22 comprises a first membrane 28 and a second membrane 30, the first and second electrical leads 76, 78 may be disposed within the membrane 22 as depicted in FIG. 5 (i.e., running between the first and second membranes 28, 30), or the first and second electrical leads 76, 78 may be disposed on the top side 24 of the membrane 22 (i.e., on the top face 34 of the second membrane 30). Similarly, when the membrane 22 comprises only a single membrane 22 (i.e., without a second membrane 30 attached thereto), the first and second electrical leads 76, 78 may be disposed within the membrane 22 or on the top side 24 of the membrane 22. In either case, a plurality of inserts 80 may be embedded or attached on the top side 24 of the membrane 22. These inserts 80 may be threaded or otherwise configured for fastenable engagement with an end effector 98, such as a robotic end effector.

Returning now to FIG. 4, a respective electrostatic pad 48 is shown registered with each thick region 36 of the membrane 22. Each electrostatic pad 48 has opposed first and second sides 50, 52, with each electrostatic pad 48 having one or more pad electrical connectors 56 disposed on or adjacent the respective second side 52. Each of the one or more pad electrical connectors 56 may include a ribbon cable 58 extending from or adjacent the second side 52 of the electrostatic pad 48. These pad electrical connectors 56 are provided for supplying electrical power 94 to the first side 50 of the electrostatic pad 48 for generating an electrostatic potential 90 thereacross. As shown in FIGS. 4-5, each of the electrostatic pads 48 is disposed on a respective one of the thick regions 36 on the bottom side 26 of the membrane 22, with the second side 52 of the electrostatic pad 48 facing and attached to the bottom side 26 of the membrane 22, and with the one or more pad electrical connectors 56 in communication with the one or more membrane electrical connectors 46. As described in greater detail below, the electrostatic pads 48 may assume a variety of different shapes, and the thick regions 36 may be sized and shaped to match the size and shape of the electrostatic pads 48.

In FIG. 5, a schematic cross-sectional view is shown of a completed ETMA 20. Here, the drawing may be viewed in either of two ways. According to a first view, the membrane 22 began as a first membrane 28 and a second membrane 30 that have been sandwiched and connected together, and according to a second view, the membrane 22 began as a single piece. In the first view, the first and second electrical leads 76, 78 may either be sandwiched between the first and second membranes 28, 30 (as illustrated in FIGS. 4-5), or they may be disposed along the top side 24 of the assembled membrane 22 (i.e., along the top face 34 of the second membrane 30). In the second view, the first and second electrical leads 76, 78 may either be embedded within the membrane 22 (e.g., the first and second electrical leads 76, 78 may be placed in a mold and clastic material 23 may be injected into the mold around the first and second electrical leads 76, 78), or the first and second electrical leads 76, 78 may be disposed along the top side 24 of the assembled membrane 22.

FIG. 6 shows a bottom plan view of a membrane 22 in which each of the thick regions 36 has a generally trunco-triangular shape 64. Note that each thick region 36 has the overall appearance of a triangle whose three vertices have been truncated (hence the generally “trunco-triangular” shape 64). Here, the thick regions 36 are arranged in a repeating geometric pattern 62—namely, a hexagonal pattern 66.

Relatedly, FIG. 7 shows a close-up view of a selected hexagonal pattern 66 from the dashed circle of FIG. 6. As noted above, the thin regions 38 of the membrane 22 may be arranged in one or more hub-and-spoke patterns 40. Each hub-and-spoke pattern 40 includes a plurality of spokes 44 radiating from a hub region 42, and these hub-and-spoke patterns 40 may overlap and/or abut each other. Here in FIGS. 6-7, where the thick regions 36 have a generally trunco-triangular shape 64, the repeating geometric pattern 62 and the hub-and-spoke pattern 40 are each a hexagonal pattern 66; however, in other configurations where the thick regions 36 have a shape other than a generally trunco-triangular shape 64, the repeating geometric pattern 62 and hub-and-spoke pattern 40 may be something other than a hexagonal pattern 66. For example, in FIG. 13, the thick regions 36 (and the respective electrostatic pads 48 which are disposed thereon) have a generally trunco-rectangular shape 68, and the repeating geometric pattern 62 and hub-and-spoke pattern 40 assume a rectangular pattern 70. In any case, a tacking element 72 may be disposed and secured onto each of the hub regions 42.

Returning to FIG. 7, it may be seen that each thick region 36 is shown having two recessed pockets 60 with a membrane electrical connector 46 within each recessed pocket 60. (The relationship between the recessed pockets 60 and the membrane electrical connectors 46 may be seen in greater detail in the cross-sectional side views of FIGS. 3-5.) Note, however, that in some configurations, each thick region 36 may have only one recessed pocket 60 and one membrane electrical connector 46, or one recessed pocket 60 with two membrane electrical connectors 46 within the recessed pocket 60.

FIG. 8 shows a bottom plan view of an electrostatic pad 48 (i.e., looking up onto the first side 50), and FIG. 9 shows a top perspective view of an electrostatic pad 48 (i.e., looking down onto the second side 52). The electrostatic pads 48 shown here have a generally trunco-triangular shape 64, and, as noted above, the electrostatic pads 48 may be sized and shaped to match the size and shape of the thick regions 36 of the membrane 22. Note that the generally trunco-triangular shape 64 of the electrostatic pad 48 includes three long sides 63 and three short or “truncated” sides 65. The first side 50 of the electrostatic pad 48 includes an alternating array of positive electrodes 51 and negative electrodes 53, while the second side 52 includes two (or any other appropriate number) of pad electrical connectors 56 (each of which may optionally include a respective ribbon cable 58).

FIG. 10 shows a schematic bottom plan view of a fully assembled ETMA 20, in which a plurality of electrostatic pads 48 that have a generally trunco-triangular shape 64 have been mounted onto a corresponding plurality of thick regions 36 that are also generally trunco-triangular. Here, the electrostatic pads 48 are arranged in a repeating geometric pattern 62 of hexagonal patterns 66 and hub-and-spoke patterns 40, with a hub-and-spoke pattern 40 (which is also a hexagonal pattern 66) being shown in a close-up view in FIG. 11. FIGS. 10-11 also show dashed lines representing the first electrical leads 76 which connect with the plurality of membrane electrical connectors 46. (It may be noted that although a completely assembled ETMA 20 includes one or more second electrical leads 78 as well, which are connected with the tacking elements 72, these second electrical leads 78 are not shown in FIGS. 10-11.) With the electrostatic pads 48 installed onto the bottom side 26 of the membrane 22 as shown, the pad electrical connectors 56 are plugged into or otherwise connected with corresponding membrane electrical connectors 46. Optionally, the electrostatic pads 48 may be spaced apart from each other by a spacing 54 of approximately 10 millimeters.

FIG. 12 shows an alternative schematic bottom plan view of an ETMA 20 having electrostatic pads 48 that have a generally trunco-triangular shape 64, but with the tacking elements 72 removed. Note that while FIGS. 10 and 12 both utilize a repeating geometric pattern 62 of individual hexagonal patterns 66 of electrostatic pads 48, FIG. 12 shows an alternative wiring layout for the first and second electrical leads 76, 78 as compared to the wiring layout illustrated in FIG. 10. The arrangement shown in FIG. 12 includes two first electrical leads 76 and three second electrical leads 78 connecting to each electrostatic pad 48. For example, one of the two first electrical leads 76 may supply power while the other supplies a ground; alternatively, one of the two first electrical leads 76 may supply a higher voltage while the other supplies a lower voltage (e.g., thus supplying a potential difference or voltage drop across each electrostatic pad 48). Regarding the three second electrical leads 78, these are routed to each hub region 42 for connection with a respective one or more tacking elements 72 (which are omitted in FIG. 12). In this arrangement, two of the three second electrical leads 78 may supply power to the one or more tacking elements 72 (e.g., one second electrical lead 78 for heating the micro-heater 74 and another second electrical lead 78 for actuating the extending member 75 for lifting/extending the micro-heater 74), and the remaining second electrical lead 78 may provide a common ground for the other two second electrical leads 78.

As introduced above, FIG. 13 shows a bottom view of an ETMA 20 in which the electrostatic pads 48 and the thick regions 36 (not shown, as they are behind the electrostatic pads 48) have a generally trunco-rectangular shape 68. Here, each generally trunco-rectangular shape 68 has four long sides 67 and four short sides 69, with the electrostatic pads 48 being arranged in a hub-and-spoke pattern 40 and a repeating geometric pattern 62 that are each a rectangular pattern 70. That is, a group of four electrostatic pads 48 which make up a single hub-and-spoke pattern 40 are arranged in a rectangular pattern 70, and these hub-and-spoke patterns 40 and rectangular patterns 70 repeat to form a repeating geometric pattern 62 (of repeating hub-and-spoke patterns 40 and rectangular patterns 70).

In FIG. 13, three of the repeating hub-and-spoke patterns 40 are highlighted with dashed lines. Specifically, a first hub-and-spoke pattern 40₁is shown in the upper-left of the drawing, a second hub-and-spoke pattern 40₂is shown in the lower-left of the drawing, and a third hub-and-spoke pattern 40₃is shown in the center of the drawing. Note that the first and second hub-and-spoke patterns 40₁, 40₂are abutted with each other, while the third hub-and-spoke pattern 40₃overlaps each of the first and second hub-and-spoke patterns 40₁, 40₂.

Note that while the generally trunco-triangular shape 64 and the generally trunco-rectangular shape 68 are shown as having respective short sides 65, 69 that form obtuse-angled corners with their respective adjacent long sides 63, 67, these generally trunco-triangular shapes 64 and generally trunco-rectangular shapes 68 may also have short sides 65, 69 that are rounded, such that no abrupt corners of any kind are formed around the respective perimeter of each generally trunco-triangular shape 64 or each generally trunco-rectangular shape 68.

FIGS. 14-16 show schematic cross-sectional side views of three different approaches for attaching a tacking element 72 to a hub region 42 of the membrane 22 before the tacking element 72 is actually attached, and FIGS. 17-19 show respective views of these three approaches after the tacking element 72 has been attached to the membrane 22.

In FIG. 14, the tacking element 72 includes a flange that is wider than the width of the tacking element 72, with an adhesive 82 deposited onto an underside surface of the flange. The tacking element 72 is then lowered down from the top side 24 of the membrane 22 with the tacking element 72 itself being inserted through a hole formed in the hub region 42, until the adhesive 82 and flange contact the top side 24 of the membrane 22 as shown in FIG. 17. (Alternatively, the adhesive 82 may be deposited onto the top side 24 of the membrane 22 instead of or in addition to the adhesive 82 being deposited onto the underside of the flange.) Thus, in this arrangement, the tacking element 72 is attached to the membrane 22 on the top side 24 of the membrane 22.

In FIG. 15, an adhesive 82 is deposited into the hub region 42 on the bottom side 26 of the membrane 22, and the tacking element 72 is lifted up from the bottom side 26 of the membrane 22, until the top of the tacking element 72 contacts the adhesive 82 and the hub region 42 as shown in FIG. 18. (Alternatively, the adhesive 82 may be deposited onto the top surface of the tacking element 72 instead of or in addition to the adhesive 82 being deposited into the hub region 42.) Thus, in this arrangement, the tacking element 72 is attached to the membrane 22 on the bottom side 26 of the membrane 22.

In FIG. 16, the tacking element 72 has upward extending bolts 84, and the tacking element 72 is lifted up from the bottom side 26 of the membrane 22, with the bolts 84 being inserted through holes in the hub region 42 and fastened with nuts 86 on the top side 24 of the membrane 22 as shown in FIG. 19. (Alternatively, the tacking element 72 may have female threads and bolts 84 may be fed down into these threads from the top side 24 of the membrane 22, and/or the tacking element 72 may have one or more brackets, and bolts 84 and nuts 86 may be used to secure the one or more brackets to the hub region 42.) Thus, in this arrangement, the tacking element 72 is attached to the membrane 22 on both the top and bottom sides 24, 26 of the membrane 22, due to the clamping effect provided by the bolts 84 and nuts 86 acting together on both sides 24, 26 of the membrane 22.

With the ETMA 20 configured as described above with the one or more hub-and-spoke patterns 40 and the membrane 22 being made of an elastic material 23, the spokes 44 may serve to act as “living hinges” which permit the membrane 22 to be bendable along one or more of the spokes 44 at a time. This allows the ETMA 20 to be generally conformable with non-planar surfaces 97 (i.e., surfaces which are curved, irregularly shaped or otherwise non-flat).

FIG. 20 shows a flowchart for a method 100 of tacking together two or more layers 10 of material 11, utilizing the ETMA 20 of the present disclosure.

At block 110, the ETMA 20 is presented, where the ETMA 20 includes a membrane 22 made of an elastic material 23 and having a plurality of electrostatic pads 48 carried thereon, one or more tacking elements 72 disposed on the bottom side 26 of the membrane 22, and a plurality of first and second electrical leads 76, 78 disposed within or on the top side 24 of the membrane 22 and connected with the one or more membrane electrical connectors 46 and the one or more tacking elements 72, respectively.

At block 120, electrical power 94 is supplied to the first sides 50 of one or more of the electrostatic pads 48 for generating an electrostatic potential 90 thereacross. This electrical power 94 may be supplied to the first sides 50 of the electrostatic pads 48 by the first electrical leads 76, which may be connected with the membrane electrical connectors 46, which in turn may be connected with the pad electrical connectors 56. At block 130, the ETMA 20 is moved proximate or into contact with a first layer 10₁of the two or more layers 10 of material 11, thereby creating an electrostatic adhesion 92 between the electrostatic pads 48 and the first layer 10₁. In the moving step of block 130, the respective first sides 50 of one or more of the electrostatic pads 48 may be placed proximate or in contact with the first layer 10₁. Then, at block 140, the ETMA 20 is lifted with the first layer 10₁electrostatically adhered thereto.

The method 100 may also include: at block 150, placing the ETMA 20 with the first layer 10₁electrostatically adhered thereto proximate or into contact with a second layer 10₂of material 11, so as to provide an overlapped or abutted area 16, 17 of the first and second layers 10₁, 10₂. Alternatively, at block 160, the ETMA 20 may be positioned such that the one or more tacking elements 72 (or selected ones of the tacking elements 72) are positioned near or in contact with an overlapped or abutted area 16, 17 of two or more layers 10 of material 11 (which may be the first and second layers 10₁, 10₂). Note that block 160 is shown in FIG. 20 as a dashed rectangle encompassing blocks 120, 130, 140 and 150; this denotes that block 160 may include or comprise the steps of blocks 120-150.

Optionally, the method 100 may also include, at block 170, actuating one or more (e.g., selected ones) of the tacking elements 72 so as to dispose the tacking elements 72 into contact with the overlapped or abutted area 16, 17. For example, block 170 may be executed by causing the extending member 75 of the tacking elements 72 to actuate and thus to extend or lift the corresponding micro-heaters 74 outward from the bottom side 26 of the membrane 22.

At block 180, electrical power 94 is provided to the tacking elements 72 (e.g., selected ones of the tacking elements 72) that are proximate the overlapped or abutted area 16, 17 so as to electrically heat the tacking elements 72, thereby bonding together the two layers 10 of material 11 (e.g., the first and second layers 10₁, 10₂) proximate the overlapped or abutted area 16, 17 (e.g., in the area where the first and second layers 10₁, 10₂abut or overlap each other).

The method 100 may further include: at block 190, discontinuing the providing of electrical power 94 to the one or more tacking elements 72; and, at block 195, repeating the supplying, moving, lifting, placing, providing and discontinuing steps of blocks 120-150 and 180-190 for one or more additional layers 10₊ of material 11. (Optionally, the actuating step of block 170 may also be repeated as well or as needed as part of the repeating step of block 195. Note that the “actuating” step is shown in parentheses in block 195 to indicate that repetition of the actuating step is optional.) Each of the first and second layers 10₁, 10₂of material 11 may include a respective veil 12, and the bonding together of the first and second layers 10₁, 10₂at block 170 may be caused by locally melting or activating the respective veils 12 proximate the overlapped or abutted area 16, 17.

FIG. 21 shows a block diagram for making a tacked assembly 19 of two or more layers 10 of material 11 utilizing the method 100 of FIG. 20. As shown in the diagram, a first layer 10₁and a second layer 10₂may be overlapped or abutted with each other to form a tacked assembly 19 by executing the method 100 as described above. Optionally, as indicated by the dashed lines of FIG. 21 and by block 195 of FIG. 20, an additional layer 10₊ of material 11 may then be added to the tacked assembly 19 to form yet another tacked assembly 19 which incorporates the additional layer 10₊.

FIG. 22 shows a block diagram of a system 200 for tacking together two or more layers 10 of material 11 according to the present disclosure. The system 200 includes an ETMA 20, a power module 210, a moving module 220 and a control module 230. The power module 210 is configured for supplying electrical power 94 to the first sides 50 of the electrostatic pads 48 for generating an electrostatic potential 90 thereacross and to selected ones of the tacking elements 72 for heating up the selected tacking elements 72. The moving module 220 is configured for moving and positioning the ETMA 20, and may include one or more end effectors 98 for engagement with the ETMA 20. The control module 230 is operatively connected with the power module 210 and the moving module 220, with the control module 230 being configured to control the supplying of electrical power 94 by the power module 210 and the moving and positioning by the moving module 220, such as by utilizing various control signals 96. For example, the control module 230 may contain or have access to a microprocessor configured to run control software for selectively directing electrical power 94 to selected ones (e.g., some or all) of the electrostatic pads 48 and also to selected ones of the tacking elements 72 (e.g., those tacking elements 72 which are proximate or in contact with the overlapped or abutted area 16, 17). Note that some or all of the functionality of the control module 230 may be included within and/or performed by the power module 210 and/or the moving module 220.

FIG. 23 shows a block diagram of exemplary materials 11 of which the two or more layers 10 may be constructed. As shown here, and as further elucidated by FIGS. 1 and 2, a layer 10 may include a fiber core 14 covered by at least one veil 12, which together form the material 11 of which the layer 10 is made. The fiber core 14 may be made of a multiplicity of fibers or strands, which may be woven together (e.g., in the form of a cloth or textile) or which may take the form of a mat of chopped fiber or strands. The fibers or strands of the fiber core 14 may be made of one or more of carbon 14_c(e.g., carbon fiber), polymer 14_p(e.g., polyester, polyamide, polyethylene terephthalate, aramid, acrylic), glass 14_g(e.g., fiberglass), metal 14_m(e.g., stainless steel, nickel, aluminum, titanium, copper) and ceramic 14_k(e.g., silica, alumina, basalt). The veil 12 may be made of a thermoplastic material 12_tp(which may be melted by the application of heat and then allowed to return to solid form by cooling) or a thermoset material 12_ts(which may be chemically activated and cured by the application of heat).

In any of the foregoing embodiments, the hub-and-spoke pattern 40 may include a plurality of hub-and-spoke patterns 40 that are overlapped or abutted with each other, such as the first, second and third hub-and-spoke patterns 40₁, 40₂, 40₃of FIG. 13 mentioned above. Similarly, even a single hexagonal pattern 66, such as highlighted in FIGS. 7 and 11, or even a single rectangular pattern 70, such as any of the first, second and third hub-and-spoke patterns 40₁, 40₂, 40₃of FIG. 13, may be considered as a repeating geometric pattern 62 (i.e., a pattern of geometric shapes which “repeat” or appear at regular, repeating intervals). For example, a single hexagonal pattern 66 has six trunco-triangular shapes 64 (of the thick regions 36 and electrostatic pads 48) which repeat at 60 degree intervals about a hub region 42 that has a hexagonal shape, and each of the first, second and third hub-and-spoke patterns 40₁, 40₂, 40₃has a respective set of four trunco-rectangular shapes 68 which repeat at 90 degree intervals about a hub region 42 that has a rectangular shape.

As one having skill in the relevant art will appreciate, the electrostatic tacking membrane assembly 20, the method 100 and the system 200 of the present disclosure may be presented or arranged in a variety of different configurations and embodiments.

According to one embodiment, an ETMA 20 includes: (i) a membrane 22 made of an elastic material 23 and having opposed top and bottom sides 24, 26 with one or more membrane electrical connectors 46 disposed on the membrane 22; (ii) a plurality of electrostatic pads 48 each having respective opposed first and second sides 50, 52, wherein each of the electrostatic pads 48 includes one or more respective pad electrical connectors 56 disposed on or adjacent the respective second side 52 for supplying electrical power 94 to the respective first side 50; (iii) one or more tacking elements 72 disposed on the bottom side 26 of the membrane 22, wherein each of the one or more tacking elements 72 is configured to be electrically heated; and (iv) a plurality of first and second electrical leads 76, 78 disposed within or on the top side 24 of the membrane 22 and connected with the one or more membrane electrical connectors 46 and the one or more tacking elements 72, respectively.

The material 11 may have a fiber core 14 covered by at least one veil 12, wherein the fiber core 14 may be made of at least one of carbon 14_c, polymer 14_p, glass 14_g, metal 14_mand ceramic 14_k, and wherein the at least one veil 12 may be made of a thermoplastic material 12_tpor a thermoset material 12_ts. Additionally, the electrostatic pads 48 may form a repeating geometric pattern 62 on the bottom side 26 of the membrane 22.

The membrane 22 may include a plurality of thick and thin regions 36, 38 presented on the bottom side 26 of the membrane 22, wherein the thin regions 38 are arranged in a hub-and-spoke pattern 40 of spokes 44 radiating from a hub region 42 thereby defining the thick regions 36. Each of the one or more membrane electrical connectors 46 may be disposed on or within a respective one of the thick regions 36. The supplying electrical power 94 to the respective first side 50 may be effective for generating an electrostatic potential 90 thereacross. Each of the electrostatic pads 48 may be disposed on a respective one of the thick regions 36 on the bottom side 26 of the membrane 22 with the respective second side 52 of the electrostatic pad 48 attached to the bottom side 26 of the membrane 22 and with the one or more respective pad electrical connectors