Composite Tube Bellow With Offset Holes for Greater Articulation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing composite drive shafts and pipes face limitations in flexibility due to the stiffness of metallic bellows, which can lead to installation challenges in confined spaces and increased weight, and using multiple bellows reduces shaft length and increases weight, making them unsuitable for aerospace applications.
Innovation Solution
A composite tube design featuring a bellow with offset holes on either side, which increases flexibility without increasing diameter or length, allowing for greater articulation while maintaining structural integrity and reducing material stiffness, and using fibre reinforced polymers with braided fibre structures to optimize torque transmission and reduce weight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If metallic bellows are used to increase flexibility, then articulation capability is improved, but weight increases and space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a composite bellow constructed from multiple layers including an inner flexible layer and an outer protective layer, replacing traditional metallic bellows. This flexible shell structure provides the necessary articulation capability while significantly reducing weight and allowing for more compact dimensions, directly resolving the contradiction between flexibility and weight/space constraints.
Solution Approach 2:
The bellow utilizes composite material construction with multiple layers having different properties (flexible inner layer, protective outer layer). This composite approach enables the structure to achieve both flexibility for articulation and reduced weight, simultaneously addressing the contradiction between articulation capability and weight reduction.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple bellows are used to increase articulation, then flexibility is improved, but shaft length decreases and weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple bellow sections into a single integrated composite bellow structure. This merged design provides the cumulative articulation capability of multiple separate bellows while maintaining the shaft's overall length and reducing total weight, resolving the contradiction between flexibility and shaft length preservation.
Solution Approach 2:
The composite bellow structure achieves increased articulation through its multi-layer construction and geometric configuration rather than through axial length. This dimensional approach allows multiple bellow functions to be consolidated in a compact form, providing enhanced flexibility without reducing shaft length or increasing weight.
3Adaptability or versatility
If bellow diameter is increased to improve flexibility, then articulation capability is improved, but space requirements increase and weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The composite bellow uses flexible shell construction with multiple thin layers that provide high articulation capability without requiring large diameter. The flexible inner layer enables significant bending and articulation within a compact cross-sectional area, resolving the contradiction between flexibility and space constraints.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the material parameters by using composite materials with different flexibility characteristics in each layer. This allows the bellow to achieve high articulation capability through material property optimization rather than increasing geometric dimensions, thereby reducing the required cross-sectional area and weight.
Data Source
AI summary
A composite tube comprising a region of greater diameter forming a bellow. The bellow has a first side and a second side spaced apart in the axial direction of the tube. Each side of the bellow comprises at least one hole and the at least one hole on the first side is offset in relation to the at least one hole on the second side. The holes in the bellow provide increased flexibility, thereby allowing a greater amount of bending or articulation in the shaft. The holes reduce the amount of material in the sides of the bellow, thereby reducing the material stiffness and thereby increasing the flexibility.