Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG) said that long-time partner Moran Towing has been granted US Patent 8,967,174 for “Articulated conduit systems and uses thereof for fuel gas transfer between a tug and barge.”
The patent was filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on May 2, 2014, and in general terms describes arrangements and methods for transferring boil off gas between a liquefied natural gas barge and its tug, while taking into account the relative motion between the two vessels, EBDG said in a statement.
Curt Leffers, PE, EBDG project manager and one of the inventors listed on the patent said that this design brings to realization the concept of using natural gas as fuel between a tug and a barge.
EBDG and Moran collaboratively developed the system over an approximate one-year period.
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Image: EBDG