Raytheon Company

Other

Lucent Technologies Inc.

Fitel USA Corporation

Terry M Sanderson

David R Sar

Frederick B Koehler

Thomas P Mccreery

Ward D Lyman

Jack W Reany

David Brooke Hatfield

Rudy A Eisentraut

Brian J Gowler

Jamie W Clark

Philip Christopher Theriault

John Michael Turnipseed

Charles Joseph Aloisio

Douglas M Beard

Ross D Rosenwald

Cesar Sanchez

Robert Rinker

Michael S Cherry

Michael J Broyles

Darrell R Rogers

Ernest Dean Fasse

Brian D Alfing

Renee M Rodgers

Bob Cesena

Yvonne C Levenson

Ernest D Fasse

Philip C Theriault

A control system for a missile includes a plurality of control surfaces that can be arrayed across a surface of the missile body, and a controller connected to the control surfaces to selectively move the control surfaces between an aerodynamic stowed position where the control surfaces conform to the surface of the body, and a deployed control position removed from the aerodynamic stowed position where the control surfaces extend from the surface of the body to interact with airflow over the body. The control surfaces are made of a material that includes a shape-memory alloy. Heating the control surfaces causes the shape-memory alloy to move the control surfaces from the aerodynamic stowed position to the deployed control position. By selectively extending and retracting the control surfaces, the control system provides the ability to control the missile's direction of travel or to reduce roll about a longitudinal axis of the body.

Shape memory alloy micro-aero control surfaces

Methods and apparatus for a near-field signal system to generate signals underwater for navigation and/or communication. In one embodiment, a system includes a signal processing module coupled to a first antenna to transmit near-field signals underwater and a second antenna to receive near-field signals underwater transmitted by the first antenna. In one embodiment, a wetsuit includes an integrated near-field signal system.

Methods and apparatus for underwater electrical near-field signal system

A system includes a structure configured to undergo oscillatory movement. The system also includes a friction damping clamp coupled to the structure. The friction damping clamp includes a housing having a groove. The friction damping clamp also includes a roller positioned at least partially within the groove, where the groove has first and second ramps. The roller is configured to move up each ramp of the groove so that more compression is applied on the structure and to move down each ramp of the groove so that less compression is applied on the structure. The roller may be configured to apply more compression on the structure to increase friction between portions of the structure, to apply less compression on the structure to decrease friction between the portions of the structure, and to apply substantially no compression on the structure when the roller is located at a center of the groove.

Friction damping mechanism for damped beams and other structures

A robotic finger includes a shape-memory alloy and a shape-memory polymer connected to and adjacent to the shape-memory alloy. Heating the shape-memory polymer causes it to soften, heating the shape-memory alloy causes the alloy to bend in the direction of the shape-memory polymer to press the shape-memory polymer against an object to be grasped, and cooling the shape-memory polymer causes it to stiffen and to retain its shape. An opposing member is positioned to cooperate with the finger to grasp an object positioned between the finger and the opposing member. A selectively controllable heat source is capable of applying heat to the finger.

Robotic grabber and method of use

Shoe display stand

An air vehicle wing includes foldable ribs coupled to a leading-edge spar. The ribs each have multiple rib segments which are foldable (hinged) relative to each other. Extension linkages, each with multiple extension linkage segments, pass through openings in the rib segments, and may be coupled to the rib segments with pin couplings, able to change relative angle between the individual rib segments and the extension linkage segments to which they are coupled. A skin may cover the ribs, to provide an outer surface of the wing that may be unfolded as the wing is expanded from a stowed, small-chord condition, to a deployed, large-chord condition.

Chord-expanding air vehicle wings

An aircraft wing has hinged ribs, and a skin covering the ribs. The ribs each include plural rib sections, array from the leading edge of the wing, to the trailing edge of the wing, and a lock to hold the rib sections together in a deployed state or condition. The wings are initially in a stowed state, with the ribs and the rib sections having a curved chord, and deploy to the deployed state, in which the ribs have a straightened chord that defines an airfoil state. The wing may have foam material between the ribs to allow the wings to expand in the wingspan direction, for instance after the ribs have been placed in the deployed state.

Aircraft wing with knuckled rib structure

A structural member includes a split beam within a box structure. The split beam may be a segmented beam that includes multiple segments for each of its parts. Movement of the split beam parts within the box structure, as the structural member flexes, dissipates energy and adds to the damping of the structural member.

Damped split beam structural member with segmented beam parts

A structural member includes a box structure that encloses a beam, which may be a split beam or a split segmented beam. The structural member includes a pressure mechanism that varies a pressure force or a friction force between the beam and the box structure. Movement of the parts within the box structure, against the force of the pressure mechanism, as the structural member flexes, dissipates energy and adds to the damping of the structural member.

Structural member with clamping pressure mechanism

A wing includes a spar, and a pair of flexible skins that are attached to the spar. The spar is at the leading edge of the wing, and the skins extend toward the trailing edge of the wing. The wing deploys from a stowed condition, in which the skins are curved in the same direction around a fuselage of an aircraft, to a deployed condition, in which the skins provide the wing with an airfoil cross-sectional shape, for example with the skins curve in opposite direction. A lock is used to maintain the skins in the deployed state, with the lock for example located at the trailing edge of the wing. The lock may be a mechanical mechanism that automatically locks the wing in the deployed state, preventing the wing from returning to the stowed state.

Aircraft wing with flexible skins

Methods and apparatus for a seal according to various aspects of the present invention include a seal operating in conjunction with a housing and a removable cover. A portion of the seal is attached to the housing and another portion of the seal is attached to the removable cover to enclose a joint between the housing and the removable cover. A cutter cuts the seal, which allows the removable cover to be removed.

Methods and apparatus for a seal

A shape-change material includes a shape memory material layer with an electrically conductive layer on a surface of the shape memory material layer. The conductive material may be used to heat the shape memory material by electrical resistance heating. The conductive material may be a primary heater, providing the heating to cause softening or shape change in the shape memory material, or may be a secondary heater in conjunction with a greater amount of heating from a primary heater, such as a conductive plate that provides electrical resistance heating to a surface of the shape memory material on an opposite side of the shape memory material from the conductive material. One use for the shape-change material is as the skin material for a shape changing material.

Growing community of inventors

Tucson, AZ, United States of America

Terry M Sanderson