Heavy inert gas insulated warhead
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorsJohn Rascon, Mark J. Meisner, Manuel E. Gonzales
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A heavy inert gas insulation layer is wrapped around the length of a warhead to thermally insulate the warhead from fire or aerodynamic heating. The insulation layer may be integrally formed into the warhead casing or provided as a sleeve that may be permanently or removably positioned about the warhead casing. The insulation layer contains an inert gas such as Argon, Krypton, Xenon or a synthetic gas having a density of at least 1.5 kg/m3 and a thermal conductivity Tcond_gas no greater than two-thirds of the thermal conductivity of air Tcond_air.
Claims19
A warhead, comprising:
- an explosive material positioned inside a warhead casing;
- and
- an insulated casing including inner and outer walls defining an annular void space around a length of the warhead casing and explosive material, wherein the annular void space contains an inert gas having a density of at least 1.5 kg/m3 and a thermal conductivity Tcondgas no greater than two-thirds of the thermal conductivity of air Tcond_air to form a heavy inert gas insulation layer around the length of the warhead casing and explosive material.
A warhead, comprising:
- an explosive material;
- and
- an integrally formed insulated metal warhead casing including an inner wall around a length of the explosive that forms a fragmentation layer and an outer wall that defines an annular void space, wherein the annular void space contains an inert gas having a density of at least 1.5 kg/m3 and a thermal conductivity Tcond_gas of no greater than two-thirds the thermal conductivity of air Tcond_air to form a heavy inert gas insulation layer around the length of the warhead casing and explosive material.
A warhead, comprising:
- an explosive material positioned inside a warhead casing;
- and
- a sleeve including inner and outer walls defining an annular void space that slides around the warhead casing and explosive material, wherein the annular void space contains an inert gas having a density of at least 1.5 kg/m3 and a thermal conductivity Tcond_gas no greater than two-thirds the thermal conductivity of air Tcond_air to form a heavy inert gas insulation layer around a length of the warhead casing and explosive material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.