Concertina tape products configured for stable deployment and retrieval
View Patent ↗A deployment system and associated products utilize a magazine for holding and dispensing the products. The products may have any of a number of internal and external trusses that may be in tension and/or compression for rigidifying the product in selected directions. Thus the product may be shaped to fit a predetermined contour. The magazine may be supported on a deployment vehicle for ease of deployment of the product.
1. A plural coil tape product comprising:
a first concertina coil extending from a first end to a second end of the coil along a first coil axis;
at least a second concertina coil extending generally from a first end to a second end of the coil along a second coil axis; and
the second concertina coil intersecting the first concertina coil at a plurality of intersections along the length of the intersected coils, each intersection being in at least partially overlapping and interdigitated side by side relation along the first and second coil axes; wherein each intersection comprises connection of the second concertina coil at more than one circumferentially spaced connection point on the first coil to form petal shaped regions to stiffen the configuration of the at least two coils.
2. The plural coil tape product of claim 1 , further comprising:
at least a third concertina coil extending generally from a first end to a second end of the third coil along a third coil axis;
the third coil intersecting at least one of the first and second coils in at least partially overlapping side by side relation in a second intersection along the first, second, and third axes;
wherein the second intersection comprises connection of the third concertina coil at more that one circumferentially spaced connection points on at least one of the first and second coils.
3. The plural coil tape product of claim 2 , wherein the third coil intersects both of the first and second coils in overlapping side by side relation so that the first, second, and third coil axes generally define vertices of a triangular configuration of the coil tape product.
4. The plural coil tape product of claim 3 , wherein each of the first, second, and third coils intersects each of the other coils in at least two connection points.
5. The plural coil tape product of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the connection points is also an attachment point for attaching adjacent loops of a coil in a concertina configuration.
6. The plural coil tape product of claim 2 , further comprising one or more trusses attached to at least one of the first, second, and third coils.