Patent ID: 7146918

Claim:
A system for producing hydrogen, comprising: (i) a plurality of sail-driven vessels floating in water and coupled to each other in a predetermined spaced apart configuration to form a convoy, each said vessel comprising: at least one sail for capturing wind to move the vessel reciprocally substantially along a predetermined path; at least one turbine provided below each said vessel so as to be submerged in the water and rotated by water flowing therethrough when the floating vessels are moved relative to the water by the at least one sail; a generator adapted for converting rotation of the at least one turbine into electricity; an onboard hydrogen production system to produce hydrogen using the electricity generated by the generator; and at least on inflatable hydrogen storage container which is arranged to be inflated with produced hydrogen, and which is detachably and replaceably connected to the vessel so as to be removable while the plurality of vessels are in motion; (ii) a position determining system including a global position system (GPS) receiver provided on at least one of the vessels and communicating with the other vessels to determine relative position of each said vessel; and (iii) a control system adapted to control the position of each said vessel in response to information received form the position determining system; wherein each said system is substantially symmetrical with respect to an axis which is substantially perpendicular to the predetermined path; wherein the vessels in the convoy are adapted to move together in both forward and backward directions while coupled together, and the turbine and generator on each of the vessels are operable both while the vessels move forward and while the vessels move backward; wherein the control system maintains the moving vessels in the predetermined spaced apart configuration in the forward and backward directions substantially along the predetermined path; and wherein at least one of the vessels is unmanned.