Self-sealing liquid bladders

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10124664-B2
Application number	US-201514843598-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 2, 2015
Priority date	Sep 2, 2015
Publication date	Nov 13, 2018
Grant date	Nov 13, 2018

Abstract

A self-sealing liquid bladder having a plurality of layers including a liquid impermeable material layer that is compatible with a liquid held in the bladder and at least one sealing layer that is conformally arranged to span a surface area of the liquid impermeable material layer and that is separated from a liquid held in the bladder by the liquid impermeable layer, the sealing layer including a sealing means that, in response to a penetration of both the liquid impermeable material layer and the sealing layer, substantially seals the penetration.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A self-sealing liquid bladder comprising:
a liquid bladder having at least one sealing layer that is conformally arranged to span a surface area of the bladder and that is separated from a liquid held in the bladder by a liquid impermeable layer wherein the at least one sealing layer is at least one segmented cellular structure layer that includes a plurality of cells defined by one or more partition walls wherein at least one bladder sealing material is retained within each of a plurality of the cells, wherein at least one cell includes a first bladder sealing material and at least one cell includes a second bladder sealing material, and the second bladder sealing material is different than the first bladder sealing material.

2. The self-sealing liquid bladder of claim 1 wherein each cell includes a single partition wall.

3. The self-sealing liquid bladder of claim 1 wherein each cell includes two or more partition walls.

4. The self-sealing liquid bladder of claim 1 wherein the sealing layer includes two or more adjacent segmented cellular structure layers.

5. The self-sealing bladder of claim 4 wherein the cells of adjacent segmented cellular structure layers are offset from one another.

6. The self-sealing bladder of claim 4 wherein the cells of adjacent segmented cellular structures are coterminous.

7. The self-sealing bladder of claim 6 wherein adjacent coterminous cells contain different bladder sealing materials.

8. A self-sealing liquid bladder comprising a liquid bladder having a plurality of layers including a liquid impermeable material layer that is compatible with a liquid held in the bladder, and at least one sealing layer that is
(a) conformally arranged to span a surface area of the liquid impermeable material layer and
(b) separated from a liquid held in the bladder by the liquid impermeable layer, and
wherein the sealing layer includes at least one sealant encapsulating structure comprising a first partition layer and a second partition layer adjacent to the first partition layer; and
at least one partition layer comprises a segmented cellular structure layer that includes a plurality of cells defined by one or more partition walls wherein at least one bladder sealing material is retained within each of a plurality of the cells, wherein at least one cell includes a first bladder sealing material and at least one cell includes a second bladder sealing material, and the second bladder sealing material is different than the first bladder sealing material.

9. The self-sealing liquid bladder of claim 8 wherein the first bladder sealing material in at least one cell is a first unreacted sealant and the second bladder sealing material in at least one cell is a second unreacted sealant.

10. The self-sealing liquid bladder of claim 9 wherein the plurality of cells in the first partition layer is isolated from liquid in the bladder.

11. The self-sealing liquid bladder of claim 10 wherein the plurality of cells in the first partition layer includes at least one wall that is soluble in liquid in the bladder.

12. The self-sealing liquid bladder of claim 9 wherein when a plurality of cells are disrupted by a hole formed in the bladder, first unreacted sealant from at least one of the plurality of broken cell reacts with second unreacted sealant from at least one of the plurality of broken cells to form a reacted sealant.

13. The self-sealing liquid bladder of claim 9 wherein the first bladder sealing material is a first unreacted sealant and the second bladder sealing materials is a second unreacted sealant which is different than the first unreacted sealant.

14. The self-sealing liquid bladder of claim 13 wherein when a cell is disrupted as a result of bladder hole, each unreacted sealant reacts with air, liquid in the bladder or both air and liquid in the bladder to form a reacted sealant.

15. The self-sealing liquid bladder of claim 13 wherein each unreacted sealant is selected from single component sealants or two-part sealants.

16. The self-sealing liquid bladder of claim 13 wherein each unreacted sealant is a bladder fluid absorbent material.

17. The self-sealing liquid bladder of claim 16 wherein each bladder fluid absorbent material is a fibrous material.

18. The self-sealing liquid bladder of claim 16 wherein each bladder fluid absorbent material expands upon absorbing the bladder fluid.

19. The self-sealing liquid bladder of claim 8 wherein each at least one sealant encapsulating structure includes a first cavity that contains a first unreacted sealant material and a separate second cavity that contains a second unreacted sealant material.

20. The self-sealing liquid bladder of claim 19 wherein the plurality of sealant encapsulating structures contains a sealant material selected from cavity sheath fibers, sealant filled spheres and combinations thereof.

21. The self-sealing liquid bladder of claim 19 wherein the plurality of sealant encapsulating structures contains cavity sheath fibers.

22. The self-sealing liquid bladder of claim 21 wherein the cavity sheath fibers include multiple cavity fibers.

23. The self-sealing liquid bladder of claim 19 wherein the plurality of sealant encapsulating structures contain sealant filled spheres.

24. The self-sealing liquid bladder of claim 23 wherein the sealant filled spheres include two or more cavities wherein at least one cavity contains a first unreacted sealant material and at least one cavity contains a second unreacted sealant material.

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Wilenski Mark S
• Kozar Michael P
• Bahe Amy E

Classifications

• B60K2015/03407

  to protect tanks against projectiles · CPC title

• B60K15/03177 Primary

  made of non-metallic material, e.g. plastics, or of a combination of non-metallic and metallic material (B60K15/03006 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B60K2015/03447

  for improving the sealing · CPC title