Fluidic actuator system and method

US10135388B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• SUNFOLDING, INC. · US

Inventors

• Leila Madrone · San Francisco, US
• Kyle Douglas BETTS · San Francisco, US
• Peter Sturt Lynn · Oakland, US
• Louis Hong Basel · Berkeley, US
• Brent Ridley · Redwood City, US
• Saul Griffith · San Francisco, US
• James McBride · San Francisco, US
• Jeffrey Charles Lamb · San Francisco, US
• Eric Preston Lien Suan · Baltimore, US
• Erica Lin · Millbrae, US
• Joshua Earle Erickson · Oakland, US
• Vincent Domenic Romanin · San Francisco, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Feb 1, 2016
• Grant date: Nov 20, 2018
• Expiry date: Oct 9, 2036

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02E10/50
• WIPO field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A pneumatically actuated solar panel array system that includes a plurality of separate actuator assemblies that each have a top plate and bottom plate and a first and second bellows that each extend between and are coupled to the top and bottom plates at a respective top head and bottom head, the first and second bellows being configured to be separately pneumatically inflated, where the pneumatic inflation expands the bellows along a length. The pneumatically actuated solar panel array system can also include a plurality of solar panels coupled to the actuator assemblies with the solar panels being configured to be actuated based on inflation of one or more bellows associated with the plurality of actuator assembles.