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.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 28, 1990
Filed:
Aug. 23, 1989
Kenneth L Gustafson, Pollock Pines, CA (US);
Timothy S Romano, Goleta, CA (US);
Nevil Q Maassen, Goleta, CA (US);
Donald E Salzer, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Santa Barbara Research Center, Goleta, CA (US);
Abstract
An infrared detector assembly (10) of the type used in munitions and night vision systems having an improved coldfinger assembly (42). Such detector assemblies (10) include a tubular coldfinger (22) which is surrounded by a vacuum and an end-cap (28) mounted to the coldfinger tube (22) to define a cold end (24) which supports the infrared detector array (30) and related components. In accordance with this invention, the coldfinger tube (22) is a thin-walled titanium cylinder and the end-cap (28) is made of tungsten. The components are metallurgically bonded at the cold end (24) by an active brazing alloy deposited during vacuum furnace brazing. The titanium coldfinger (22) provides the necessary bending stiffness to support cold end components. The tungsten end-cap (28) provides a low distortion, thermally stable focal-plane. The metallurgical bond (46) provides for a hermetic seal which inhibits structural distortion during brazing, and during cyclical cooling of the detector assembly (10).