Ilc Dover, Inc.

Lockheed Martin Corporation

The Aerospace Corporation

John K H Lin

Stephen Emerson Scarborough

Edward J Simburger

David Phillip Cadogan

Suraj Prakash Rawal

Thomas W Giants

James H Matsumoto

Alan R Perry

Craig H Marshall

Alec Garcia, Iii

Jonathan Robert Day

Thomas W Kerslake

George H Sapna, Iii

A flexible inflatable hinge includes curable resin for rigidly positioning panels of solar cells about the hinge in which wrap around contacts and flex circuits are disposed for routing power from the solar cells to the power bus further used for grounding the hinge. An indium tin oxide and magnesium fluoride coating is used to prevent static discharge while being transparent to ultraviolet light that cures the embedded resin after deployment for rigidizing the inflatable hinge.

Thin film solar cell inflatable ultraviolet rigidizable deployment hinge

A boom structure deployed by inflating the structure to a desired shape and rigidizing the structure via an external influence. The structure frame has a series of frame members which are made of a fibrous material and a resin material. This frame is encased in between a pair of membrane layers, an inner membrane inflatable to move the frame into its desired shape and an outer membrane that allows for folding the structure. Following inflation of the inner layer, an external influence acts on the resin material to solidify it, and render the structure rigid. The external influence may also act on the resin material to soften it when it is already rigid, to allow for collapsing and folding of the structure.

Inflatable rigidizable boom

Growing community of inventors

Middletown, DE, United States of America

John K H Lin