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Pinnacle West Capital Corporation

James Warrick

Jefferson G Shingleton

Raymond S Zuckerman

Charles E Van Druff

John A Churilla

Herbert T Hayden

Alex Devonport

A latching inertial reel temporarily holds an inertial reel in a locked position during a lateral acceleration and resetably holds the reel in a latched position as a result of a vertical acceleration. The reel is latched when a latching sensor experiences a vertical acceleration above a threshold. A latch holds the reel in the latched position after the acceleration reduces to prevent subsequent injury from secondary impacts of a vehicle occupant with objects or surfaces in the vehicle. The latch may later be reset to release the reel. A vehicle seat may further include a seat inertial reel to provide support to the seat during a crash. The seat inertial reel may be attached to a floor mounting point, or to an elevated mounting point.

Latching inertial reel

A celestial tracking apparatus ( ) has a support ( ), a tracking assembly ( ) coupled to the support ( ) by an azimuth pivot ( ), a collector assembly ( ) coupled to the tracking assembly ( ) by an elevation pivot ( ), a wind-speed sensor ( ), and a controller ( ) coupled to the azimuth and elevation pivots ( ) and configured to cause the collector assembly ( ) to assume a wind-stow position ( ) when the sensor ( ) detects a wind having a speed greater than a predetermined speed, upon failure of a component of the apparatus ( ), or upon receipt of a wind-stow command. The collector assembly ( ) has a solar collector ( ) with a substantially flat surface ( ), a center of gravity ( ), and a target axis ( ) substantially perpendicular to the substantially flat surface ( ) and passing through the center of gravity ( ). The elevation pivot ( ) is displaced from the target axis ( ) and the center of gravity ( ) so that the collector assembly ( ) is predisposed to pivot to the wind-stow position.

Celestial tracking apparatus and method of controlling wind stow therefor

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Prescott, AZ, United States of America

James Warrick