Tank support assembly for a vehicle
AssigneeThe Boeing Company
InventorsRyan Fraser Willmot, Jeffery Scott Anderson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tank support assembly for a vehicle includes a vehicle structure and a storage tank assembly. The storage tank assembly is held in place relative to the vehicle structure via a magnetic support system. The magnetic support system includes tank magnets affixed to the storage tank assembly and structure magnets affixed to the vehicle structure. The tank magnets interact with the structure magnets to passively provide repulsive magnetic forces that constrain movement of the storage tank assembly relative to the vehicle structure without the tank magnets mechanically engaging the structure magnets.
Claims20
A tank support assembly for a vehicle, the tank support assembly comprising:
- a vehicle structure;
- a storage tank assembly;
- tank magnets, affixed to the storage tank assembly;
- structure magnets, affixed to the vehicle structure;
- one or more dampers, affixed to the storage tank assembly;
- and
- a mechanical element having a first end and a second end,
- wherein:
- the mechanical element extends from the storage tank assembly to the vehicle structure,
- the first end of the mechanical element is affixed to the storage tank assembly,
- the second end of the mechanical element physically contacts the one or more dampers to mechanically couple the vehicle structure to the storage tank assembly,
- the tank magnets interact with the structure magnets to passively provide repulsive magnetic forces that constrain movement of the storage tank assembly relative to the vehicle structure without the tank magnets contacting the structure magnets,
- the mechanical element tethers the storage tank assembly to the vehicle structure, and
- the one or more dampers enable limited movement of the mechanical element relative to at least one of the storage tank assembly or the vehicle structure.
A tank support assembly for a vehicle, the tank support assembly comprising:
- a vehicle structure;
- a storage tank assembly;
- tank magnets, affixed to the storage tank assembly, wherein one of the tank magnets is affixed to the storage tank assembly via a tank post that extends from the storage tank assembly;
- and
- structure magnets, affixed to the vehicle structure,
- wherein:
- the tank magnets interact with the structure magnets to passively provide repulsive magnetic forces that constrain movement of the storage tank assembly relative to the vehicle structure without the tank magnets contacting the structure magnets,
- selected ones of the structure magnets are diamagnets, configured to provide restoring forces for stabilizing the storage tank assembly relative to the vehicle structure,
- the diamagnets comprise a pair of diamagnets, located within a Halbach cylinder, and
- the tank magnet on the tank post extends into the Halbach cylinder between the pair of diamagnets.
A tank support assembly for a vehicle, the tank support assembly comprising:
- a vehicle structure;
- a plurality of structure magnets, affixed to the vehicle structure;
- a storage tank assembly, having a top end, a bottom end, and a height axis, extending from the top end to the bottom end;
- and
- tank magnets, affixed to the storage tank assembly,
- wherein:
- one of the tank magnets is a first strip magnet, having a length and comprising multiple segments with alternating polarity along the length, and
- one of the structure magnets is a second strip magnet that magnetically interacts with the first strip magnet in a pair of strip magnets so that alignment between the first strip magnet and the second strip magnet of the pair of strip magnets is maintained, restraining translational and rotational movement of the storage tank assembly relative to the vehicle structure, and
- another one of the structure magnets is a first diamagnet, located in a space between the pair of strip magnets so that a magnetic stack-up is defined by the first diamagnet and the pair of strip magnets.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.