Patent ID: 9573670
Date: 2017-02-21
CPC Classifications: B64B

Claim:
1. A method of manufacturing a variable buoyancy system comprising: providing a plurality of sheets; seaming two or more of the plurality of sheets together to form a ballonet having a spheroid body, wherein the spheroid body comprises an equator, a top pole, a bottom pole, and an axis crossing through the top pole and the bottom pole perpendicular to the equator, and wherein a distance around the equator is greater than a distance around the axis when fully inflated; forming a hole through the ballonet; and inserting the ballonet into an envelope that is fillable with a liquid or gas, wherein the envelope has a corresponding spheroid shape, and wherein the ballonet is formed such that when inflated, at least a portion of an outer surface of the ballonet conforms to an inner surface of the envelope.