Advanced lock design for ball-lock devices

A fastener system comprising:

• a cylindrical piston slidably mounted to a first structure, where the piston is fully retractable into the first structure and deployable outward a fixed distance from the first structure, and the piston includes an axial bore opening to and providing pneumatic pressure to a plurality of radial cross-bores proximal a top end of the piston;
• a plurality of locking pills having inner and outer ends, one of said locking pills slidably disposed in each of the cross-bores of the piston, where the locking pills are caused by the pneumatic pressure to travel from a first position in which the pills are situated radially inward and entirely within the piston, to a second position where the pills are deployed radially outward where the outer ends extend beyond an outer surface of the piston;
• and
• a retainer cavity mounted on a lower surface of a second structure such that an opening of the cavity faces toward the first structure to receive the piston, where the retainer cavity includes an undercut surface on an inner lip,
• where the fastener system latches the second structure to the first structure via a latching sequence including placing the second structure adjacent the first structure, increasing the pneumatic pressure in a chamber in the first structure to exceed a first threshold in order to deploy the piston upward until a bottom end of the piston contacts a Belleville spring, increasing the pneumatic pressure to exceed a second threshold in order to deflect the Belleville spring upward, increasing the pneumatic pressure to exceed a third threshold in order to open a pneumatic valve in the axial bore of the piston and deploy the locking pills radially outward, decreasing the pressure below a fourth threshold in order to relax the Belleville spring and cause the locking pills to grasp the ridge of the retainer cavity, further decreasing the pressure below a fifth threshold in order to cause the pneumatic valve to close, and further decreasing the pressure to zero to complete the latching

A fastener system comprising:

• a cylindrical piston slidably mounted to a first structure, where the piston is fully retractable into the first structure and deployable outward a fixed distance from the first structure, and the piston includes an axial bore opening to a plurality of radial cross-bores proximal a top end of the piston;
• a plurality of locking pills having inner and outer ends, one of said locking pills slidably disposed in each of the cross-bores of the piston, where the locking pills are configured to travel from a first position in which the pills are situated radially inward and entirely within the piston, to a second position where the pills are deployed radially outward where the outer ends extend beyond an outer surface of the piston, and a shoulder on the pills exceeding a diameter of the cross-bores prevents the pills from deploying past the second position;
• and
• a spindle provided in the axial bore of the piston, where the spindle is axially slidable to a locking position in which a larger diameter portion of the spindle contacts the inner end of the locking pills and mechanically forces the locking pills to deploy radially outward to the second position, and the spindle is slidable to an unlocking position in which a smaller diameter portion of the spindle is proximate the locking pills and the locking pills are free to retract radially inward to the first position;
• a retainer cavity mounted on a lower surface of a second structure such that an opening of the cavity faces toward the first structure to receive the piston, where the retainer cavity includes an undercut surface on an inner lip,
• where the fastener system latches the second structure to the first structure via a latching sequence including placing the second structure adjacent the first structure, deploying the piston outward from the first structure into the retainer cavity in the second structure, and sliding the spindle to the locking position to deploy the locking pills radially outward to the second position and mechanically restrain the locking pills in the second position such that the locking pills cannot retract to the first position, and the locking pills contact the undercut surface of the retainer cavity to latch the second structure to the first structure.