Raytheon Company

Gaines S Gibson

Jeremy C Danforth

David G Garrett

Matthew H Summers

Dmitry V Knyazev

Stephen M Bagg

Stephen M Baggs

A thruster has an additively-manufactured housing that includes an integrally-formed nozzle with a burst disk in it. The housing is part of a casing that surrounds and encloses a propellant that is burned to produce pressurized gases that burst the burst disk and produce thrust. The thruster may be placed in a receptacle that defines a recess for receiving the thruster. The receptacle also may be additively manufactured. The thruster and the recess both may be cylindrical, with the housing being closely fit with the cylindrical walls of the receptacle. This may allow some of the structural loads on the housing, such as loads produced by the combustion of the propellant, to be transferred to the adjoining walls of the receptacle. This enables the housing to have less structural strength than if it were to have to contain the pressure from the propellant all on its own.

Integrated thruster

An electrical device has device electrical contacts that are initially shunted together, to prevent accidental triggering or damage to the device, such as by electrostatic forces. The device is configured to be inserted into a receptacle, with parts of the receptacle disengaging the shunt and making electrical connection within the receptacle, such as with a shunt cutter. The receptacle may also include a pair of receptacle electrical contacts the electrically connect to the device electrical contacts. The configuration, where the shunt is only cut as part of the installation process, enables safer handling of initially-shunted devices, and can also facilitate making blind electrical connections. Making blind connection directly with parts of the receptacle also avoids the need to thread wires through the electrical receptacle and make electrical connections in another way.

Electrical device with shunt, and receptacle

A method of making an electrical connection includes soldering using channels in a receptacle to direct hot air (or another hot gas) to effect soldering where the electrical connection is to be made. The connection may be made between device electrical contacts of an electrical device, and other contacts, such as receptacle contacts of the receptacle. The connection may be a blind connection, one in which the connected ends of the contacts are hidden or unable to be directly physically accessed, when the connection is made. The electrical connection may be made between device contacts of an electrical device that is inserted into the receptacle, and receptacle electrical contacts that are part of the receptacle. The channels for directing the hot gas to where the soldering occurs may be parts of the receptacle, for example being produced during additive manufacture of the receptacle.

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Tucson, AZ, United States of America

Gaines S Gibson