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US 6,199,801 B1Granted
Whole-spacecraft passive isolation devices
AssigneeCSA Engineering, Inc.
InventorsPaul S. Wilke, Conor D. Johnson
Life of this patent
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AssigneeCSA Engineering, Inc.
InventorsPaul S. Wilke, Conor D. Johnson
Estimating the term…
Excitations from engines of the launch vehicles and the aerodynamics of flight produce large vibrations which are very detrimental to spacecraft during launch. Whole-spacecraft vibration isolation systems that greatly reduce the transmitted structure-borne vibrations to the spacecraft are disclosed. The disclosed devices, when combined together into an isolation system, provide vibration isolation for the complete spacecraft and are the only connection between the spacecraft and the launch vehicle. Devices that provide isolation in the axial (thrust) direction are disclosed. These devices consist of an arrangement of damped metallic flexures and machined springs, which provide relative flexibility in the desired direction. Passive damping is provided by compressing and shearing viscoelastic materials.
A vibration isolation device comprising an isolation element of high strength material comprising first and second parallel flexures of high strength material, a high strength attachment connected between the first and second parallel flexures, wherein the first flexure is spaced a controlled distance from the second flexure by the attachment between the first and second flexures, such that the attachment supports the flexures at locations at or near extremities of the flexures, thus forming a continuous load path of high strength material through the flexures and the attachment;
A vibration isolation device comprising an isolation element of high strength material comprising first and second parallel flexures of high strength material, a high strength attachment connected between the first and second parallel flexures, wherein the first flexure is spaced a controlled distance from the second flexure by the attachment between the first and second flexures, such that the attachment supports the flexures at or near extremities of the flexures, thus forming a continuous load path of high strength material through the flexures and the attachment, and mounts connected to the flexures remote from the attachment for mounting the isolation element.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.