Steerable Projectile Using Rotating Ogive for Finless Guidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional guided projectiles face a trade-off between internal volume required for guidance and control hardware versus propellant, charge, and explosives, limiting their endurance, range, and lethality, particularly for smaller calibers, and they often rely on protruding external fins for steering which are bulky and prone to damage.
Innovation Solution
A projectile design featuring a front ogive section and an aft section connected by a coupling device, allowing selective adjustment of angular rotation to change helical trajectories, enabling steering without external fins, using either passive or active coupling devices to alter the spin rate and trajectory radius, thereby controlling the projectile's direction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If protruding external fins are used for steering, then steering capability is improved, but internal volume for propellant and explosives is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the steering function from external protruding fins and relocates it to an internal mechanism. The front ogive section is made rotatable relative to the aft section via a coupling device, allowing the steering function to be performed internally without requiring external fins, thereby freeing up internal volume for propellant and explosives.
Solution Approach 2:
The projectile is segmented into two main sections: the front ogive section and the aft section. These sections are connected by a coupling device that allows selective rotation. This segmentation enables independent control of the front section's orientation, providing steering capability without external fins and optimizing internal volume distribution.
2Ease of operation
If protruding external fins are used for steering, then steering capability is improved, but susceptibility to damage is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the vulnerable external fins from the projectile design and replaces them with an internal rotation mechanism. The front ogive section rotates internally relative to the aft section, eliminating exposed components that are susceptible to damage during launch and flight, thereby improving reliability while maintaining steering capability.
3Measurement precision
If internal volume for guidance and control hardware is increased, then steering precision is improved, but volume for propellant and explosives is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The projectile is divided into functional segments with the front ogive section housing the guidance and control hardware. This segmentation allows compact integration of steering mechanisms within the front section, achieving precise control without requiring excessive internal volume that would compromise propellant capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The coupling device enables dynamic rotation of the front ogive section relative to the aft section, allowing the steering mechanism to achieve precise directional control through rotational movement. This dynamic capability provides high steering precision with a compact internal mechanism, optimizing the balance between control precision and propellant volume.
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
This design allows for effective steering and guidance of projectiles without protruding fins, reducing internal space requirements for control hardware, increasing the volume for propellant and sensors, and enhancing the projectile's range and lethality while minimizing maintenance and susceptibility to launch-related damage.
Implementation Method 1
the asymmetric surface exerts an imbalance upon the projectile, where in use, the angular rotation of the front ogive section can be selectively adjusted relative to the aft section
Implementation Method 2
the front ogive section is rotatably connected to the aft section by a coupling device, wherein the angular rotation of the front ogive section can be selectively adjusted relative to the aft section
Implementation Method 3
the projectile travelling in a first helical trajectory, and, in a second arrangement the coupling device is decoupled, such that the front section spins at a slower angular rotation relative to the aft section, the projectile travelling in a second helical trajectory
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided a projectile, a system and a related method of operation of a projectile comprising: a front ogive section; an aft section; and a control module; wherein the front ogive section is rotatably connected to the aft section by a coupling device, the front ogive section further comprising an asymmetric surface such that the asymmetric surface exerts an imbalance upon the projectile, where in use, the angular rotation of the front ogive section can be selectively adjusted relative to the aft section by commands from the control module to the coupling device influencing a helical trajectory of the projectile in flight thereby causing a change in direction thereby steering the projectile towards a target.