Element with variable stiffness controlled by negative pressure

摘要

Element with variable stiffness controlled by negative pressure, the element including a gas-tight envelope, a plurality of flexible layers in the envelope, each layer having a first surface and a second surface, and, a valve adapted to evacuate the interior of the envelope, where the first and second surfaces of two adjacent layers have a friction coefficient between each other which is higher than 0.5, the first and second surfaces of two adjacent layers have adhesion properties, such that a normal force per unit area of below 0.07 N/mm2 is required to separate them and/or the energy per unit area required to separate them in normal direction is below 6.7 J/m2.

主权项

1. Element with variable stiffness controlled by negative pressure, the element comprising:
a gas-tight envelope; a plurality of flexible layers in the envelope, each layer having a first surface and a second surface; and, a valve adapted to evacuate an interior of the envelope;wherein:
the first and second surfaces of two adjacent layers have a friction coefficient between each other which is higher than 0.5; the first and second surfaces of the two adjacent layers have adhesion properties comprising a normal force per unit area of below 0.07 N/mm2 being required to separate them and/or energy per unit area required to separate them in normal direction being below 6.7 J/m2.