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:
Oct. 23, 1990
Filed:
Mar. 06, 1989
Kajima Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The present invention contemplates a rigidity control system for a variable rigidity structure incorporating variable rigidity elements, such as braces, for making the connecting condition with the frame variable between the locked and unlocked conditions for example, in which the vibration of a structure caused by external vibrational forces of an earthquake, wind or the like is attenuated by varying the rigidity of the structure. The rigidity control of the present invention imitates the tension and relaxation of a muscle in the self-balancing function of a living body. The vibrational condition of a frame is considered to be separately four conditions, i.e., the process of increasing the deformation in one direction, the process of decreasing the deformaton following thereafter, the process of increasing the deformation in the opposite direction and the process of decreasing the deformation following thereafter. Continuous responses are detected by sensors and the structure is set to be in the rigid condition in the deformation increasing process to restrain the excessive deformation of the building frame while the structure is set to be in the resilient condition in the deformation decreasing process to continuously vary the rigidity of the frame, whereby the resonance of the frame with seismic motion or the like is avoided to attenuate the vibration.