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US 5,946,866 AGranted
Modular damper
AssigneeMinnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
InventorsJames T. Weglewski, Ming-Lai Lai
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A modular damper which comprises one or more individual damper elements which are mounted into the damper structure. The dampers are useful in damping structures such as buildings, bridges, etc.
Claims53
A modular damper comprising;
- two or more structural members wherein each structural member is attached to at least one damping element,
- wherein each damping element independently comprises:
- (i) two outer rigid members;
- (ii) one layer of a vibration damping material comprising a viscoelastic material having a loss factor of at least about 0.5 at 20.degree. C. and 1 Hz between the two outer rigid members;
- wherein said outer rigid members and said structural members have shear moduli greater than the vibration damping material layer(s),
- wherein each structural member is attached to at least one other structural member via at least one damping element, and
- wherein the damping element(s) are positioned such that mechanical energy applied to the structural member(s) is at least partially dissipated by at least one damping element, wherein the modular damper is an interstructural damper that does not support the weight of a structure to be damped.
4 more elements
A modular damper comprising:
- two or more structural members and at least one first damping element;
- wherein each first damping element independently comprises:
- (i) one outer rigid member;
- (ii) an outer layer of vibration damping material comprising a viscoelastic material having a loss factor of at least about 0.5 at 20.degree. C. and 1 Hz attached to the outer rigid member
- wherein said outer rigid member and said structural members have shear moduli greater than the vibration damping material layer;
- and wherein each structural member is attached to at least one other structural member via at least one damping element, and
- wherein the damping element(s) are positioned such that mechanical energy applied to the structural member(s) is at least partially dissipated by at least one damping element wherein the modular damper is an interstructural damper that does not support the weight of a structure to be damped.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.