Low-density structured material for vacuum balloon buckling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current materials fail to create a low-density, stiff structure that avoids buckling while achieving sufficient buoyancy, limiting their application in various lightweight and flexible structures such as vacuum balloons and other three-dimensional objects.
Innovation Solution
A low-density structured material composed of interconnected struts forming a polyhedron shape, enveloped by a skin, which can be evacuated to achieve buoyancy, utilizing tetrahedral arrangements and a web of tape or skin to provide stability and strength.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If a thin shell is used to reduce weight and achieve buoyancy, then the density is reduced, but the structure buckles under atmospheric pressure
Solution Approach 1:
The shell is segmented into a geodesic structure composed of multiple triangular facets connected by struts and hubs. This segmentation creates a rigid framework that distributes atmospheric pressure loads across multiple members, preventing buckling while maintaining low overall density. The struts are arranged in tetrahedral configurations that provide inherent structural stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses composite construction combining struts, hubs, and skin layers with different material properties. The struts provide compressive strength, the hubs provide joint stability, and the skin provides tensile reinforcement. This composite approach allows the structure to resist buckling under pressure while maintaining low density for buoyancy.
2Stability of the object's composition
If material stiffness is increased to prevent buckling, then structural stability is improved, but density increases reducing buoyancy
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than using a single thick stiff shell, the structure is segmented into a lightweight geodesic framework where stiffness is achieved through geometric configuration (tetrahedral arrangements) rather than material thickness. This maintains low density while providing sufficient buckling resistance.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses thin skin films enveloping the geodesic strut framework. These thin films are sufficient to contain atmospheric pressure when supported by the underlying rigid strut-hub structure, avoiding the need for thick dense materials while maintaining structural stability.
3Stability of the object's composition
If a rigid exoskeleton with struts is used to prevent buckling, then structural stability is improved, but the structure becomes complex and difficult to manufacture
Solution Approach 1:
The geodesic structure uses standardized hubs that serve multiple functions: connecting multiple struts, distributing loads, and maintaining geometric precision. These universal hubs simplify manufacturing by allowing repeated use of the same component design throughout the structure, reducing overall complexity despite the intricate geometry.
Solution Approach 2:
The geodesic structure approximates a spherical shape using triangular facets, which provides optimal structural efficiency for withstanding atmospheric pressure. This spherical geometry distributes stresses uniformly across the structure, simplifying the design requirements compared to non-spherical shapes while maintaining buckling resistance.
4Ease of manufacture
If homogeneous material is used to simplify manufacturing, then ease of manufacture is improved, but no single material achieves both sufficient stiffness and low density
Solution Approach 1:
The invention employs composite construction combining different materials optimized for different functions: struts for compression, hubs for joint stability, and skin for tensile reinforcement. This composite approach allows each component to use the most suitable material for its specific role, achieving both low density and sufficient stiffness that no single homogeneous material could provide.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides a lightweight, stiff structure that can achieve lift equal to or greater than its weight, offering advantages in various applications including vacuum balloons, aircraft components, and architectural structures by stabilizing against buckling and allowing for modular and flexible design.
Implementation Method 1
the material making up the shell would require sufficient stiffness to avoid shell buckling
Implementation Method 2
the vacuum balloon was proposed by Francesco Lana de Terzi in 1670 as a thin rigid shell that is evacuated to achieve positive buoyancy
Data Source
AI summary
A low-density structured material with good mechanical stability that can be used for three-dimensional structures, and methods to make and use same. In embodiments, the low-density structured material includes a first surface of interconnected polyhedrons, a plurality of tetrahedral arrangements whose base is the polyhedrons of the first surface, a second surface that is a web attached to the tetrahedral vertices of the tetrahedral arrangements, and panel materials overlying the web. The low-density structured material can be utilized in a variety of different structures.