Floated gimbal optical platform
OwnerDino Cantoninventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention is a floated gimbal instrument platform that provides a stable optical path for optical instruments. The instrument platform has an outer vessel with a transparent viewing port, an inner vessel also with a transparent viewing port, a transparent suspending fluid filling the outer vessel and in which the inner vessel floats in neutral buoyancy, an optical instrument secured inside the inner vessel, spacing studs which centrally position the inner vessel within the outer vessel, and jets which align the second viewing port with the first viewing port, the jets being used to rotate the inner vessel in the suspending fluid. Any misalignment between the viewing ports can be compensated by rotating the inner vessel and any translational forces applied to the platform is dampened by the fluid, thereby eliminating jitter.
Claims25
A floated gimbaled optical platform comprising:
- a vehicular mounted base;
- a hollow sealed outer vessel fixed to the base and having a first optically transparent viewing port;
- a hollow sealed inner vessel assembly centrally positioned within the outer vessel, the inner vessel assembly having:
- a second optically transparent viewing port generally aligned with the first optically transparent viewing port and an optical instrument mounted within the inner vessel assembly and optically aligned with the first transparent viewing port;
- an optically transparent suspension fluid separating the inner vessel assembly and outer vessel, said suspension fluid having a density substantially equal to the inner vessel assembly;
- means to assist in centrally positioning the inner vessel assembly within the outer vessel;
- detection means to detect misalignment between the second transparent viewing port and the first transparent viewing port;
- and
- means to rotate the inner vessel assembly within the optically transparent suspension fluid;
- wherein a detected misalignment between the first and second transparent viewing ports is corrected by rotating the inner vessel assembly;
- the centre of gravity of the inner vessel assembly is substantially located at the physical centre of the inner vessel assembly;
- and
- the inner vessel assembly floats in the optically transparent suspension fluid in substantially neutral buoyancy.
An optical platform system mounting and operating an optical instrument, the system including:
- an external spherical vessel mounted on a vehicle and having a first optically transparent viewing port;
- an internal spherical vessel contained within the external vessel and having a second optically transparent viewing port;
- a stabilizer subsystem which stabilizes the internal vessel within the external vessel and maintains alignment between the first and second optically transparent viewing ports;
- a power and data link between the external and internal vessel;
- an optically transparent suspension fluid contained within the external vessel and in which the internal vessel floats in substantially neutral buoyancy;
- wherein
- the internal vessel is positioned in a substantially central position within the external vessel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.