Raytheon Company

Dan L Reller

Paul T Hudak

Stephen J Forgacs

Matthew Gald

Dean J Cornelius

Andrew P Frits, Jr

Nicholas F Collison

Scott Andrew Holbrook

A mechanism for attachment and detachment of a fixed or controllable airfoil to an airframe includes a base adapted for attachment to a root of the airfoil and a slot beam adapted for attachment along the airframe (e.g., parallel to the longitudinal X-axis of the airframe). The base includes a plurality of pins spaced along and held between parallel rails. The slot beam includes a plurality of slots arranged along the beam. Each slot has a lead-in portion to receive one of the plurality of pins and a longitudinally-oriented tapered portion (e.g., parallel to the longitudinal X-axis with a taper between 1 and 5 degrees) to engage the pin so that the base is seated in the slot beam to position the airfoil against the airframe in an XY plane. A pre-load mechanism is configured to apply a force along the X-axis to press the plurality of pins into the respective tapered portions to fix the base relative to the slot beam in six degrees of freedom (6 DOF).

Mechanism for attachment and detachment of an airfoil to an airframe

A hinge includes internal on-axis stopping mechanisms that cause the hinge to shear and break at an on-axis weakened region of the hinge when rotation of the hinge reaches a predetermined angle with a specified torsional load. The on-axis configuration is compact, has minimal impact on the outer mold line (OML) of the object to which it is mounted both pre and post detachment and allows for accurate tailoring of the torsional load that will detach the hinge.

Hinge with internal on-axis rotational stop and shearing mechanisms

A highly adaptive seal for use in advanced aircraft propulsion and missile systems is provided. The seal is capable of effectively limiting invasive thermal energy and corrosive airflow from entering the internal systems and hardware of the aircraft by managing and controlling the incoming air flow. The seal is configured to be disposed between component parts of the aircraft and create a tortuous path for air flow. The seal maintains contact with the component parts between which it seals by allowing for significant radial and axial displacement freedom of the component parts. Accordingly, hot gas intrusion may be limited in a wide variety of dynamic environments and component displacement conditions. Limiting such hot gas intrusion has a substantial impact on component survivability over the course of free flight of an aircraft.

Adaptive air flow inhibitor seal for aircraft propulsion systems

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Vail, AZ, United States of America

Dan L Reller