A variable stiffness spring assembly includes first and second members made of a first material and separated by a gap along at least a portion of their lengths, and one or more layers made of a second material disposed in the gap. The variable stiffness spring assembly can be incorporated into or take the form of a limb support assembly, such as a prosthetic foot. The second material disposed between the first and second members is rate-sensitive or speed-dependent, such that the material exhibits different properties when the user of the prosthetic foot is walking at high or fast walking speeds compared to low or slow walking speeds. The prosthetic foot can exhibit high damping and energy absorption, and therefore stability, at slow speeds, and high energy return at faster speeds.

A shock absorber having a metal damper tube and base assembly is provided. The base assembly, which includes a composite mounting attachment made of a composite material, such as a recyclable thermoplastic, is fixed to an external surface of the metal damper tube, which may be a finished product. A cavity in the composite mounting attachment houses at least a portion of the metal damper tube and thus defines an overlapping region where the composite mounting attachment and the metal damper tube are co-extensive with each other. One or more windows are provided in the overlapping region of the composite mounting attachment where the metal damper tube is left exposed. This helps to promote heat dissipation away from the metal damper tube while reducing weight and heat transmission from the metal damper tube to the composite mounting attachment to reduce overheating of the composite material.

A rotor assembly has a drive shaft and a bladed rotor mounted to the drive shaft for rotation therewith. A dampening material is bonded to the rotor at a location where there is torsional strain energy present. Shear forces in the damping material are used to convert the torsional strain energy into heat energy, thereby providing torsional vibration damping.

A main landing gear assembly for an aircraft has an upper beam and a lower beam. The proximal ends of the upper and lower beams are each connected to a trunnion assembly that is mounted on the fuselage or wing of the aircraft. The distal ends of the upper and lower beams are each affixed to an axel support structure on which a main wheel of the landing gear assembly is mounted. In the gear assembly, the upper beam and the lower beam are coplanar and act together, in combination, to accommodate a planar flexure of the gear assembly during aircraft takeoffs and landings.

A method and system for increasing dampening capacity utilizing dry friction between individual wires of a rope embedded in a molded component formed from a composite. The individual wires allow inter-wire friction to occur during part vibration. The amount of inter-wire friction is controlled by the pressure when the component is molded. The component includes a body that is a molded matrix formed form a composite material. The body may be of any material selected from the group consisting of a polymer, a metal or a ceramic material. One or more vibration-dampening ropes are embedded in the body. The vibration-dampening ropes may be elongated segments or may be a rope having connected ends that form one or more rings. The vibration-dampening rope includes at least outer wires and can further include a plurality of inner wires surrounded by the outer wires. Composite material is prevented from passing through the outer wires, thereby forming voids between the wires.

An insert to a mold for a leaf spring comprises a substrate and a hole that extends through the substrate, A post protrudes from the substrate such that the insert, may be coupled to the mold. Further, the post covers the hole on a first end, so the hole is not exposed. On the other end of the hole, a thin overlay that covers the hole. Thus, during a process where resin is added to the mold, no resin enters the hole. The insert, when added to a leaf spring, offers reinforcement on areas where there is high stress. Therefore, holes may be added to a leaf spring at areas of high stress without overly weakening the leaf spring.

A clamp including: a holding portion configured to hold a wire harness; and a fixing portion that is provided in a portion of an outer circumferential surface of the holding portion and is to be fixed to a fixed portion; wherein the fixing portion includes: a base that includes a first surface that faces a holding portion side and a second surface located opposite to the first surface, a support shaft that extends from the second surface of the base in a direction away from the holding portion, a lock that is provided at a leading end of the support shaft and is formed to be able to be locked to the fixed portion, and a vibration suppressor that is made of a material whose elastic modulus is lower than that of the base and protrudes from the second surface of the base toward a lock side.

Described is a fibre composite component designed as a spring, comprising at least one spring section and at least one force transfer structure (2). In the end portion forming or surrounding the force transfer element (3) the fibre composite material of the fibre composite component (1) is divided, in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the force transfer structure (2), into at least two fibre composite material strands (4, 4.1, 4.2). Two adjacent fibre composite strands (4, 4.1, 4.2) run in opposite directions, overlapping over a specific angular portion and each forming an eye, with their mutually opposed side faces (7) force-transmittingly connected in the overlapping portion.

A main landing gear assembly for an aircraft has an upper beam and a lower beam. The proximal ends of the upper and lower beams are each connected to a trunnion assembly that is mounted on the fuselage or wing of the aircraft. The distal ends of the upper and lower beams are each affixed to an axel support structure on which a main wheel of the landing gear assembly is mounted. In the gear assembly, the upper beam and the lower beam are coplanar and act together, in combination, to accommodate a planar flexure of the gear assembly during aircraft takeoffs and landings.

The invention relates to a torsion carrier, particularly a torsion spring, helical spring, drive shaft or balance shaft, which enables significant material and installation space savings compared to the prior art. The torsion carrier consists of a plurality of, but at least two supporting layers lying radially one above the other, each of which consists of at least one spiral coil (1, 3), but preferably of a plurality of spiral coils made of predominantly unidirectional composite fiber material, wherein at least two of the supporting layers have a counterrotating spiral coil orientation relative to one other. An elastic intermediate spacer layer (2) is arranged between adjacent spiral coil layers, by means of which a decoupling of the spiral coil expansions of adjacent spiral coil layers is achieved. This achieves particularly favorable, predominantly single-axis states of stress which allow for a high level of material utilization.