Prospective Concepts Ag

Pibridge Ltd

Airlight Limited (ag)

Airlight Energy IP Sa

Mauro Pedretti

Andreas Reinhard

Rolf Luchsinger

A pneumatic support having a body () which can be pneumatically pressurised and which, when under operating pressure, operationally holds a compression member (to') which extends substantially over the length of the body and a tensile member (to&#x2032;) which likewise extends substantially over the length (I) of the body at a distance from each other, wherein the compression member (to&#x2032;) and the tensile member (to&#x2032;) are connected to each other at the end in connection nodes (), and wherein the body which can be pneumatically pressurised has pneumatic drop-stitch transverse fibre pressure panels (to).

Pneumatic support

The pneumatic support has a pneumatic body which can be placed pneumatically under pressure and which, under operating pressure, operationally keeps at a distance apart a compression member which extends substantially over its length and a tension member which likewise extends substantially over its length, wherein forces are introduced at force introduction points in end regions of the compression member and the tension member into said members and wherein connecting elements are provided between the compression member and the tension member and introduce forces into the compression member and the tension member likewise at force introduction points, wherein, furthermore, the pneumatic body has formations which extend between adjacent force introduction points and which project outwardly beyond a rectilinear connection between the adjacent force introduction points. As a result, undesired distortion of the support under operating pressure, but without operating load, is avoided.

Pneumatic structural element

A support structure including a tension-compression element is composed of tension-compression bars that are connected in real joints as well as tension straps that extend from one joint to another. The outermost tension-compression bars are connected in one respective knot. Two pressurized hollow members that are surrounded by a cover are arranged on both sides of a plane that extends through the tension-compression element such that the linear tensions &#x3c3; generated in the cover preload the tension straps on the plane of the tension-compression element, secure the tension-compression bars against bending, and stabilize the joints. The linear tensioning components that extend perpendicular to said plane of symmetry strut the tension-compression element against lateral bending. Air-tight, optionally elastic pneumatic elements can be inserted into the hollow members.

A parabolic collector for the concentration of solar radiation has a reflective surface which is approximated to an ideal paraboloid and has a number of individual collectors. According to the invention, individual collectors are provided with a pressure cell with a concentrator formed from a flexible film, whereby, under operating pressure conditions, the concentrator is curved differently in a predetermined manner in a first and in a second direction for approximating the ideal paraboloid, such that the radius of curvature in the first direction is greater than that in the second direction. The production method for such a concentrator consists in the fact that the outline of the individual collectors is designed in the outline of the parabolic collector, the true dimensions of the individual collectors being determined from the intersection of cylinders positioned on the outline with the paraboloid of the parabolic collector.

Parabolic collector

A pneumatic support comprises a long hollow body, tapering towards the ends and two pressure/tension elements. The hollow body is embodied by a sleeve of gas-tight, flexible, non-stretch material. Said sleeve can be formed from two layers, an external non-stretch, flexible sleeve and an inner gas-tight elastic bladder. The hollow body can be pressurised with compressed gas by means of a valve. The both pressure/tension elements lie along diametrically opposed surface lines of the hollow body on the same and are partly or completely frictionally connected to the hollow body along said surface lines. The ends of the pressure/tension elements are frictionally connected to each other.

The pneumatic structural element comprises from one to a number of interconnected elements of the following construction: two hollow bodies made of textile material coated in a gas-type manner and each having two end caps are assembled such that they produce a common sectional area. The edging of this sectional area is formed by two curved tension/compression elements into which is clamped a gas-tight web made of a flexible material of high tensile strength. This web can be connected to the tension/compression elements in a gas-tight manner. By filling the two hollow bodies with compressed gas, a tensile stress &#x3c3; pretensions said web. This pretensioning increases the bending rigidity of the tension/compression elements. If a plurality of such elements are combined to form a roof, every two adjacent hollow bodies thus form a sectional area with a tension/compression element and web.

Pneumatic structural element, and roof produced therefrom

Joint element for a pneumatic structural element () according to the prior art, comprising a sleeve (), a compression member (), two tension members () and two spherical caps (). In each case one joint element is fitted for the spherical caps () such that an opening () accommodates the spherical cap (). The joint elements serve for introducing tensile and compressive forces, in a manner free of bending moments, into the pneumatic structural element (), the compressive forces being absorbed by the compression member () and the tensile forces being absorbed by the tension members (). The joint element has holes () for fastening the compression member () with a screw (), on the one hand, and holes () for accommodating the tension members (), on the other hand. The symmetrical arrangement of the holes () ensures that the vectors of bearing forces and of the tensile and compressive forces in the joint element added together give zero and, furthermore, the bending moments occur symmetrically in relation to the compression members (). Configuring the joint element as a plate () ensures that torques are neither introduced from the outside nor diverted to the outside.

Node element for pneumatic components

The invention relates to a pneumatic plate element () consisting of a hollow body () that can be impinged upon with a pressure medium having overpressure p. Said hollow body is located between two pressure/tension elements () that are connected to one another by their ends and is made of a flexible membrane (). When transversal load is exerted on the plate element () placed on two supports () with load force F, the top pressure/tension element () is subjected to pressure and the bottom pressure/tension element () is subjected to tension. Prestressed tension elements () placed at a distance a traverse in channels the hollow body () between the pressure/tension elements (). The tension elements () are prestressed by the hollow body () separating the tension elements (). The connections () operate as fictitious fixed intermediate supports and stabilize the pressure/tension element () submitted to pressure in order to prevent buckling. Two-dimensional plate elements () can be particularly used for building roofs of lightweight constructions.

Growing community of inventors

Biasca, Switzerland

Mauro Pedretti