Raytheon Company

John Cupolo

Charles W Ouellette

David J Salisbury

A suspension system for an air-dropped sonobuoy includes a transducer housing wherein the upper portion is emptied upon deployment of a float. The weight distribution of the transducer and housing provide for a center of mass and a center of buoyancy at a location beneath a pivot in the upper portion of the housing. A suspension line connects the pivot with the float, and a pair of opposed extensible fins at the top of the housing locate the center of hydrodynamic pressure at the pivot. Thereby, the housing is maintained in a stabilized vertical attitude during descent through the water and during deployment at a predetermined depth independently of a difference in velocity of fluid movement at the float and at the sonobuoy.

Stabilized suspension system

A suspension system for an air-dropped sonobuoy includes a transducer housing wherein the upper portion is emptied upon deployment of a float. The weight distribution of the transducer and housing provides for a center of mass and a center of buoyancy at a location beneath a pivot in the upper portion of the housing. A suspension line connects the pivot with the float, and a pair of opposed extensible fins at the top of the housing locate the center of hydrodynamic pressure at the pivot. Thereby, the housing is maintained in a stabilized vertical attitude during descent through the water and during deployment at a predetermined depth independently of a difference in velocity of fluid movement at the float and at the sonobuoy.

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Bristol, RI, United States of America

John Cupolo