Hughes Aircraft Company

Raytheon Company

Hughes Electronics Corporation

Rene D Perez

David R Wickholm

James S Tingstad

Robert S Haek

Wayne Lee Sunne

Gary H Johnson

Quenten E Duden

Douglas M Beard

John A Thomas

Ronald P Lera

An optical element mount is effective in high G environments to protect brittle optical elements in which tensile stresses are generated on surface Swithout degrading optical performance. A flexible spacer formed of a relatively low-stiffness material supports an optical element having a tapered outer periphery in an optical seat having a complementary tapered surface. When the optical assembly is exposed to the high G environment, the inertial loading drives the optical element in the aft direction into the flexible spacer and seat. This puts the optical element into a plate bending condition thereby inducing tensile stress on Swhich is at least partially offset by a compressive stress caused by the reaction force normal to the tapered interface. The stresses, both compressive and tensile, placed on the optical element in the high G environment can be very large. In the absence of the tapered mount and flexible spacer, the tensile stress placed on Swould likely fracture or shatter the brittle optical element. When the inertial loading is removed, the optical element returns to its initial unstressed position.

Optical element mount and method thereof for a gun-launched projectile

A rolling gimbal harness for interconnecting between a gimbal mounted electronics assembly and a near gimbal electronics assembly in an airborne missile. The harness negotiates the dynamic range of the gimbal while exerting very little spring torque and friction. The harness is a flat ribbon of many shielded twisted wire pairs embedded in a highly flexible insulation material. The twisted wire pairs are terminated in very small connectors with pins having 0.025 spacing. The harness includes a pre-formed arcuate region which follows a circumferential path defined by the periphery of the gimbal platform.

Rolling gimbal harness

A multiple field of view sensor lens assembly suitable for inclusion in an infrared imaging system. The lens assembly includes a rotatable telescope 10 for providing first and second fields of view for the sensor, the first field of view being along a first axis thereof L and the second field of view being along a separate second axis T. A servo mechanism 30 is included for rotating the telescope 10 from a first orientation at which the first axis is aligned with the optical axis to a second orientation at which the second axis is aligned with the optical axis. In a preferred embodiment the inventive lens assembly is disposed to provide fields of view in opposing directions along the first axis L, and a third field along the second axis T.

Multiple field of view sensor lens assembly

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Tucson, AZ, United States of America

Rene D Perez