Explosive foil initiator (EF) with enhanced detonation energy
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorsCoulton T. Sadler, Eric D. Goertz, Montgomery Carlo, Christopher F. Williams
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An EFI or LEEFI that provides enhanced detonation energy sufficient to directly detonate a main charge to improve the reliability and ease the qualification of an explosive firing train. This is accomplished by forming the EFI's output charge from an explosive material typically used as a booster explosive (e.g., PBXN-5, CH-6 and Composition A5) rather than a primary explosive and making the diameter of the output charge greater than the diameter of the barrel thus increasing the total mass of the output charge. For use in military grade munitions, the EFI's casing is formed with one or more vent holes radially adjacent the output charge.
Claims19
An explosive foil initiator (EFI), comprising:
- a lower metal casing;
- a circuit positioned in the bottom of the casing having leads extending therethrough;
- a barrel having an opening therethrough positioned above the circuit, said barrel having an outer diameter Db,
- an upper metal casing;
- an output charge in the upper casing positioned against and substantially aligned to the barrel opening, said output charge having a diameter Doc>Db, wherein the output charge has a detonation threshold of between 1 to 3 Gpa of shock pressure;
- a plastic liner positioned around the output charge, wherein the upper metal casing includes one or more vent holes that expose the plastic liner;
- wherein said circuit is configured to respond to the application of an electrical stimulus to the leads to accelerate a flyer plate through the barrel opening to impact and detonate the output charge.
An explosive foil initiator (EFI), comprising:
- a lower metal casing;
- a circuit positioned in the bottom of the casing having leads extending therethrough;
- a barrel having an opening therethrough positioned above the circuit, said barrel having an outer diameter Db between 0.25 and 0.5 inches,
- an upper metal casing including one or more radial vent holes;
- an output charge in the upper casing positioned against and substantially aligned to the barrel opening, said output charge having a diameter Doc>=2*Db and between 1 and 3 inches, said output charge having a detonation threshold of between 1 to 3 Gpa of shock pressure and when detonated reaches a detonation pressure between 27 to 38 Gpa and a detonation velocity of between 8,100 to 10,000 m/s;
- a plastic liner positioned around the output charge, wherein the upper metal casing includes one or more vent holes that expose the plastic liner,
- wherein said circuit is configured to respond to the application of an electrical stimulus to the leads to accelerate a flyer plate through the barrel opening to impact and detonate the output charge.
An explosive foil initiator (EFI), comprising:
- a lower metal casing;
- a circuit positioned in the bottom of the casing having leads extending therethrough;
- a barrel having an opening therethrough positioned above the circuit, said barrel having an outer diameter Db,
- an upper metal casing having a diameter Duc between 2.8 and 3.0 inches and including one or more vent holes;
- an output charge in the upper casing positioned against and substantially aligned to the barrel opening, said output charge having a diameter Doc>5*Db, said output charge having a detonation threshold of 1 to 3 Gpa of shock pressure and when detonated reaches a detonation pressure of 27 to 38 Gpa and a detonation velocity of 8,100 to 10,000 m/s;
- a plastic liner positioned around the output charge, wherein the upper metal casing includes one or more vent holes that expose the plastic liner,
- wherein said circuit is configured to respond to the application of an electrical stimulus to the leads to accelerate a flyer plate through the barrel opening to impact and detonate the output charge.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.