Bae Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.

William D Barry

John Richard Franzini

Kenneth D Cleveland

Michael J Krueger

Amy Pietrzak

Adam G Butland

Robert Winkler

A low cost, lightweight frangible wing slot seal can be applied to a guidance wing slot of a folding fin aerial rocket or missile, providing a barrier against exposure of internal missile components to external contaminants, while allowing unhindered deployment of missile guidance wings simply by bursting through the seals. The simple design is nearly foolproof, and has no impact the likelihood of weapon failure. The seal is a flexible sheet which is sufficiently thin so as not to exceed the required volume envelope of the missile. The sheet includes a burst seam, which is breached when impacted by the leading edge of a deploying wing. No additional wing deployment force is required, and after deployment the seal has minimal impact on the aerodynamic performance of the wing.

Wing slot seal

A compact, purely mechanical wing deployment assisting mechanism uses torsion springs and lever arms to apply a deploying force to a guidance wing during its initial deployment through a wing slot in a rocket or missile, thereby assisting the wing to burst through a cover seal protecting the wing slot. The wings are then fully deployed by centrifugal force. Various embodiments include two 'extreme duty' springs and two lever arms per wing, working in parallel. Embodiments provide a total of at least 24 pounds of force per wing at the end of a spring travel of 0.30 inches. In some embodiments, the entire mechanism weighs less than 0.5 pounds and/or occupies less than 2.5 cubic inches per wing. In embodiments, an assembled group, including two springs and two lever arms, is located between each pair of wings, whereby each assembled group applies one lever arm to each adjoining wing.

Torsion spring wing deployment initiator

Growing community of inventors

Billerica, MA, United States of America

William D Barry