| 摘要 |
A conformal airlock assembly for ingress and egress through a door from a high pressure environment to a low pressure environment. The airlock assembly includes a flexible, gas impermeable membrane that cooperates with a support wall in an airtight manner to form an interior pocket over the door on one side of the wall, and a distal-most rigid, rib structure generally disposed in said interior pocket. A gas displacement system, in flow communication with the interior pocket, is selectively operable to flow air out of the interior pocket, collapsing the membrane toward a deflated condition. An actuation system coupled to the distal-most rib structure is operable to displace the rib structure and the flexible membrane, in the deflated condition, away from the one side of the support wall, to a displaced condition. Such displacement of the airtight membrane creates a low pressure space in the pocket that is selected to be sufficiently proximate that of the low pressure environment. Hence, the door may be opened to permit ingress and egress therethrough without a large pressure differential. |
| 主权项 |
1. A conformal airlock assembly for ingress and egress through a door of a support wall from a relatively high pressure environment on one side of the support wall to a relatively low pressure environment on the other side of the support wall, said airlock assembly including:
a distal-most rigid, rib structure having a generally planar upper surface, an opposite, generally planar lower surface, a circumferential outer wall and a circumferential inner wall defining a rib interior space, said rib structure being generally disposed on the one side of the support wall; a flexible, gas impermeable membrane assembly cooperating with the distal-most rib structure and said interior space to form an interior pocket over the door on the one side of the support wall, said membrane assembly further having a first end portion cooperating with the support wall in an airtight manner, and an opposite second end portion extending over said interior pocket defined by the upper surface of said distal-most rib structure; a sealable gateway assembly cooperating with at least one of said membrane assembly and said distal-most rib structure for selective operation thereof between an open condition, permitting passage through an opening into the interior pocket, and a closed condition, forming an airtight seal; a gas displacement system in flow communication with the interior pocket, and selectively operable to flow air into said interior pocket toward an inflated condition of the membrane assembly, and to flow air out of said interior pocket toward a deflated condition for the membrane assembly; and an actuator apparatus coupled to said distal-most rib structure, and operable to displace said flexible membrane and the distal-most rib structure, in the deflated condition, away from said one side of the support wall toward a displaced condition, creating a low pressure space, until the pressure differential between the low pressure created in the low pressure space and that on the other side of the support wall are sufficiently low so as to enable safe and free opening of the door to permit ingress and egress therethrough. |
