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US 5,667,204 AGranted
Slit-tube replicated in-place constrained layer damper and method
AssigneeAESOP, Inc.
InventorAlexander Henry Slocum
Life of this patent
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AssigneeAESOP, Inc.
InventorAlexander Henry Slocum
Estimating the term…
An economic and efficient method for providing an inner constrained layer damping system to a tubular structure by inserting an inner damping tube that has been substantially slit along its length at several places around its circumference and then wrapped in a viscoelastic tape to cover the slits, or just plain tape to just cover the slits, with a viscoelastic layer thereupon with the tape inserted within and coextensively along the inside of the outer structural beam to be damped, and with the space between the two filled with a replicating material such as epoxy, cement grout, rubber, or other pourable or injectable material, which must have high shear damping properties if the latter tape-just- covering-the-slit option is used, to couple in shear the outer structural beam to the inner slit damping tube and cause shear strains to be transmitted across the viscoelastic boundary between the two tubes.
An apparatus for internally damping a hollow longitudinally extending structural member, the hollow of which is defined by the inner surface of the member, that comprises, a separate constraining surface inserted within and extending co-extensively adjacent the inner surface of the structural member, the constraining surface being provided with a plurality of transversely spaced longitudinally extending slits co-extensive with said inner surface of the structural member, the slit constraining surface being covered by a thin viscoelastic damping layer, and the damping-layer-covered constraining surface being replicated in place adjacent, along, and to said inner surface of the structural member by an interposed replicating material,
An apparatus for internally damping a hollow longitudinally extending structural member, the hollow of which is defined by the inner surface of the member, that comprises, a separate constraining surface inserted within and extending co-extensively adjacent the inner surface of the structural member, the constraining surface being provided with a plurality of transversely spaced longitudinally extending slits co-extensive with said inner surface of the structural member, the slit constraining surface being covered by a thin viscoelastic damping layer, and the damping-layer-covered constraining surface being replicated in place adjacent, along, and to said inner surface of the structural member by an interposed replicating material,
An apparatus for internally damping a hollow longitudinally extending structural member, the hollow of which is defined by the inner surface of the member, that comprises, a separate constraining surface inserted within and extending co-extensively adjacent the inner surface of the structural member, the constraining surface being provided with a plurality of transversely spaced longitudinally extending slits co-extensive with said inner surface of the structural member, the slit constraining surface being covered by a thin viscoelastic damping layer, and the damping-layer-covered constraining surface being replicated in place adjacent, along, and to said inner surface of the structural member by an interposed replicating material,
An apparatus for internally damping a hollow longitudinally extending structural member, the hollow of which is defined by the inner surface of the member, that comprises, a separate constraining surface inserted within and extending co-extensively adjacent the inner surface of the structural member, the constraining surface being provided with a plurality of transversely spaced longitudinally extending slits co-extensive with said inner surface of the structural member, the slit constraining surface being covered by a thin viscoelastic damping layer, and the damping-layer-covered constraining surface being replicated in place adjacent, along, and to said inner surface of the structural member by an interposed replicating material,
A method of achieving improved internal damping of a hollow longitudinally extending structural member the hollow of which is defined by its inner surface of predetermined cross-sectional shape and cross-dimensions, the method comprising, forming a longitudinally extending tubular member of cross-sectional shape corresponding to that of the hollow and of cross-dimensions slightly less than that of the hollow and of a length substantially the same as that of the hollow;
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.