Expandable aerodynamic enhancement apparatus for trailers
AssigneePebble Mobility, Inc.
InventorsAonan Li, Bingrui Yang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electro-mechanical aerodynamic apparatus includes a support structure that couples to a tongue of a trailer in a position between a tow vehicle and a body of the trailer, an extendible housing that couples to the support structure and extendibly moves to a plurality of aerodynamic states including an extended state and a contracted state, and a drive assembly coupled to the support structure and the extendible housing that, when actuated, moves the extendible housing into one of the plurality of aerodynamic states.
Claims19
An expandable aerodynamic enhancement apparatus comprising:
- a support structure that couples to a tongue of a trailer in a position between a tow vehicle and a body of the trailer;
- an extendible housing that couples to the support structure and extendibly moves to a plurality of aerodynamic states including an extended state and a contracted state, wherein the extendible housing encapsulates a majority of the support structure in the contracted state;
- and
- an actuatable component coupled to the extendible housing that, when actuated, moves the extendible housing into one of the plurality of aerodynamic states.
An expandable aerodynamic enhancement apparatus comprising:
- a support structure that couples to a tongue of a trailer in a position between a tow vehicle and a body of the trailer, wherein the position between the tow vehicle and the body of the trailer corresponds to a space between a rear portion of the tow vehicle and a front portion of the trailer that is a source of aerodynamic drag;
- an extendible housing that couples to the support structure;
- and
- a drive assembly coupled to the extendible housing that, when actuated, moves the extendible housing into one of a plurality of aerodynamic states including an extended state that extends the extendible housing into at least a portion of the space to reduce the aerodynamic drag and a contracted state that retracts the extendible housing to reveal a portion of the trailer obscured by the extendible housing in the extended state.
An expandable aerodynamic enhancement apparatus comprising:
- a support structure that couples to a tongue of a trailer in a position between a tow vehicle and a body of the trailer, wherein a turbulent air region forms between the tow vehicle and the body of the trailer during towing;
- an extendible housing that couples to the support structure and extendibly moves to a plurality of aerodynamic states including an extended state and a contracted state;
- and
- an actuatable component coupled to the extendible housing that, when actuated, moves the extendible housing into one of the plurality of aerodynamic states, wherein moving, via the actuatable component, the extendible housing to the extended state includes raising the extendible housing to physically occupy space within the turbulent air region.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.