FLOATING DEVICE FOR HARNESSING SWELL ENERGY BY LATERAL OVERFLOW

Floating device for harnessing swell energy by lateral overflow, said dev ice being formed by hulls which converge in plan view and have a variable fr eeboard between which the waves propagate. The convergence produces a gradua l increase in the height of the wave as it propagates between the hulls, whi ch, together with the gradual reduction in the freeboard from a particular s ection of said hulls, gives rise to the lateral overflow of the mass of wate r of the crest over their rails, which is collected in tanks which are at di fferent heights (in accordance with the reduction in the freeboard) and are connected to the corresponding turbines. The angle of convergence between th e hulls can be varied in order to be adapted to the sea state. The harnessin g system is supplemented with a connecting closure ramp between the sterns o f the hulls in order to collect the water which has previously not managed t o overflow the structure.