Fluidic actuator system and method

Patent · Tue Mar 24 04:00:00 EDT 2020

OSTI ID:1637816

Madrone, Leila Marcia; Betts, Kyle Douglas; Lynn, Peter Sturt; Basel, Louis Hong; Ridley, Brent; Griffith, Saul Thomas; McBride, James Dylan; Lamb, Jeffrey; Suan, Eric Preston Lien; Lin, Erica; Erickson, Joshua; Romanin, Vincent Domenic

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.

• Research Organization: Sunfolding, Inc., San Francisco, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)
• DOE Contract Number: AR0000330
• Assignee: Sunfolding, Inc. (San Francisco, CA)
• Patent Number(s): 10,601,366
• Application Number: 16/134,844
• OSTI ID: 1637816
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
42 ENGINEERING