A system for providing weather protection including shading in an automated and selective manner. The system includes an enclosure with an inner chamber and an outlet to the inner chamber. The system also includesa canopy and a deploy and retract assembly, which includes a canopy support assembly supporting the canopy. The deploy and retract assembly operates to move the canopy support assembly to move the canopy into the inner chamber and out of the inner chamber. The system further includes a controller generating control signals to operate the deploy and retract assembly. Specifically, this assembly is configured to retract the canopy by moving the canopy support assembly to move the canopy through the outlet into the inner chamber and further is configured to deploy the canopy by moving the canopy support assembly to move the canopy through the outlet to be at least partially outside of the inner chamber.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THEDRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is functional block diagram of a deployable shading structure system including at least a subset of the unique shading and entertainment concepts described herein;
FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate an exemplary deployable shading structure system which may be used to implement the system of FIG. 1, with FIG. 2 showing the canopy in a fully deployed state (or full deployment stage) in relatively still air while FIG. 3 shows thecanopy of FIG. 2 when exposed to wind with the air-permeable or porous fabric provided inthe webs of the shading structure or canopy being porous (e.g., include a mesh material that passes some light (not wholly opaque due to porosity and passes some air through its hole/pores so not like a parachute, sail, kite, or the like);
FIG. 4 illustrates three of the deployable shading structure systems as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, with each in a different stage of deployment (or different operating state) as may be triggered in responseto received sensor data, in response to operator manual control inputs, in response to playing of a canopy deployment/retraction program, or the like;
FIG. 5 illustrates a perspective upper side view of a deployable shading structure system of the present description with the canopy removed (or not yet mounted) on the ribs of the deploy and retract assembly to more clearly show the components of this assembly and their operations and with the assembly in the fully retracted
1. A system for providing weather protection, comprising: an enclosure with an inner chamber and an outlet to the inner chamber; a canopy; a deploy and retract assembly comprising a canopy support assembly supporting the canopy, wherein the deploy and detract assemblyoperates to move the canopy support assembly to move the canopy into the inner chamber and out of the inner chamber; a controller generating control signals to operate the deploy and retract assembly to retract the canopy by moving the canopy support assembly to move the canopy through the outlet into the inner chamber and to deploy the canopy by moving thecanopy support assembly to move the canopy through the outlet to be at least partially outside of the inner chamber; and a sensor providing sensor data to the controller, wherein the controller processes the sensor data and, in response, triggers operation of the deploy and retract assembly to deploy the canopy by performing the moving of the canopy supportassembly to move the canopy through the outlet and wherein the sensor senses at least oneof rain and temperature in a predefined area about the enclosure.
10. A system for providing weather protection, comprising: a sheet of flexible material, wherein the sheet is permeable to air throughout its surface area; a support assembly including a plurality of ribs, wherein each of the ribs is coupled to the sheet of the flexible material and extends from a first end proximate to a center of the sheet of the flexible material to a second end proximate to an outer edge of the sheet of the flexible material; an enclosure with an inner chamber and an outlet at one end of the inner chamber; and a deploy and retract assembly comprising a lower hub and a drive assembly, wherein the first end of each of the ribsis pivotally coupled to the lower hub so that the first end of each of the ribs may rotate relative to the lower hub during deployment of the support assembly, wherein the drive assembly operates to position the lower hub within the inner chamber in a first position and in a second position, wherein the ribs are positioned wholly within the inner chamber with the lower hub in the first position and extend at least partially out of the outlet of the inner chamber with the lower hub in the second position, and wherein the sheet of flexible material extends between each adjacent pair of the ribs to provide a web that has a porosity in the range of 1 to 20 percent providing air passageways through the sheet of flexible material.
16. A system for providing weather protection, comprising: an enclosure with an inner chamber; a canopy; a deploy and retract assembly comprising a canopy support assembly supporting the canopy, wherein the deploy and detract assembly is operable to movethe canopy into the inner chamber and out of the inner chamber; and a controller generating control signals to operate the deploy and retract assembly to retract the canopy to be folded upon itself at an outer diameter less than about a diameter of the inner chamber and to be wholly within the inner chamber and to operate the deploy and retract assembly to deploy the canopy to be at least partially outside of the inner chamber and to be at leastpartially unfurled, wherein the canopy support assembly comprises a plurality of ribs coupled with the canopy in a spaced apart manner, wherein each of the ribs is configured to have a first stiffness in an inner section and a second stiffness less than the first stiffness in an outer section that comprises a tapered rod with a circular cross section, and wherein, in each of the ribs, the inner section extends from a first end pivotally coupled to a lower hub to a second end distal from the first end and the outer section extends from an inner end attached to the second end of the inner section to an outer end, whereby the inner section and the outer section are coaxial.