Trw Limited

John S Archer

William B Palmer

Harry J McCracken

A laminated composite shell structure having quasi-isotropic thermal expansion and contraction characteristics and a method for its fabrication. The laminated composite shell structure includes multiple layers of overlapping strips of composite material conforming to an axisymmetric doubly-curved surface. The fibers in the multiple layers are arranged at different relative angular orientations, with the composite strips being shaped to maintain the fibers at a constant relative angular orientation throughout the shell structure.

Laminated composite shell structure having improved thermoplastic

Objects, particularly spacecraft structures, antennas, solar arrays and other spacecraft equipment, are shielded against damage from momentary exposure to high energy electromagnetic radiation in the form of high energy optical (laser) radiation or nuclear radiation by a radiation barrier or shield constructed of fibrous silica refractory composite material like that used for the heat shield tiles on the shuttle spacecraft.

Hardening of spacecraft structures against momentary high level

An improved hydraulic reflector is provided for use as an antenna or solar reflector or the like, wherein the reflector is collapsible for highly compact stowage within a space vehicle and for convenient deployment in space to an expanded, generally dish-shaped configuration. The reflector comprises a rigid central dish hinged to a peripheral array of hingedly interconnected rigid panels which in turn carry a peripheral array of outwardly radiating extension ribs supporting an outer ring of flexible reflector material. The rigid panels and the extension ribs are movable together between a collapsed state folded substantially into a cylindrical envelope defined by the diametric size of the rigid central dish and a deployed configuration lying generally within a surface of revolution common to the central dish, such as a paraboloid surface in the case of an antenna.

Depolyable reflector

A wire mesh structure, primarily for space applications, characterized by its lightweight, its compact stowage and deployment capability, and its ability to maintain its shape under widely varying thermal conditions. The structure has a frame supporting a wire mesh including wires which are terminally secured to the frame and constitute the primary structural elements of the mesh. These structural wires are preformed to a spring-like configuration which renders the wires resiliently compliant with a low spring rate in the endwise direction and are stretched to produce a predetermined tension preload in the wires when the mesh is installed on the supporting frame. This preload retains the mesh in a taut condition under widely varying thermal conditions and thereby prevents the formation of slack in the mesh which would allow out-of-plane displacement of the mesh. The invention also encompasses a method of fabricating the mesh and the mesh structure and is described in relation to a wire mesh parabolic dish antenna.

Compliant mesh structure and method of making same

A parabolic dish is constructed by forming from relatively thin flexible sheet material a planar assembly of relatively narrow curved strips arranged side by side and having arcuate longitudinal edges which conform to curves defined by certain parametric equations, such that the strip assembly may be deformed to a parabolic dish configuration wherein the adjacent strip edges are disposed contiguous one another in planes parallel to a plane containing the principle axis of the dish, and joining the strips of the deformed strip assembly to retain the latter in its parabolic dish configuration. A polarizing parabolic dish antenna reflector is constructed by forming on the strips of the planar strip assembly, as by a photoetching process, a plurality of arcuate electrically conductive grid elements conforming to curves established by the parametric equations and bonding the strip assembly in its deformed parabolic dish configuration to a parabolic reflector dish to provide on the parabolic surface of the dish a polarizing grid comprising the grid elements disposed side by side in equally spaced planes parallel to a plane containing the principle axis of the dish.

Growing community of inventors

Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA, United States of America

John S Archer