Abstract: Transportable and rapidly deployable air supported structure systems and related methods are disclosed. The air supported structure systems include at least one transportable container. The systems also include a flexible outer membrane configured to couple to a base in a substantially air-tight manner. The systems further include at least one air handling mechanism contained within the at least one container configured to force air between the outer membrane and the base to form an enclosure therebetween via internal air pressure. The systems are configurable between a packaged state with the outer membrane contained within the at least one container, and a deployed state with the outer membrane being coupled to the base and the at least one air handling mechanism forming the enclosure via the internal air pressure. The at least one container may form a portion of the base and/or provide for ingress and egress with the enclosure.

Abstract: Transportable and rapidly deployable air supported structure systems and related methods are disclosed. The air supported structure systems include at least one transportable container. The systems also include a flexible outer membrane configured to couple to a base in a substantially air-tight manner. The systems further include at least one air handling mechanism contained within the at least one container configured to force air between the outer membrane and the base to form an enclosure therebetween via internal air pressure. The systems are configurable between a packaged state with the outer membrane contained within the at least one container, and a deployed state with the outer membrane being coupled to the base and the at least one air handling mechanism forming the enclosure via the internal air pressure. The at least one container may form a portion of the base and/or provide for ingress and egress with the enclosure.

Abstract: Transportable and rapidly deployable air supported structure systems and related methods are disclosed. The air supported structure systems include at least one transportable container. The systems also include a flexible outer membrane configured to couple to a base in a substantially air-tight manner. The systems further include at least one air handling mechanism contained within the at least one container configured to force air between the outer membrane and the base to form an enclosure therebetween via internal air pressure. The systems are configurable between a packaged state with the outer membrane contained within the at least one container, and a deployed state with the outer membrane being coupled to the base and the at least one air handling mechanism forming the enclosure via the internal air pressure. The at least one container may form a portion of the base and/or provide for ingress and egress with the enclosure.

Abstract: Air supported structures forming an enclosure via internal pressurized air, and methods of making same, are disclosed. The structures include an outer membrane defining an outer surface of the structure. The structures include an inner liner blanket coupled to the outer membrane via a plurality of spaced baffles extending from the outer membrane into the enclosure, the inner liner blanket and the inner surface of the outer membrane forming a heating pocket therebetween within the enclosure extending along a first portion of the outer membrane. The structures also include at least one input channel in communication with the heating pocket, and at least one heated air system configured to selectively direct a flow of heated air through the at least one input channel and into the heating pocket to heat the first portion of the outer membrane to remove and/or prevent frozen precipitation accumulation on the outer surface thereof.

Abstract: Transportable and rapidly deployable air supported structure systems and related methods are disclosed. The air supported structure systems include at least one transportable container. The systems also include a flexible outer membrane configured to couple to a base in a substantially air-tight manner. The systems further include at least one air handling mechanism contained within the at least one container configured to force air between the outer membrane and the base to form an enclosure therebetween via internal air pressure. The systems are configurable between a packaged state with the outer membrane contained within the at least one container, and a deployed state with the outer membrane being coupled to the base and the at least one air handling mechanism forming the enclosure via the internal air pressure. The at least one container may form a portion of the base and/or provide for ingress and egress with the enclosure.

Abstract: Fabric structures with raceways and methods of making same are disclosed. In some embodiments, the fabric structures are air supported structures that form an enclosure via internal pressurized air. The air supported structures include an outer membrane that defined an outer surface of the structure. The air supported structures further include a plurality of inner segments formed of tab members coupled to and extending from the outer membrane toward the interior of the enclosure, and at least one inner liner panel coupled to and extending between adjacent tab members spaced inwardly from the outer membrane to form at least one air pocket therebetween. An attachment portion of the tab members extends inwardly past the at least one inner liner panel into the enclosure and forms at least one hardware attachment point.

Abstract: Transportable and rapidly deployable air supported structure systems and related methods are disclosed. The air supported structure systems include at least one transportable container. The systems also include a flexible outer membrane configured to couple to a base in a substantially air-tight manner. The systems further include at least one air handling mechanism contained within the at least one container configured to force air between the outer membrane and the base to form an enclosure therebetween via internal air pressure. The systems are configurable between a packaged state with the outer membrane contained within the at least one container, and a deployed state with the outer membrane being coupled to the base and the at least one air handling mechanism forming the enclosure via the internal air pressure. The at least one container may form a portion of the base and/or provide for ingress and egress with the enclosure.

Abstract: Fabric structures with raceways and methods of making same are disclosed. In some embodiments, the fabric structures are air supported structures that form an enclosure via internal pressurized air. The air supported structures include an outer membrane that defined an outer surface of the structure. The air supported structures further include a plurality of inner segments formed of tab members coupled to and extending from the outer membrane toward the interior of the enclosure, and at least one inner liner panel coupled to and extending between adjacent tab members spaced inwardly from the outer membrane to form at least one air pocket therebetween. An attachment portion of the tab members extends inwardly past the at least one inner liner panel into the enclosure and forms at least one hardware attachment point.

Abstract: Fabric structures with raceways and methods of making same are disclosed. In some embodiments, the fabric structures are air supported structures that form an enclosure via internal pressurized air. The air supported structures include an outer membrane that defined an outer surface of the structure. The air supported structures further include a plurality of inner segments formed of tab members coupled to and extending from the outer membrane toward the interior of the enclosure, and at least one inner liner panel coupled to and extending between adjacent tab members spaced inwardly from the outer membrane to form at least one air pocket therebetween. An attachment portion of the tab members extends inwardly past the at least one inner liner panel into the enclosure and forms at least one hardware attachment point.

Abstract: Air supported structures forming an enclosure via internal pressurized air, and methods of making same, are disclosed. The structures include an outer membrane defining an outer surface of the structure. The structures include an inner liner blanket coupled to the outer membrane via a plurality of spaced baffles extending from the outer membrane into the enclosure, the inner liner blanket and the inner surface of the outer membrane forming a heating pocket therebetween within the enclosure extending along a first portion of the outer membrane. The structures also include at least one input channel in communication with the heating pocket, and at least one heated air system configured to selectively direct a flow of heated air through the at least one input channel and into the heating pocket to heat the first portion of the outer membrane to remove and/or prevent frozen precipitation accumulation on the outer surface thereof.

Abstract: Fabric structures with raceways and methods of making same are disclosed. In some embodiments, the fabric structures are air supported structures that form an enclosure via internal pressurized air. The air supported structures include an outer membrane that defined an outer surface of the structure. The air supported structures further include a plurality of inner segments formed of tab members coupled to and extending from the outer membrane toward the interior of the enclosure, and at least one inner liner panel coupled to and extending between adjacent tab members spaced inwardly from the outer membrane to form at least one air pocket therebetween. An attachment portion of the tab members extends inwardly past the at least one inner liner panel into the enclosure and forms at least one hardware attachment point.

Abstract: An air-gas controller unit to supply a gas-fired burner with a combustible air-gas mixture, the unit serving to modulate the volumetric flow rate of the mixture without, however, altering the ratio of air to gas which is pre-set for optimum combustion efficiency. The unit includes a valve body whose cylindrical cavity accommodates a hollow cylinder functioning as a mixing chamber, one end of which is open to discharge the air-gas mixture into a mixture outlet in the valve body. The cylinder is turnable within the cavity from a maximum to a minimum valve setting by a rotary control element attached to its other end. Formed in the cylinder is an air orifice which at maximum setting lies in full registration with a gas inlet in the valve body. Also formed in the cylinder is a gas orifice which at maximum setting lies in full registration with a gas inlet in the valve body. The relative portions of the orifices are such as to afford a desired ratio between the air and gas fed into the mixing chamber.

Abstract: An infrared heater for a bowl-shaped cooking wok having a central region and an annular region surrounding the central region. The heater includes a ribbon-type gas-fired burner head fed with a pressurized mixture of air and gas that is expelled from the head through a cylindrical array of minute jet openings to produce, when ignited, an omnidirectional flame. Also provided is a round block of refractory material which when heated to an elevated temperature by the head emits infrared radiation. The block has superposed base, intermediate and top sections, the base section having a cavity therein whose central zone communicates with central openings in the intermediate and top sections, and an outer zone which communicates with a circular array of bores in the intermediate and top sections.

Abstract: A ribbon-type, gas-fired burner head usable as a heat source, which head may also be combined with a refractory body to form an infrared radiation heater. The burner head includes a pair of parallel plates having a circular, oblong or other configuration having a continuous contour free of discontinuities, and a stack of continuous corrugated ribbons having the same configuration sandwiched between the peripheral margins of the plates to define an internal fuel chamber. Fed into this chamber through an inlet nipple attached to one of the plates is a mixture of pressurized combustion air and gaseous fuel in a stoichiometric ratio, the mixture being expelled from the chamber through a continuous array of minute jet openings created by the stack of ribbons. By igniting the expelled mixture, there is projected from the head a generally planar, omni-directional flame whose intensity is substantially uniform in all directions.

Abstract: An infrared dehydrator unit for minced fish to produce an edible fish product. The unit is constituted by a gas-fired infrared heater provided with a refractory body having a radiation horn from which infrared rays are projected into the interior of a tank containing a load of minced fish to be dehydrated. The tank is provided with an agitator acting to pick up and expose all pieces of the load to the rays to effect dehydration thereof. The radiation pattern of the horn is such as to confine the projected rays to the exposed pieces of the load and to avoid striking and heating the sides of the tank. In this way, scorching and sticking of the agitated pieces when they make contact with these side walls are prevented. As a consequence, the dehydrated pieces are of substantially uniform quality and waste thereof is obviated.

Abstract: A gas-fired infrared heater for projecting an infrared beam in a directional radiation pattern. The heater is constituted by a ribbon-type burner and a refractory body of a material radiating infrared energy when heated to an elevated temperature by the burner. The burner is formed by a metal pipe having a longitudinally-extending outlet defined by a pair of parallel plates projecting laterally from the pipe and having a set of corrugated ribbons therein, a pad of thermal insulation being secured to the outer surface of each plate, whereby when a mixture of air and gas is fed into the pipe and ignited, a sheet of flame emerges from the outlet. The burner is received within a longitudinally-extending internal channel in the refractory body, the outlet being then aligned with an internal cavity so that the flame emerging from the outlet impinges on a surface of the cavity to heat this surface to an elevated temperature causing it to emit infrared radiation.

Abstract: A dual-valve controller having a single rotary control element for concurrently adjusting both an air-control valve and a gas-control valve to supply an air/gas combustible mixture to a gas-fired burner. Applied to the inputs of the controller valves are pressurized streams of air and a gaseous fuel. These streams are conducted through the respective valves into a common mixing chamber to provide an output air-gas mixture in a predetermined ratio which is fed into the burner to produce a heating flame. When the control element is manually turned by an operator or automatically by a control motor, it acts to more or less open the valves to corresponding degrees to concurrently adjust the volumetric flow rate of the air and gas, thereby changing the intensity of the flame without, however, altering the air-gas ratio which is set for optimum combustion efficiency.

Abstract: A gas-fired infrared heater for projecting an infrared beam in a radiation pattern having a predetermined geometry for irradiating the surface of a food product or other body to effect uniform heating thereof at a rapid rate. The heater includes a ribbon-type burner having an elongated pre-mix casing into which is fed air and gas, and an outlet extending along a slot in the casing and projecting therefrom. The outlet is provided with two sets of corrugated ribbons separated by a gas pressure chamber, whereby the air-gas mixture from the casing passes through one set into the chamber where the pressure thereof is equalized before the mixture passes through the other set from which it emerges as a sheet of flame of uniform intensity. The outlet is inserted in the longitudinal socket of a refractory body to impinge on a surface thereof whereby the surface is heated to a temperature level causing the surface to emit infrared energy which is projected by an array of radiation horns formed in the assembly.

Abstract: A gas-fired infrared heater for projecting an infrared beam in a radiation pattern having a predetermined geometry for irradiating the surface of a food product or other body to effect uniform heating thereof at a rapid rate. The heater is constituted by a refractory assembly formed by a stack of identical slabs having a bore therethrough to receive the cylinder of a controllable ribbon-type gas-air burner from whose longitudinal slot is emitted a sheet of flame. Each slab is provided with a sector-shape channel cut in one face thereof to define a fin and side walls that diverge from the bore to create a flattened IR radiation horn whose mouth is aligned with the burner slot, whereby the surface of the assembly on which the flame impinges is heated to a temperature level causing this surface to emit infrared energy. The parallel array of radiation horns created by the assembly produces a radiation pattern whose shape depends on the geometry of the channel.

Abstract: An infrared dehydrator unit for minced fish to produce an edible fish product. The unit is constituted by a gas-fired infrared heater provided with a refractory body having a radiation horn from which infrared rays are projected into the interior of a tank containing a load of minced fish to be dehydrated. The tank is provided with an agitator acting to pick up and expose all pieces of the load to the rays to effect dehydration thereof. The radiation pattern of the horn is such as to confine the projected rays to the exposed pieces of the load and to avoid striking and heating the sides of the tank. In this way, scorching and sticking of the agitated pieces when they make contact with these side walls are prevented. As a consequence, the dehydrated pieces are of substantially uniform quality and waste thereof is obviated.