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:
Jul. 18, 2023
Filed:
Jan. 12, 2022
Trans Astronautica Corporation, Lake View Terrace, CA (US);
Joel C. Sercel, Lake View Terrace, CA (US);
James G. Small, Sonoita, AZ (US);
Philip J. Wahl, Alta Dena, CA (US);
Craig E. Peterson, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Trans Astronautica Corporation, Lake View Terrace, CA (US);
Abstract
Pneumatically supported towers for low gravity applications are disclosed herein. In one aspect, an inflatable tower for use in vacuum environments can have a membrane configured to support a load when inflated with an inflation gas to a pressures less than 100,000 pascals and greater than 0.01 pascal. The inflation gas can be chosen to have a sufficiently low boiling temperature at the inflation pressure of the membrane that the gas will not condense to a liquid or solid within a defined range of temperatures in which the tower is designed to operate. The membrane can be configured to be packaged for transport in deflated condition and rolled onto cylinders from which the membrane can be later unfurled and inflated as part of the tower inflation process. The membrane can be further configured to progressively inflate beginning at a bottom or lowest level of the membrane during the tower inflation process. The membrane can be divided into a plurality of compartments by one or more diaphragms containing valves configured to regulate flow of the inflation gas between the compartments.