Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Evan Millison

Paul W Alexander

Wonhee Michael Kim

Diann Brei

Jonathan E Luntz

Koray Benli

Laura Alejandra Giner Munoz

Adeline Emily Wihardja

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.

Skin constrained inflatable bellows

Growing community of inventors

Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America

Evan Millison