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US 10,689,084 B2Granted
Multifunctional balloon membrane
AssigneeSpace Data Corporation
InventorGerald Mark Knoblach
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed herein is system comprising a lighter-than-air (LTA) device and method of making the same. In an embodiment, the system includes the LTA device, which includes a membrane having a flexible substrate and an active material disposed thereon, wherein the active material is configured to controllably change the surface area of at least a portion of the substrate when an electrical stimulus is applied to the active material. In addition, the system may include a payload box; an altitude control vent mechanism; a meteorological data collection package; a communication unit; and an antenna.
Claims20
A system comprising:
- a lighter-than-air device comprising a balloon comprising an outer enclosure and an active surface enclosure located inside the outer enclosure, the active surface enclosure being made of a material comprising:
- a flexible substrate;
- and an active material disposed on at least a portion of the flexible substrate, wherein the active material deforms mechanically on application of an electrical stimulus across the active material, wherein disposal of the active material on the portion controllably changes a surface area of at least the portion of the flexible substrate when the electrical stimulus is applied to the active material;
- a payload box;
- an altitude control vent mechanism;
- a meteorological data collection package;
- a communication unit;
- and
- an antenna.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.