Raytheon Company

Anthony V Formica

John Rascon

Mark J Meisner

John Regis Leach

A vacuum insulated blast tube includes an insulating layer of a burn resistant material such as phenolic resin formed on an interior surface of the blast tube to provide the necessary erosion and thermal insulation properties to protect the blast tube and a vacuum insulated layer formed in the walls of the blast tube itself to provide the additional thermal insulation properties to protect any non-propulsive sub-systems positioned in the void space around the blast tube. A void space in the walls of the blast tube is held under vacuum with a pressure of less than 25 Torr and a thermal conductivity Tcond_vac of less than one-third of the thermal conductivity of air Tcond_air to form the vacuum insulation layer.

Vacuum insulated blast tube

An insulated blast tube includes an insulating layer of a burn resistant material such as phenolic resin formed on an interior surface of the blast tube to provide the necessary erosion and thermal insulation properties to protect the blast tube and a heavy inert gas insulated layer formed in the walls of the blast tube itself to provide the additional thermal insulation properties to protect any non-propulsive sub-systems positioned in the void space around the blast tube. A void space in the walls of the blast tube contains an inert gas such as Argon, Krypton, Xenon or a synthetic inert gas having a density of at least 1.5 kg/mand a thermal conductivity Tcond_gas of no greater than two-thirds the thermal conductivity of air Tcond_air to form the heavy inert gas insulation layer.

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Oro Valley, AZ, United States of America

Anthony V Formica