Passive Flexible Panel Shutter for Countermeasure Launch Tubes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current countermeasure launch tube shutters are complex, fragile, and costly due to their electromechanical design, which complicates production and maintenance, and they lack watertightness and simplicity.
Innovation Solution
A fully passive, all-mechanical shutter design utilizing two flexible panels with complementary profiles and embedded magnets, which open and close automatically without actuators or electronic components, ensuring watertightness and simplicity, and are made from radar-invisible materials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If electromechanical actuators and sensors are used to operate the shutter, then the shutter can be controlled to open and close, but the shutter becomes complex, fragile, and costly with difficult production and maintenance
Solution Approach 1:
The shutter panels are designed to operate automatically without external actuators or sensors. The panels use their own elastic properties to open when the countermeasure passes through and close when springing back to the undeformed position, making the system self-operating and eliminating complex control mechanisms
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the electromechanical actuator-sensor system with a purely mechanical elastic deformation mechanism. The flexible panels deform mechanically under the countermeasure's passage and return to their original shape through elastic recovery, substituting electronic control with mechanical self-action
2Ease of operation
If electromechanical shutters are used, then the shutter can be operated, but watertightness is compromised and production cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The shutter uses flexible panels made of elastomeric material that can deform elastically. These flexible panels form a continuous sealing surface that maintains watertightness while allowing mechanical deformation during operation, eliminating gaps or joints that would compromise sealing
3Ease of operation
If electromechanical components are used in the shutter, then the shutter can be controlled, but the number of component parts increases and simplicity is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and removes all electromechanical components (actuators, sensors, electronic控制系统) from the shutter system. The shutter is reduced to its essential functional elements: flexible panels that deform and spring back, eliminating unnecessary components and achieving maximum simplicity
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using active components (actuators) to open and close the shutter, the invention uses passive elastic panels that automatically return to their undeformed position. The system inverts the conventional approach by relying on material elasticity rather than mechanical force application
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides a sturdy, low-cost, and easy-to-produce shutter that maintains watertightness and simplifies maintenance, eliminating the need for complex actuators and electronic components while ensuring effective countermeasure expulsion.
Implementation Method 1
first and second panel 15, 16 flex and deflect to permit expulsion of countermeasure 4 through shutter 1, which is opened by the forward movement of countermeasure 4. Once countermeasure 4 is expelled, panels 15, 16 spring back to the undeformed position to close central opening 12 automatically
Implementation Method 2
A fully passive, all-mechanical shutter design utilizing two flexible panels with complementary profiles and embedded magnets
Data Source
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AI summary
A shutter for a launch tube (3) for launching a countermeasure (4), wherein a support (10) has a circular opening (12) of a diameter (D) equal to the diameter of the launch tube (3). The shutter has a first and second flexible panel (15, 16) fitted to the support (10) and which, when undeformed and at rest, close the circular opening. The panels (15, 16) flex and deflect, as a front end portion (6) of the countermeasure (4) moves through the circular opening (12), to permit expulsion of the countermeasure (4) through the shutter (1), which is opened by the forward movement of the countermeasure.