Apparatus and method for facilitating supersonic motion of bodies through the atmosphere
US4917335A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 31, 1988 |
| Grant date | Apr 17, 1990 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 31, 2008 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC F)Mechanical Engineering; Lighting; Heating
- CPC primaryF42B10/40
- WIPO fieldTransport
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
Atmospheric drag and heating of the forwardmost portions of high speed transatmospheric vehicles and projectiles are reduced by lowering the atmospheric mass density immediately forward of a moving body. A fine high speed stream or jet of a material containing a chemically interactive component is ejected forwardly of such a body moving at high speed with respect to the atmosphere and, in a preferred embodiment of this invention ignites by interaction with the oncoming atmosphere and forms a sustained zone of combustion that, in effect, acts as a maintained "fireball" that explodes away ambient atmosphere transversely of the moving body so that there is generated a zone of low atmospheric density immediately in front of the forwardmost portion of the body. A supply of ejectable material and equipment for forcibly driving the same through a nozzle are carried with the body. The ejected material is preferably pressurized to render it flowable before ejection. The addition of fine particulate material and/or material forming long chain molecules to the flammable component of ejected material facilitates projection of the fireball ahead of the moving body and, also, to increase the tra…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.