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:
Sep. 13, 2016
Filed:
May. 01, 2014
Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US);
Darin S. Williams, Tucson, AZ (US);
Raytheon Company, Waltham, MA (US);
Abstract
A ball gimbal electro-optic system comprises a ball gimbal mounted on a platform. The gimbal includes a socket mounted on the platform and an inner ball captured within the socket and free to rotate about combinations of three orthogonal axes to point a pointing axis. A directional electro-optic element is mounted within the inner ball to transmit or receive an optical beam along the pointing axis. A spherical planar motor comprises a plurality of two-dimensional drive elements configured to apply non-contacting electro-magnetic forces in planes tangential to the inner ball at at least two control points on different diameters of the inner ball in commanded two-dimensional directions within the tangential planes to rotate the inner ball within the socket to point the pointing axis. In different embodiments, the spherical planar motor may be configured as a spherical planar DC motor or a spherical planar induction motor. Other systems such as power, ball position readout and data I/O may also be configured as 'non-contacting' systems to maintain the inertial stabilization of the inner ball.