USA As Represented by Secretary of the Navy

Charles E Woods

Keith E Clark

A stabilized gimbal platform is provided by use of rate gyro stabilized a of a gimbal ring. A bail gimbal is used with both pitch and yaw inner gimbals to provide low friction stabilization over a large angular pointing range. This bail ring combination surrounds a lens assembly sensor, an automatic light level control device suitable to search for and track targets in a given frequency or wavelength range. By aiming, the gimbal arrangement permits the entire lens sensor arrangement to actually point and steer towards the desired target direction. The bail is balanced with drive assembly to provide stability to the bail. The bail itself is not mounted on its axis of rotation but rather is off-axis mounted on bearings for support and driven by an off-axis torque motor drive. The bail assembly can be driven by a metal band to provide smooth rotation of the bail assembly.

Stabilized gimbal platform

An improved, controlled automatic light control device is provided by the e of a hydraulic automatic light control. Hydraulic control avoids inherent problems of mechanical automatic light control devices. A liquid used for light absorption permits the entire iris area to darken without loss of aperture. The uniform extinction without diffraction limitations of mechanically driven automatic light control devices is significantly improved. The use of thermoelectric coolers and heat sinks provides reliability in a large dynamic range environment without warping or other distortion of the system. The device is applicable for visible light to near infrared light.

Growing community of inventors

Ridgecrest, CA, United States of America

Charles E Woods