Pallet design for vibration mitigation

• US 9,915,316 B2
• Filed: 06/11/2015
• Issued: 03/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kuczynski, Joseph, O'Connell, Kevin M., Peterson, Chelsie M., Plucinski, Mark D., Tofil, Timothy J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Siconolfi, Robert A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): AUNG, SAN M
• Application Number:
  US14/736,315
• Publication Number:
  US 20160362224A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,006 Days
• Field of Search: 267113, 267 75, 267119, 267130
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 19/0012 forming a continuous plane contact surface
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 19/38 Details or accessories
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 2519/00268 made of one piece
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 2519/0086 Protection against environmental hazards, e.g. humidity, bacteria, fire
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 81/02 specially adapted to protect contents from mechanical damage containers of polygonal cross-section provided with internal protecting elements for contents B65D5/50; devices to locate articles in containers B65D25/10
• CPC Class Codes: F16F 13/10 the wall being at least in part formed by a flexible membrane or the like F16F13/14 - F16F13/18 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F16F 13/26 characterised by adjusting or regulating devices responsive to exterior conditions F16F13/101 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F16F 15/002 characterised by the control method or circuitry control of mechanical oscillations per se G05D19/00
• CPC Class Codes: F16F 15/022 using dampers and springs in combination
• CPC Class Codes: F16F 15/027 comprising control arrangements F16F15/0237 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F16F 7/015 the particles being spherical, cylindrical or the like
• CPC Class Codes: F16F 9/43 Filling or drainage arrangements, e.g. for supply of gas filling vessels with, or discharging from vessels, compressed, liquefied, or solidified gases F17C
• CPC Class Codes: F16F 9/512 Means responsive to load action, i.e. static load on the damper or dynamic fluid pressure changes in the damper, e.g. due to changes in velocity F16F9/504, F16F9/516 take precedence; non-automatic damper adjustment from a distance using servo control, the servo pressure being created by the flow of damping fluid F16F9/465; self-pumping fluid springs in vehicle suspensions B60G17/044

Abstract

A system for mitigating vibration of a mass may include an elastic membrane enclosing at least one interior space and having an outer surface, where at least a bottom portion of the outer surface is coupled to a transportable supportive surface, and at least a top portion of the outer surface supports a load. The system may further include at least one port coupling the outer surface to the at least one interior space, where the port provides a source of fluid ingress into the interior space and fluid egress out of the interior space. The system may additionally include granular material distributed within the at least one interior space, where a packing density of the granular material is adjustable between a first jammed state having a first packing density of granular materials and a second jammed state having a second packing density of granular materials to accommodate different loads.

Claims

1. A system for mitigating vibration of a load, comprising:

an elastic membrane enclosing at least one interior space and having an outer surface,

wherein at least a bottom portion of the outer surface is coupled to a transportable supportive surface and at least a top portion of the outer surface supports the load;

at least one port coupling the outer surface to the at least one interior space,

wherein the at least one port provides a source of fluid ingress into the interior space and a source of fluid egress out of the interior space;

a granular material distributed within the at least one interior space,

wherein a packing density of the granular material is adjustable between a first jammed state having a first packing density of granular materials and a second jammed state having a second packing density of granular materials to accommodate different loads;

a pump having a nozzle coupled to the at least one port;

a mass sensing device having a sensing surface for sensing a mass of the load,

wherein the mass sensing device senses the mass of the load based on a weight of the load asserted on the mass sensing device; and

a computing device to receive an input from the mass sensing device and to drive a control input of the pump to regulate, in response to receiving the input from the mass sensing device, a quantity of fluid in the interior space to adjust the packing density of the granular material between the first jammed state and the second jammed state.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first packing density is numerically larger than the second packing density when the system in the first jammed state is configured to accommodate a larger load than the system in the second jammed state.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein a first quantity of fluid in the interior space in the first jammed state is less than a second quantity of fluid in the interior space in the second jammed state.

4. The system of claim 1,

wherein the computing device continually regulates, in response to receiving the input from the mass sensing device and in response to a change in a relative mass of the load during storage or transport, the quantity of fluid in the interior space to modulate the packing density between the first jammed state and the second jammed state.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the transportable supportive surface is a pallet.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the fluid is air.

7. A system for mitigating vibration of a load, comprising:

an elastic membrane enclosing at least one interior space and having an outer surface,

wherein at least a bottom portion of the outer surface is coupled to a pallet and at least a top portion of the outer surface supports the load, the size of the elastic membrane expandable and compressible to support the load;

at least one port coupling the outer surface to the at least one interior space,

wherein the at least one port provides a source of fluid ingress into the interior space and fluid egress out of the interior space;

a pressure gauge coupled to the at least one port;

a granular material distributed within the at least one interior space,

wherein the pressure gauge provides a metric corresponding with a packing density of the granular material, the metric being used to adjust the packing density of the granular material between a first jammed state having a first packing density of granular materials and a second jammed state having a second packing density of granular materials to accommodate different loads;

a pump having a nozzle coupled to the at least one port;

a mass sensing device having a sensing surface for determining a mass of the load,

wherein the mass sensing device determines the mass of the load based on a weight of the load asserted on the mass sensing device; and

a computing device to receive an input from both the mass sensing device and the pressure gauge to drive a control input of the pump to regulate, in response to the input, an amount of fluid in the interior space to further adjust the packing density between the first jammed state and the second jammed state.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the first packing density is numerically larger than the second packing density when the system in the first jammed state is configured to accommodate a larger load than the system in the second jammed state.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein a first amount of fluid in the interior space in the first jammed state is less than a second amount of fluid in the interior space in the second jammed state.

10. The system of claim 7,

wherein the computing device continually regulates, in response to receiving the input from the mass sensing device and in response to a change in a relative mass of the load, the amount of fluid in the interior space to modulate the packing density between the first jammed state and the second jammed state.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the fluid is air.

12. A method for mitigating vibration of a mass, comprising:

providing an elastic membrane enclosing at least one interior space and having an outer surface,

wherein at least a bottom portion of the outer surface is coupled to a transportable supportive surface, and at least a top portion of the outer surface supports a load;

coupling at least one port to the outer surface and to the at least one interior space,

wherein the at least one port provides a source of fluid ingress into the interior space and fluid egress out of the interior space;

distributing a granular material within the at least one interior space,

wherein a packing density of the granular material is adjustable between a first jammed state having a first packing density of granular materials and a second jammed state having a second packing density of granular materials to accommodate different loads;

providing a pump having a nozzle coupled to the at least one port;

providing a mass sensing device having a sensing surface to sense a mass of the load,

wherein the mass sensing device senses the mass of the load based on a weight of the load asserted on the mass sensing device; and

providing a computing device to receive an input from the mass sensing device and to drive a control input of the pump to regulate, in response to receiving the input from the mass sensing device, a quantity of fluid in the interior space to modulate the packing density of the granular material between the first jammed state and the second jammed state.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first packing density is numerically larger than the second packing density when the granular material in the first packing state is configured to accommodate a larger load than the granular material in the second jammed state.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein a first amount of fluid in the interior space in the first jammed state is less than a second amount of fluid in the interior space in the second jammed state.

15. The method of claim 13,

wherein the computing device continually regulates, in response to receiving the input from the mass sensing device and in response to a change in a relative mass of the load, the quantity of fluid in the interior space to modulate the packing density between the first jammed state and the second jammed state.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the transportable supportive surface is a pallet.