Additively Manufactured Spacecraft Damper With Metal Powder Damping
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing damping systems for rocket engines are either cumbersome and costly or inefficient in severe vibratory environments, and they often fail to function effectively across a wide range of temperatures, including cryogenic and high temperatures.
Innovation Solution
A damping device comprising an external spring structure and integral damping elements formed from the same metallic material in a single block by additive manufacturing, filled with metal powder to dissipate energy through friction within the powder and between the powder and the damping elements and the spring structure, allowing for efficient vibration damping across a wide temperature range.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If mechanical, pneumatic, hydraulic, passive or active dampers are used, then damping effectiveness is improved, but weight, cost, and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the spring structure and damping elements into a single integrated component made from the same material. The spring structure (110) and damping elements (121, 122, 123) are manufactured as one piece using additive manufacturing, eliminating the need for separate dampers and reducing system complexity while maintaining damping effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes metal powder (200) filling the internal chamber as a damping medium. The powder creates friction-based damping through its particulate structure, providing effective vibration damping without requiring complex mechanical damper mechanisms. The powder's porous nature allows it to dissipate energy through inter-particle friction.
2Ease of manufacture
If soft damping materials are inserted between the component and supporting structure, then implementation is simplified, but damping effectiveness is reduced under significant clamping forces
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from soft damping materials to metal powder. This parameter change allows the damping system to withstand significant clamping forces and dynamic loads while maintaining damping effectiveness. The metal powder's mechanical properties enable it to function effectively under high stress conditions where soft materials would fail.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite damping system combining the spring structure, damping elements, and metal powder filling. This composite approach integrates multiple functional elements into a unified system that maintains both structural integrity under load and effective vibration damping, overcoming the limitations of soft materials alone.
3Temperature
If traditional damping systems are used, then they may work at ambient temperatures, but they fail to function effectively at cryogenic or high temperatures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from elastomers to metal and metal powder. This parameter change enables the damping system to function across an extended temperature range from cryogenic to high temperatures. Metals maintain their mechanical properties and damping characteristics in extreme temperature conditions where elastomers would become too soft or too rigid.
4Ease of manufacture
If additive manufacturing is used to form the spring structure and damping elements in a single block, then manufacturing complexity and cost are reduced, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the spring structure and damping elements into a single additive manufacturing process. By manufacturing both components from the same material in one operation, the system eliminates multiple manufacturing steps, assembly operations, and associated costs, making the complex geometry economically viable.
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 effective vibration damping with minimal temperature variation effects, maintaining robustness and efficiency from cryogenic to high temperatures without the need for complex connections or additional materials, while being compact, easy, and inexpensive to produce.
Implementation Method 1
the powder in the inner chamber dissipates the energy generated by the relative movements of the first and second damping elements, thus generating the desired damping through friction within the powder itself, between the powder and the first and second damping elements
Implementation Method 2
an external spring structure enclosing an internal enclosure, configured to deform elastically in a predominantly longitudinal direction
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~4
Figure 5~6
AI summary
Damping device (100) for a spacecraft, configured to dampen vibrations between a component to be isolated (300) and a supporting structure (200) of the spacecraft, the damping device (100) comprising an external spring structure (110) enclosing an internal housing (I), configured to deform elastically in a predominantly longitudinal direction (X), and having a first end (111) fixed to the supporting structure (200) and a second end (112) fixed to the component to be isolated (300), and at least one damping element (121) integral with the external spring structure (110) and extending inside the internal housing (I), the external spring structure (110) and the damping element (121) being formed in the same metallic material and in a single block by additive manufacturing,the internal enclosure (I) being filled at least partially with a powder of the same material such that the damping element (121) is disposed at least partially in the powder.