US 11,791,764 B2
Fluidic actuator system and method
Leila Marcia Madrone, San Francisco, CA (US); Kyle Douglas Betts, San Francisco, CA (US); Peter Sturt Lynn, Oakland, CA (US); Louis Hong Basel, Berkeley, CA (US); Brent Ridley, Huntington Beach, CA (US); Saul Thomas Griffith, San Francisco, CA (US); James Dylan Mcbride, San Francisco, CA (US); Jeffrey Lamb, San Francisco, CA (US); Eric Preston Lien Suan, Baltimore, MD (US); Erica Lin, Millbrae, CA (US); Joshua Erickson, Oakland, CA (US); and Vincent Domenic Romanin, San Francisco, CA (US)
Assigned to SUNFOLDING, INC., San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed by SUNFOLDING, INC., San Francisco, CA (US)
Filed on Mar. 13, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/818,346.
Application 16/818,346 is a continuation of application No. 16/134,844, filed on Sep. 18, 2018, granted, now 10,601,366.
Application 16/134,844 is a continuation of application No. 15/012,715, filed on Feb. 1, 2016, granted, now 10,135,388, issued on Nov. 20, 2018.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/110,275, filed on Jan. 30, 2015.
Prior Publication US 2020/0220492 A1, Jul. 9, 2020
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. H02S 20/32 (2014.01); H02S 20/30 (2014.01); F15B 15/10 (2006.01)
CPC H02S 20/32 (2014.12) [F15B 15/10 (2013.01); H02S 20/30 (2014.12)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A pneumatically actuated solar panel array system comprising:
a plurality of separate actuator assemblies that each include:
an angled bottom plate, the angled bottom plate having an opposing first side face and second side face,
a first set of one or more inflatable actuators engaging the first side face of the angled bottom plate,
a second set of one or more inflatable actuators engaging the second side face of the angled bottom plate, and
the first and second sets of inflatable actuators being configured to be separately pneumatically inflated, where the pneumatic inflation expands the inflatable actuators to control a pressure ratio between the first and second sets of inflatable actuators; and
a plurality of solar panels coupled to the actuator assemblies, the solar panels configured to be actuated based on inflation of the one or more inflatable actuators associated with the plurality of actuator assembles.