초록 ▼

A tunable, mechanical and acoustical damping system is integrated into a lightweight composite aerospace vehicle structure. In one embodiment, the damping system (22) is incorporated into the wall of a spacecraft payload fairing (12) and includes an outer skin (24), a grid structure (26), an inner s

A tunable, mechanical and acoustical damping system is integrated into a lightweight composite aerospace vehicle structure. In one embodiment, the damping system (22) is incorporated into the wall of a spacecraft payload fairing (12) and includes an outer skin (24), a grid structure (26), an inner skin (28) and a tuning conduit (30). The grid structure (26) forms a number of cells (36) some of which may be interconnected. The cell volumes and the tuning conduit (30) are effective as a Helmholz resonator to reduce potentially damaging noise in the payload compartment (20) of the fairing (12). By appropriate selection of the conduit's dimensions in conjunction with the cell dimensions, the resulting resonator can be tuned to damp a selected frequency or frequencies. For example, a resonant frequency of the fairing (12) with its payload (18). A viscoelastic material (34) is provided between the grid structure (26) and inner skin (28) for mechanical damping. The system (22) can be implemented in lightweight composite materials and allows for SNAPSAT construction.

대표청구항 ▼

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A damping system for use in a wall of an aerospace vehicle, comprising: a structural panel assembly, including:an outer skin forming an external surface of said aerospace vehicle;an inner skin facing an internal area of said aerospace vehicle;a grid structure, interposed

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A damping system for use in a wall of an aerospace vehicle, comprising: a structural panel assembly, including:an outer skin forming an external surface of said aerospace vehicle;an inner skin facing an internal area of said aerospace vehicle;a grid structure, interposed between said outer skin and said inner skin, for stiffening said outer skin, said grid structure defining a number of cells in a volume between said outer skin and said inner skin, certain ones of said cells being acoustically interconnected so as to allow flow of a gas therebetween thereby defining a selected interconnected cell volume;wherein said structural panel assembly forms a structural wall portion of said aerospace vehicle; anda conduit extending through said inner skin from said internal area of said aerospace vehicle to said interconnected cells, said conduit having a length that is independent of a thickness of said inner skin and said conduit in combination with said interconnected cell volume defining a Helmholz resonator for acoustically damping a first frequency of said internal area of said aerospace vehicle, wherein selection of said interconnected cell volume and said length of said conduit provides for enhanced tuning of said Helmholz resonator relative to said first frequency.