GMU Granted Patent for a Mooring System

The patented Mobile Electromagnetic Mooring System (MEMS) is designed for small craft, enabling them to moor alongside larger vessels using dedicated electromagnetic gripping units. The system can be powered either by floating power buoys or by a power supply from the mother ship. Mooring winches installed at both ends of the craft maintain steady line tension and allow the smaller unit to move safely along the larger vessel’s side during service work.

MEMS automates mooring while remaining compact. The GMU invention is the only solution that enables fast, stable mooring and unmooring of a service craft to and from a larger vessel’s hull, using buoy-powered electromagnetic grippers and end-mounted mooring winches that maintain controlled, constant tension at the waterline, therefore reducing the risk of sudden line failure. This is particularly important given recurrent incidents linked to the rapid release of energy from tensioned mooring lines (reported at over 300 crew-related accidents annually).

Comparable solutions currently available are primarily large port-based systems and are not suitable for ship-to-ship mooring on small vessels in open waters. MEMS is therefore intended to improve automation, safety and cost-efficiency: it reduces crew involvement, shortens operation time, can lower fuel use, and limits environmental impact.

The invention is protected by exclusive rights in Poland and internationally, and has received multiple awards and recognition, including at invention and innovation events in 2022, and a nomination in the programme EUREKA 2023 – Discover Polish Inventions [Odkrywamy Polskie Wynalazki].

The patented solution forms part of the University’s technology portfolio developed by the Technology Transfer Centre (2020–2023) under the Innovation Incubator 4.0 [Inkubator Innowacyjności 4,0] programme and the Smart Growth Operational Programme 2014–2020 (Measure 4.4).

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