Textron Systems Corporation

Laufer Wind Group LLC

Textron Defense Systems, Division of Avco Corporation

Paul Fred Gozewski

Petros Amestis Kotidis

Jaime A Woodroffe

Daniel E Klimek

Charles Borsody

James Frederick Cunningham

Eric David Laufer

Rodney Alan Petr

Described are ice shields and methods for protecting tower-mounted equipment. An ice shield assembly can include an ice shield. The ice shield can include a base, a blade structure attached to the base, at least one support member on each side of the blade structure attached on a first end to the blade structure and on a second end to the base, and a beam attached to at least one of the base, the blade structure, and the support members. The ice shield assembly can include a mounting bracket engaged with the beam that can permit vertical translation of the ice shield with respect to the mounting bracket. The ice shield can include a shock absorber configured to arrest relative motion between the ice shield and the mounting bracket by dissipating kinetic energy in the ice shield assembly.

Ice shield for tower-mounted equipment

A method and apparatus for interferometrically monitoring a target to determine, in accordance with predetermined criteria, an occurrence of a period of time that is optimum for obtaining a data point. In response to detecting such a period an impulse source, such as an impulse laser (14), is triggered to launch an elastic wave within the target so that a data point can be obtained.

Laser ultrasonics-based material analysis system and method utilizing

Disclosed herein is an interferometric-based materials analysis system (10) that employs a novel combination of laser beam shaping and pointing techniques, the use of a low cost, rugged, and compact diode laser (22) as a detection laser, and the use of signal processing techniques that compensate for inherent instabilities and short-term drift in the diode laser. A matched filter processing technique is disclosed for processing interferometrically-obtained data points from a target being analyzed. The matched filter technique is shown to be especially useful for detecting and analyzing Lamb modes within thin targets, such as a silicon wafer undergoing a rapid thermal processing cycle. Also disclosed is a method and apparatus for interferometrically monitoring a target to determine, in accordance with predetermined criteria, an occurrence of a period of time that is optimum for obtaining a data point. In response to detecting such a period an impulse source, such as an impulse laser (14), is triggered to launch an elastic wave within the target so that a data point can be obtained. A plurality of data points so obtained are subsequently processed, such as by the matched filter technique, to determine a property of interest of the target. The property of interest may be, by example, the temperature of the target or the metallurgical status of the target.

Ultrasonic-based material analysis using an annular impulse beam

Disclosed herein is an interferometric-based materials analysis system (10) that employs a novel combination of laser beam shaping and pointing techniques, the use of a low cost, rugged, and compact diode laser (22) as a detection laser, and the use of signal processing techniques that compensate for inherent instabilities and short-term drift in the diode laser. A matched filter processing technique is disclosed for processing interferometrically-obtained data points from a target being analyzed. The matched filter technique is shown to be especially useful for detecting and analyzing Lamb modes within thin targets, such as a silicon wafer undergoing a rapid thermal processing cycle.

Laser ultrasonics-based material analysis system and method

Laser ultrasonics-based material analysis system and method using

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Haverhill, MA, United States of America

Paul Fred Gozewski