Dust mitigation system utilizing conductive fibers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10016766-B2
Application number	US-201615199618-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2016
Priority date	Mar 24, 2016
Publication date	Jul 10, 2018
Grant date	Jul 10, 2018

Abstract

A Dust Mitigation System (“DMS”) is disclosed that includes a fabric-material having a front-surface and a back-surface; a plurality of conductive-fibers within the fabric-material; and a plurality of input-nodes approximately adjacent to the back-surface or the front-surface of the fabric-material. The plurality of conductive-fibers are approximately parallel in a first direction along the fabric-material and are approximately adjacent to the front-surface of the fabric-material and the plurality of input-nodes are in signal communication with the plurality of conductive-fibers and configured to receive an alternating-current (“AC”) voltage-signal from an input-signal-source. The plurality of conductive-fibers are configured to generate an electric-field on the front-surface of the fabric-material in response to the plurality of input-nodes receiving the AC voltage-signal from the input-signal-source and a traveling-wave (from the electric-field) that travels along the front-surface of the fabric-material in a second direction that is transverse to the first direction.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A Dust Mitigation System (“DMS”) comprising:
a fabric-material having
a front-surface and
a back-surface;

a plurality of conductive-fibers within the fabric-material, wherein the plurality of conductive-fibers are approximately parallel in a first direction along the fabric-material and are approximately adjacent to the front-surface of the fabric-material; and
a plurality of input-nodes approximately adjacent to the fabric-material,
wherein the plurality of input-nodes are
in signal communication with the plurality of conductive-fibers and
configured to receive an alternating-current (“AC”) voltage-signal from an input-signal-source, and

wherein the plurality of conductive-fibers are configured to generate
an electric-field on the front-surface of the fabric-material in response to the plurality of input-nodes receiving the AC voltage-signal from the input-signal-source and
a traveling-wave, from the electric-field, that travels along the front-surface of the fabric-material in a second direction that is approximately transverse to the first direction.

2. The DMS of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of conductive-fibers are a plurality of carbon nanotube (“CNT”) fibers and
the plurality of CNT-fibers are braided with the fabric-material.

3. The DMS of claim 1 , further including
a weave of the fabric-material, wherein the fabric-material includes
a plurality of fabric-material welt threads,
a plurality of fabric-material warp threads, and
a plurality of insulating threads,

a sub-weave of the weave of the fabric-material, wherein the sub-weave includes the plurality of conductive-fibers, the plurality of insulating threads, and the plurality of fabric-material welt threads, wherein the plurality of insulating threads are spaced in-between the plurality of conductive-fibers.

4. The DMS of claim 3 , wherein the plurality of conductive-fibers are a plurality of carbon nanotube (“CNT”) fibers.

5. The DMS of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of CNT-fibers are configured as a series of approximately parallel CNT-fibers along the fabric-material in the first direction.

6. The DMS of claim 1 , further including an input-signal-source in signal communication with the plurality of conductive-fibers.

7. The DMS of claim 6 , wherein the input-signal-source is a three-phase input-signal-source.

8. The DMS of claim 6 , further including a DMS controller in signal communication with the input-signal-source.

9. The DMS of claim 8 ,
wherein the input-signal-source is configured to produce the AC voltage-signal having a plurality of AC phased-signals that are transmitted to the plurality of input-nodes and
wherein a voltage, frequency, and phase of each AC phased-signal, of the plurality of AC phased-signals, is fixed or individually varied by a DMS controller.

10. The DMS of claim 9 , further including
a plurality of sensors within the fabric-material,
wherein the plurality of sensors produce a plurality of sensor data signals,
wherein the plurality of sensors are in signal communication with the DMS controller, and
wherein the DMS controller is configured to receive the plurality of sensor data signals and, in response, adjust the voltage, frequency, and phase of each AC phased-signal, of the plurality of AC phased-signals.

11. The DMS of claim 10 , further including a plurality of actuators within the fabric-material.

12. The DMS of claim 11 ,
wherein the actuators are in signal communication with the DMS controller and
wherein the DMS controller is configured to produce an actuation signal that is transmitted to the plurality of actuators in response to the DMS receiving the plurality of sensor data signals.

13. The DMS of claim 6 ,
wherein the plurality of conductive-fibers are a plurality of carbon nanotube (“CNT”) fibers and
wherein the fabric-material is an ortho-fabric-material.

14. The DMS of claim 13 , further including a plurality of thermoplastic-fibers mounted on the fabric-material creating a micron-sized insulating layer.

15. The DMS of claim 6 ,
wherein the plurality of conductive-fibers are a plurality of carbon nanotube (“CNT”) fibers and
wherein the plurality of CNT-fibers includes a first plurality of CNT-fibers and a second plurality of CNT-fibers, and
wherein the first plurality of CNT-fibers is oriented in a first direction and the second plurality of CNT-fibers is oriented in a second direction that is different than the first direction.

16. The DMS of claim 15 , wherein the first plurality of CNT-fibers is superimposed on the second plurality of CNT-fibers.

17. The DMS of claim 6 ,
wherein the plurality of conductive-fibers are a plurality of carbon nanotube (“CNT”) fibers and
wherein the plurality of CNT-fibers includes a first plurality of CNT-fibers and a second plurality of CNT-fibers,
wherein the first plurality of CNT-fibers has a first spacing between CNT-fibers in the first plurality of CNT-fibers,
wherein the second plurality of CNT-fibers has a second spacing between the CNT-fibers in the second plurality of CNT-fibers, and
where the second spacing is different than the first spacing.

18. A method for mitigating dust with a dust mitigation system (“DMS”), wherein the DMS includes a fabric-material having a front-surface and a back-surface, a plurality of conductive-fibers within the fabric-material in a first direction along the fabric-material, and a plurality of input-nodes in signal communication with the plurality of conductive-fibers, the method comprising:
receiving an alternating-current (“AC”) voltage-signal from an input-signal-source at the plurality of input-nodes;
generating an electric-field on the front-surface of the fabric-material with the plurality of conductive-fibers; and
generating a traveling-wave, from the electric-field, that travels along the front-surface of the fabric-material in a second direction that is approximately transverse to the first direction.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein receiving the AC voltage-signal includes
receiving at least one sensor data signal from at least one sensor within the fabric-material, wherein the sensor data signal indicates if any dust particles are on a shield of the DMS and
producing the AC voltage-signal based in response to receiving the at least one sensor data signal.

20. The method of claim 19 , further including producing a vibration on the fabric-material based on the at least one sensor data signal.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Manyapu Kavya K
• Peltz Leora

Classifications

• B03C7/026

  using travelling or oscillating electric fields · CPC title

• B08B7/02

  by distortion, beating, or vibration of the surface to be cleaned {(B08B7/0007 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B08B17/02

  Preventing deposition of fouling or of dust · CPC title

• B64G6/00

  Space suits · CPC title

• B03C3/60 Primary

  Use of special materials other than liquids · CPC title