Skin constrained inflatable bellows

US11572949B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC · US

Inventors

• Wonhee M. Kim · Royal Oak, US
• Paul W. Alexander · Ypsilanti, US
• Diann Brei · Milford, US
• Jonathan E. Luntz · Ann Arbor, US
• Laura Alejandra Giner Munoz · Ann Arbor, US
• Koray Benli · Ann Arbor, US
• Adeline Emily Wihardja · Ann Arbor, US
• Evan Millison · Ann Arbor, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 8, 2022
• Grant date: Feb 7, 2023
• Expiry date: Jun 8, 2042

Classification

• Technology area (CPC F): Mechanical Engineering; Lighting; Heating
• CPC primary: F16J3/06
• WIPO field: Mechanical elements
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

An incrementally assembled skin-constrained inflatable bellows system includes a top end cap, a bottom end cap, and a bellows attached to and separating the top end cap and the bottom end cap and configured to hold pressurized fluid between the top and bottom end caps. The system further includes a nozzle configured to allow fluid to enter and exit the bellows, and an inextensible skin attached to each of the top end cap, the bottom end cap, and to the bellows. The top end cap assumes a first position when the bellows is inflated via the nozzle and, when the top end cap is adjusted from the first position to a second position, the skin is configured to maintain the top end cap in the second position and constrains the bellows into a predefined rigid three-dimensional shape.