The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Date of Patent:
Jun. 08, 2021

Filed:

Sep. 10, 2018
Applicant:

Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US);

Inventors:

Matt H. Summers, Gilbert, AZ (US);

David M. Case, Huntsville, AL (US);

John J. Raymond, IV, Tucson, AZ (US);

Gray Fowler, McKinney, TX (US);

Mark T. Langhenry, Tucson, AZ (US);

Assignee:

Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
F02K 9/86 (2006.01); F02K 9/97 (2006.01); B29C 70/44 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
F02K 9/974 (2013.01); F02K 9/86 (2013.01); B29C 70/44 (2013.01);
Abstract

A rocket motor has a nozzle that is reconfigurable by erosion or ablation of the material around the throat of the nozzle. The nozzle throat has layers of materials with different erosion characteristics, with the erosion occurring so as to achieve the desired nozzle characteristics (configurations) during different parts of the fuel burn. The nozzle throat includes relatively-high-erosion material layers and relatively-low-erosion material layers, with some layers of the throat resisting erosion, while other of the layers erode or ablate relatively quickly. The relatively-low-erosion material layers may act as thermal barriers to fix the throat at relatively stable geometry for long periods of time, such as during most of the burn of different fuel segments, with the relatively-high-erosion material layers allowing rapid transition of the throat from one geometry to the next. The layers may be made by resin transfer molding (RTM).


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