An artificial muscle system includes a collapsible skeleton, a flexible skin, and a muscle actuation mechanism. The collapsible skeleton is contained inside a volume defined, at least in part, by the flexible skin. The flexible skin and the collapsible skeleton are configured for the flexible skin to provide a pulling force on the collapsible skeleton when a pressure difference exists between the inside of the sealed volume and a surrounding environment to change at least one of the dimensions and thus geometry of the collapsible skeleton. The muscle actuation mechanism includes at least one of the following to deploy or contract the collapsible skeleton: (a) a fluid displacing, releasing, or capturing mechanism configured to increase or decrease fluid pressure inside the sealed volume; and (b) a heating or cooling element configured to change the temperature of fluid in the sealed volume.

An artificial muscle system includes a collapsible skeleton, a flexible skin, and a muscle actuation mechanism. The collapsible skeleton is contained inside a volume defined, at least in part, by the flexible skin. The flexible skin and the collapsible skeleton are configured for the flexible skin to provide a pulling force on the collapsible skeleton when a pressure difference exists between the inside of the sealed volume and a surrounding environment to change at least one of the dimensions and thus geometry of the collapsible skeleton. The muscle actuation mechanism includes at least one of the following to deploy or contract the collapsible skeleton: (a) a fluid displacing, releasing, or capturing mechanism configured to increase or decrease fluid pressure inside the sealed volume; and (b) a heating or cooling element configured to change the temperature of fluid in the sealed volume.

A cryogenic refrigerator includes a displacer that is reciprocably mounted within a cylinder; a spool valve that is connected to the compressor and performs switching between an intake mode where a high-pressure refrigerant gas is supplied from the compressor to the cylinder and an exhaust mode where a low-pressure refrigerant gas within the cylinder is made to flow back to the compressor; and a drive unit that drives the spool valve. The spool valve has a valve body, and a drive rod that moves relative to the valve body and is integrated with the spool. The drive unit performs driving so that the magnitude of a speed when the drive rod moves from a top dead center to a bottom dead center is different from the magnitude of a speed when the drive rod moves from the bottom dead center to the top dead center, at the same displacement position.

A product may include a canister and a diaphragm may separate a control chamber within the canister. A piston may be movable in the canister between a first position and a second position in response to a pressure change in the control chamber. The piston may have a body and a skirt may extend from the body. The skirt may taper inward relative to the body as the skirt extends away from the body.

An artificial muscle system includes a collapsible skeleton, a flexible skin, and a muscle actuation mechanism. The collapsible skeleton is contained inside a volume defined, at least in part, by the flexible skin. The flexible skin and the collapsible skeleton are configured for the flexible skin to provide a pulling force on the collapsible skeleton when a pressure difference exists between the inside of the sealed volume and a surrounding environment to change at least one of the dimensions and thus geometry of the collapsible skeleton. The muscle actuation mechanism includes at least one of the following to deploy or contract the collapsible skeleton: (a) a fluid displacing, releasing, or capturing mechanism configured to increase or decrease fluid pressure inside the sealed volume; and (b) a heating or cooling element configured to change the temperature of fluid in the sealed volume.

A joint for coupling two shafts in a vehicle driveline includes a joint part having a bore defining part of a fluid chamber, a boot member coupled to the joint part and defining at least part of the fluid chamber and having a valve portion that has an open state and a closed state, and an insert. The insert may be received adjacent to the boot member and defines at least part of a vent path that communicates the fluid chamber with the valve portion. When the valve portion is in the closed state venting from the vent chamber is inhibited or prevented and when the valve portion is in the open state the vent chamber is communicated with a venting space.

A joint for coupling two shafts in a vehicle driveline includes a joint part having a bore defining part of a fluid chamber, a boot member coupled to the joint part and defining at least part of the fluid chamber and having a valve portion that has an open state and a closed state, and an insert. The insert may be received adjacent to the boot member and defines at least part of a vent path that communicates the fluid chamber with the valve portion. When the valve portion is in the closed state venting from the vent chamber is inhibited or prevented and when the valve portion is in the open state the vent chamber is communicated with a venting space.

A floatable bellows container assembly is provided. The floatable bellows container assembly comprises a small access opening and is composed of a large diameter bellows container and a small diameter bellows container. The floatable bellows container assembly is characterized in that: (1) the floatable bellows container assembly is expanded by weight of water flowing into the floatable bellows container assembly or its floatability no matter that the access opening is located in an upper position or a lower position; (2) if the access opening is located at the lower position, the floatable bellows container assembly is collapsed along with draining of the water. This invention is directed to an application of Pascal's law and can be used in a power generation system driven by universal gravitation.

A highly flexible sealing arrangement designed to seal high-temperature furnace ports, particularly the electrode port of an electric furnace. The seal comprises an annular support member fixed to a flexible sealing member and employs the use of a garter spring to uniformly apply the desired amount of seal compression. The arrangement and flexibility of the sealing member allows the seal to adapt itself to the wide range of operating and upset conditions that typically exist for a furnace electrode seal. Frictional wear on the seal may be greatly reduced as the design inherently allows for a much lower amount of seal compression to be applied, furthermore, the seal is able to move axially which can significantly reduce wear caused by electrode regulation.

The invention provides a clutch seal which can enhance a durability of a membrane portion which is a constituting part of a seal and is constructed by a rubber-like elastic body, and can inhibit a working fluid from standing in a concave surface of the membrane portion. The clutch seal of the invention is an annular seal interposed between a clutch plate in a dry clutch and a piston pressing the clutch plate, has a middle ring fixed to the piston between an outer ring and an inner ring which are fixed to a clutch housing, and has membrane portions constructed by a rubber-like elastic body respectively between the outer ring and the middle ring and between the inner ring and the middle ring, wherein the middle ring is arranged at an intermediate position of a stroke in an initial shape of the membrane portion.