A seatbelt retractor includes a base, a spool, a cylinder and a cylinder lock. The spool is rotatably coupled to the base and has a piston portion. The cylinder is engaged with the piston portion and therewith defines a first chamber. The piston portion is movable from a first position yielding a first chamber volume to a second position yielding a second chamber volume. The cylinder lock in a first condition rotatably fixes the cylinder to the base. Damping fluid is disposed in the chamber.

A temperature-independent rotation damper 100 is presented. A housing 108 and a piston 102, between which a viscous liquid is located in annular gaps 118, 120, rotate one around the other. When the temperature falls, the damping by the viscous liquid increases. This effect is countered by reducing the effective area which constitutes the braking action, or by enlarging the volume in the annular gaps 118, 120. As the drive, a material having a positive expansion coefficient is used, which material drives a piston 132. In this way, the damping of the rotation damper 100 is broadly practically independent of the temperature.

The invention relates to a bellows accumulator, in particular a pulsation damper, comprising a bellows (3), which, arranged in an accumulator housing (1), separates two media chambers (27, 28) from each other and the bellows folds (19) of which can be moved at least partially along the inner wall (35) of the accumulator housing (1). Said bellows accumulator is characterized in that the outside diameter of the bellows folds (19) is selected to be slightly smaller than the associable diameter of the inner wall (35) of the accumulator housing (1) in such a way that spaces (37, 41) are formed, which together form a hydraulic damping means for at least one medium.

A method for forming a shaft assembly includes: providing a shaft structure, the shaft structure comprising a shaft and a universal joint member that is coupled to an end of the shaft; inserting a weight member to the shaft structure to form an intermediate assembly, the weight member being formed at least partly from a liquid resin, the intermediate assembly having an initial rotational unbalance; rotating the intermediate assembly about a longitudinal axis of the shaft structure to re-distribute a least a portion of the weight member circumferentially about the shaft structure to at least partly attenuate the initial rotational unbalance; and curing the liquid resin while rotating the intermediate assembly to fix the re-distributed portion of the weight member to the shaft structure to thereby form a balance weight that at least partly attenuates the initial rotational unbalance. A shaft assembly is also provided.

The invention makes available a device for damping the vibrations of a spindle of a machine tool, which spindle rotates about an axis of rotation, which device has a central longitudinal axis that is oriented coaxial to the axis of rotation of the spindle during use, and a housing that is provided for torque-proof coupling to the spindle and delimits a housing space that is configured as a ring space oriented coaxial to the central longitudinal axis and surrounds the central longitudinal axis, a ring-shaped damper mass that is arranged to move in the housing space relative to the central longitudinal axis and oriented coaxial to the central longitudinal axis in the rest state, and includes at least one spring element, by way of which the damper mass is movably held on the housing, with elastic resilience, with reference to the central longitudinal axis of the device, at least in the circumference direction of the damper mass. In that in the case of such a device, according to the invention, a gap is present between a circumference surface of the damper mass and an inner surface of the housing, which gap is filled with a viscous damper fluid, and in that, according to the invention, the clear width of the gap filled with the viscous fluid is adjustable, the damping effect can be adapted to the corresponding requirements in a simple manner.

A gas pressure spring is provided including an expanding wax as a compensating medium for reducing a temperature dependency of a spring force of the gas pressure spring in an operating temperature range of the gas pressure spring spanning a minimum temperature of 40 C. to +10 C. up to a maximum temperature of +40 C. to +100 C. The expanding wax includes at least one liquid phase and at least one solid phase in the entire operating temperature range, the expanding wax comprising a number of primary alcohols. Also provided is a drive system for a flap including a gas pressure spring for supporting the flap, and an electromechanical drive for driving the flap.

Shock and vibration mitigation baseplates and related manufacturing methods. A shock and vibration mitigation baseplate includes a mounting frame configured for placement between a console operator chair and a rigid floor surface, and one or more viscoelastic polymer shock absorption and vibration dampening pads. The mounting frame houses the one or more viscoelastic polymer shock absorption and vibration dampening pads therein.

A head unit system for controlling motion of an object includes a head unit module of a set of head unit devices and a ramp shaped plate that contacts the head unit module using an engagement approach. Head unit devices of the head unit module include shear thickening fluid (STF) and a chamber configured to contain the STF. A piston moves through the chamber as a result of the motion of the object and the STF resists the movement of the piston to control the motion of the object.

A head unit system for controlling an object includes a head unit device that include shear thickening fluid (STF) and a chamber configured to contain the STF. The chamber further includes a gate between a front channel and a back channel. The gate includes a set of bypass openings. The head unit device further includes a piston housed at least partially radially within the chamber. The gate is configured to control flow of the STF between the front channel and the back channel to control contraction of the chamber to provide the controlling of the object.

Viscoelastic damper assembly applicable both in air and submerged applications and with improved efficiency over prior art solutions for adding damping to an object or structure.