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:
May. 24, 1994
Filed:
Oct. 15, 1992
Ronald E Loving, Simi Valley, CA (US);
Hughes Aircraft Company, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Abstract
A low noise power plant (100) for providing thrust to a missile (102) having a solid fuel propellant (114) for generating a pressurized gas. A revolving turbine (104) which is integral with the solid fuel propellant (114) converts the pressurized gas to rotary motion. A drive shaft (138) transfers the rotary motion to a load. In a preferred embodiment, the power plant (100) is utilized to drive a projectile (102). The revolving turbine (104) includes a combustion chamber (106) containing the solid fuel stick (114) and a plenum (108) having a plurality of angled openings (120) formed in the outer periphery thereof. The drive shaft (138) connects the revolving turbine (104) to a load such as a fan type propeller (134) via a speed reduction gearbox (136). The solid fuel stick (114) is ignited by conventional methods and burned to provide pressurized gas which is directed to the angled openings (120). The pressurized gas escapes from the angled openings (120 ) producing rotary motion in the revolving turbine (104) and the drive shaft (138). The rotating fan type propeller (134) compresses air for generating the thrust of the power plant (100). The compressed air is a mixture of exhaust gases (124) and ambient air which reduces the heat content and thus, the detectability of the projectile (120) by infrared devices.