The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 04, 2018
Filed:
Apr. 23, 2015
Applicant:
The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US);
Inventors:
Sofya A. Suntsova, Philadelphia, PA (US);
Christopher J. Felker, Downingtown, PA (US);
Assignee:
THE BOEING COMPANY, Chicago, IL (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
B64C 27/00 (2006.01); F16F 15/00 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
B64C 27/001 (2013.01); F16F 15/002 (2013.01); F16F 2224/0283 (2013.01); F16F 2228/066 (2013.01);
Abstract
A system for modifying a stiffness of a structure of a vehicle using vibrational energy of the vehicle includes a variable-stiffness layer, having a selectively controllable Young's modulus, attached to the structure, and a conversion layer, coupled to the variable-stiffness layer, the conversion layer configured to convert vibrational energy from the structure into electrical energy, and to supply the electrical energy to the variable-stiffness layer to adjust a stiffness of the variable-stiffness layer.