporting and/or storing one or more containers, the transport vessel comprising: a support structure for supporting the container, wherein the support structure comprises static ballast in which the container is supported; at least one buoyancy tank arranged to provide negative and positive buoyancy by emptying and filling the buoyancy tank with air and/or water; and at least one control system comprising at least one control valve, the control system arranged to control the control valve to provide the negative and positive buoyancy in the at least one buoyancy tank.

[000369] This disclosure also provides a hydrogen container including: a body with a first hemispherical end spaced apart from a second hemispherical end; a cylindrical sidewall connecting the first and second ends to form the body of the hydrogen storage container; a cavity defined by the body; and one or more bands wrapped around the container to increase an amount of allowable pressure contained within the cavity of the hydrogen container, wherein each of the one or more bands include one or more segments with ends that are connectable with one another to surround the sidewall of the hydrogen container.

[000370] Each of the one or more segments may have two ends, each end having a lug to connect with a corresponding end of the one or more segments. The lugs of each segment may be connected to each other by a pressing force. The lugs of each segment may be connected to each other by a hydraulic press. Each band may be formed when the lugs of one or more segments are pressed together. The lugs of each band may be connectable to a truss structure and/or a one or more ballasts. The truss structure may have one or more gaseous and/or liquid tanks and/or one or more dense ballasts. The liquid and/or gaseous tanks may be filled with air and/or water to adjust the buoyancy of the hydrogen container. The storage container and the truss structure may be configured to attach to a floating pontoon. The cylindrical sidewall may be an outer skin and a second cylindrical sidewall may be provided to form an inner skin, said inner skin being spaced apart from the outer skin to define a cavity therebetween. The cavity between the skins may be pressurized at a pressure that is greater than a pressure within the cavity of the container.

[000371] The disclosure also provides a method of storing and transporting hydrogen, the method including the steps of: filling a hydrogen container with hydrogen; towing the hydrogen container on the surface e.g. in good weather where there is lower drag, submerging the hydrogen container in a body of water and towing the container with a watercraft in poor weather or in locations with high ship traffic; and further submerging the hydrogen container for storage on a seabed.

[000372] When submerged, the hydrogen container may be towed at about 15m below a surface of the body of water to avoid turbulence. The depth of the hydrogen container may be controlled by increasing or decreasing the buoyancy of the hydrogen container and/or using moveable control surfaces. A further step of discharging the hydrogen container filled with hydrogen may be provided. The step of filling or discharging the hydrogen container may further include the step of configuring the container for negative buoyancy to allow the hydrogen container to rest on the seabed.

[000373] The one or more hydrogen transport and/or storage procedures may comprise one or more of: a hydrogen container and a transport vehicle; releasing a hydrogen container from one or more of a further hydrogen container, a transport vehicle, and one or more hydrogen pipes, compressed air pipes, electrical power connections, and communications, and/or attaching a hydrogen container to one or more of a further hydrogen container, a transport vehicle, one or more hydrogen pipes, compressed air pipes, electrical power connections, and communications; releasing a transport vehicle from a further transport vehicle and/or attaching a transport vehicle to a further transport vehicle; connecting and/or disconnecting communication channels between one of more of a smart buoy, a hydrogen container, a transport vehicle and one or more computing devices arranged to control the one or more hydrogen production procedures; and filling and/or emptying one or more hydrogen containers of hydrogen.

[000374] The method may further comprise the steps of: analysing the captured signals from the one or more feedback sensors using an artificial intelligence or machine learning system, adapting and/or automating the hydrogen production procedures based on the analysing by the artificial intelligence or machine learning system. The method may further comprise the steps of: analysing the captured signals from the one or more feedback sensors using the one or more computing devices, and providing computer assistance during subsequent remotely controlling of the one or more hydrogen production procedures based on the analysing of the captured signals over time. The one or more feedback sensors may comprise one or more of: a position sensor on a robotic arm, a wave speed sensor, a wave height sensor, wind speed sensor, a transport vehicle speed sensor, a water depth sensor, a water pressure sensor, a sensor for measuring the location of the hydrogen cylinder, a water flow sensor for measuring the relative speed of the hydrogen container or a surface tug to the surrounding water to measure current, pressure of the hydrogen in the container, water temperature and salinity sensors, pressure sensors for measuring pressure between skins of a multi-skin hydrogen container, ballast pressure sensor, strain gauges on the gas containers and on the compressed air tanks.

[000375] The disclosure also provides a computer-controlled system of controlling a hydrogen transport and/or storage facility, the system comprising one or more computing devices arranged to: remotely control one or more hydrogen transport and/or storage procedures, capture one or more signals generated by one or more feedback sensors when remotely controlling the one or more hydrogen production procedures; and analyse the captured one or more signals over time for adaptation and/or automation of the hydrogen production procedures.

[000376] The one or more hydrogen transport and/or storage procedures may comprise one or more of: a hydrogen container and a transport vehicle; releasing a hydrogen container from one or more of a further hydrogen container, a transport vehicle, and one or more hydrogen pipes and/or attaching a hydrogen container to one or more of a further hydrogen container, a transport vehicle, and one or more hydrogen pipes; releasing a transport vehicle from a further transport vehicle and/or attaching a transport vehicle to a further transport vehicle; connecting and/or disconnecting communication channels between one of more of a smart buoy, a hydrogen container, a transport vehicle and one or more computing devices arranged to control the one or more hydrogen production procedures; and filling and/or emptying one or more hydrogen containers of hydrogen.

[000377] The one or more computing devices may comprise an artificial intelligence or machine learning system, wherein the artificial intelligence or machine learning system is arranged to analyse the captured signals from the one or more feedback sensors, and adapt and/or automate the hydrogen production procedures based on the analysis of the captured signals. The artificial intelligence or machine learning system may be arranged to automatically control the hydrogen production facility using the adapted and/or automated hydrogen production procedures. The one or more computing devices may be arranged to analyse the captured signals from the one or more feedback sensors, and provide computer assistance during subsequent remotely controlling of the one or more hydrogen production procedures based on the analysis of the captured signals over time. The one or more feedback sensors may comprise one or more of: a position sensor on a robotic arm, a wave speed sensor, a wave height sensor, wind speed sensor, a transport vehicle speed sensor, a water depth sensor, a water pressure sensor, a sensor for measuring the location of the hydrogen cylinder, a water flow sensor for measuring the relative speed of the hydrogen container or the surface tug to the surrounding water to measure current, pressure of the hydrogen in the container, water temperature and salinity sensors, pressure sensors for measuring pressure between skins of a multi-skin hydrogen container, ballast pressure sensor, strain gauges on the gas containers and compressed air tanks.

[000378] Further examples of embodiments are described with reference to the following clauses.

[000379] Clause 1. A vessel having a composite structure for storing at least one container for storing gas under pressure, wherein the vessel comprises: a rigid exoskeleton formed by a truss, a container stored within the truss, wherein the container comprises a plurality of circumferential expansion constraining rings arranged around a circumference of the container to provide static or dynamic force to restrain circumferential expansion of the container, wherein the circumferential expansion constraining rings are attached between the container and the truss.

[000380] Clause 2. The vessel of clause 1, wherein the truss has one of a square, hexagonal or octagonal cross section.

[000381] Clause 3. The vessel of clause 1, wherein the vessel comprises threaded rods and nuts to provide the static force.

[000382] Clause 4. The vessel of clause 1 further comprising longitudinal reinforcement sections positioned between and connected to the circumferential expansion constraining rings. [000383] Clause 5. The vessel of clause 4 further comprising threaded rods and nuts for applying a static force to the longitudinal reinforcement sections.

[000384] Clause 6. The vessel of clause 1 further comprising at least one hydraulic cylinder arranged to provide the dynamic force to restrain the circumferential expansion of the container.

Industrial Applicability

[000385] The arrangements described are applicable to the transportation and storage industries, as well as the electricity generation industries.

[000386] The foregoing describes only some embodiments of the present invention, and modifications and/or changes can be made thereto without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention, the embodiments being illustrative and not restrictive.

[000387] In the context of this specification, the word “comprising” means “including principally but not necessarily solely” or “having” or “including”, and not “consisting only of”. Variations of the word "comprising", such as “comprise” and “comprises” have correspondingly varied meanings.