Raytheon Company

Andrew Truxel

Kurt S Ketola

Tracy M Fiedler

David A Vasquez

Jarrett M Perry

Grant Hallock

Mark V Tu

Emma M Overly

An apparatus includes a chimney cooler having a housing. The housing includes a base and sidewalls. The base is configured to support one or more heat-generating components. The sidewalls extend from the base, and each sidewall includes multiple channels. Each channel defines a serpentine flow path configured to receive a fluid coolant. The sidewalls may be lofted away from the heat-generating component(s) as the sidewalls extend from the base. An inlet for each channel may be contoured to promote inertial flow of the fluid coolant into the serpentine flow path. An outlet for each channel may be contoured to promote inertial flow of the fluid coolant exiting the serpentine flow path. Channels at and adjacent to primary objective surfaces of the housing may share a common inlet. The channels at the primary objective surfaces of the housing may have larger outlets relative to the channels adjacent to the primary objective surfaces of the housing.

Chimney cooler design for rugged maximum free convection heat transfer with minimum footprint

A three-dimensional multi-shell insulation configured to conform to the shape of a spacecraft component to be insulated. The insulation may have a plurality of nested shell layers that are displaceable relative to each other for providing natural separation between the shell layers when the insulation is used in low-pressure and/or low-gravity space-related applications. To establish the spacing between shell layers, an edge clamp may be operatively coupled to an edge portion on at least one side of each shell layer. The shell layers may have sufficient flexibility and/or may be sufficiently displaceable relative to each other to allow the insulation to be installed or removed from the spacecraft component. One or more restraints may be provided in the space between the shell layers for restricting the relative lateral and/or transverse movement between shell layers for preventing contact. Additive manufacturing may be employed to fabricate the insulation and integrate features.

Three-dimensional multi-shell insulation

A sandwich structure includes two face plates, with a lattice structure between the plates, and with hard points at selected locations. The face plates, and the lattice structure with its hard points, may all be made as a single continuous piece by an additive manufacturing process. The hard points may be strengthened and/or stiffened areas of the lattice that may be used for connecting fasteners, or for other purposes. The hard points may be located at the junction between the lattice and one of the faces, and may be a locally thickened portion on one of the faces, for example being a cylindrical or parallelepiped protrusion out from the face. The hard points may serve the purpose of a built-in nut plate, such as themselves containing threaded holes, or by having a threaded inserts put into holes or recesses in the hard points.

Sandwich structure with lattice having hard points

An optical device mount is made largely as a single unitary, continuous, and monolithic piece of material. The single-material piece for optical mount includes a frame, a pair of overlapping plates that secure an optical device (an optic) such as a lens or mirror, and flexures that couple the plates to each other and to the frame, so as to allow tilt of the optical device relative to the frame in multiple directions. The optical device mount may include tilt adjustment mechanisms for adjusting the tilt in the multiple directions, for example by putting forces on the plates and/or frame that cause flexing at the flexures, thereby tilting the optical device. The material for the single piece of the optical mount may be any of a variety of suitable materials, such as metals, polymers, or other suitable materials.

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Hermosa Beach, CA, United States of America

Andrew Truxel