EP0149380B1 - Modular cartridge magazine for use in aircraft - Google Patents

Description

Different kinds of cartridges are used in aviation, such as illuminating cartridges, explosive cartridges, decoy launchers. They are generally of cylindrical shape and of different dimensions, according to their use and their power.

The present invention relates more particularly to decoy launchers, the payloads of which are intended for jamming radars or other detection means.

The best known and most commonly used techniques currently rely on the ejection of projectiles in sequence which release their payload as close as possible to the aircraft which ejected them. These payloads are of various natures and can be, for example, either metallized glass flakes serving as a radar reflector, or pyrotechnic devices which burn by emitting infrared radiation.

These charges are enclosed in a socket which ensures their protection and which comprises at its base the initiation of electric firing of a pyrotechnic impeller capable of ejecting the payload at a predetermined speed and distance. Given the diversity of possible loadings, we understand the advantage of being able to identify precisely, before ejection, the nature of the payload mounted in the cartridges as will be explained below.

The equipment of an aircraft generally comprises a device capable of receiving a sufficient number of cartridges. This device is rechargeable on the ground by replacing the empty sockets with new cartridges. This technique, based on the use of independent cartridges, has the disadvantage of requiring significant handling time for loading the carrying device.

In order to reduce this downtime, chargers have already been produced comprising a certain number of cartridges. These magazines can be filled beforehand by the gunsmith personnel. They are re-used after use. Their repeated use, and the resulting handling, make them relatively rustic and heavy.

In some recent applications, independent cartridges have been replaced by loading modules, each containing several charges. These new modules behave like a multiple cartridge. They reduce the set-up time, but replacing a faulty load or a load already drawn is very delicate, however, and can only be done in the factory. Since the number of active charges of the device is limited, the need to obtain maximum efficiency means that a module becomes practically unusable if it is incomplete, either that one of the charges is defective by manufacturing defect, or even that it was fired on a previous flight. This results in a very high operating cost.

Document FR-A-2 415 284 describes a device used to represent the development of a detonation, a flash or a smoke coming from munitions, which uses a plurality of pyrotechnic charges placed on a removable common support, forming unique disposable set. This support comprises printed conductive lines arranged along a support plate for the selective ignition of the charges and connected by a plug-in socket to the electrical control system.

Document FR-A-2 292 211 describes a system for the selective firing of infrared torches arranged in cartridges housed parallel to the interior of a magazine supported by a firing ramp. This ramp comprises pins elastically mounted to rest on a printed circuit carried by each cartridge and connected to the firing charges thereof.

Document US-A-3,598,075 describes a device for launching missiles from an airplane. The sequential distribution of firing pulses is programmed by means of a coded circuit cooperating with a removable coding part.

Document EP-A3-0 067 751 describes the fixing under a plane of modules each containing a plurality of pots of non-independent lighting charge. Electrical connections, arranged along a plate forming a cover of the module, connect each pot to a central connector of the module itself connected to the electrical control system of the aircraft.

The object of the present invention is, while using loading modules each containing several charges, to produce such modules inside which the cartridges are independent so as to be able to easily replace a defective or already drawn charge. These modules also include a printed electrical firing circuit, allowing binary coding for electronic identification of the nature of the payload mounted in the cartridges. When the cartridges include a safety device, the modules in question are provided to implement these safety features.

It follows from these provisions a great ease and flexibility of use of the device.

The removable charger device according to the invention, which is of the general type known for example from document FR-A-2 292 211 by being designed to eject from an aircraft a multiplicity of individual charges with electric primers each contained in a cartridge retained in the charger against a support plate of the latter, with a priming printed circuit placed along the support plate and having contact pins with each of the primers and an electrical connection connector with the aircraft, is characterized in that the cartridges are retained individually by screw against the support plate with the interposition of a plate of material which electrically isolates the printed circuit, with holes in this plate for the passage of the pins of electrical contact with the primers.

• la figure 1 est une vue en perspective de la cartouche spécialement équipée;
• la figure 2 représente le dispositif de mise à feu électrique d'une cartouche;
• la figure 3 montre le découpe du circuit imprimé au droit du picot d'alimentation électrique d'une cartouche;
• la figure 4 représente des exemples de groupage de cartouches constituant des modules de chargement;
• les figures 5, 6 et 7 sont des vues en perspective d'un module de chargement montrant schématiquement son équipement extérieur;
• la figure 8 est une vue en plan du mécanisme de commande de la sécurité des cartouches;
• figure 9 est une coupe longitudinale du mécanisme de commande de la sécurité des cartouches;
• la figure 10 est une vue en perspective montrant le détail du système d'entraînement à échappement de la sécurité des cartouches; et
• la figure 11 est un schéma montrant la commande électrique extérieure pour la remise en marche du moteur de commande du mécanisme de la sécurité des cartouches représenté sur la figure 8.

An embodiment of the proposed device will be specified below, with reference to the appended schematic drawing in which:

• Figure 1 is a perspective view of the specially equipped cartridge;
• FIG. 2 represents the device for electrically firing a cartridge;
• Figure 3 shows the cutout of the printed circuit to the right of the electrical supply pin of a cartridge;
• FIG. 4 represents examples of grouping of cartridges constituting loading modules;
• Figures 5, 6 and 7 are perspective views of a loading module schematically showing its external equipment;
• Figure 8 is a plan view of the cartridge safety control mechanism;
• Figure 9 is a longitudinal section of the cartridge safety control mechanism;
• Figure 10 is a perspective view showing the detail of the cartridge safety exhaust drive system; and
• FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the external electrical control for restarting the control motor of the cartridge safety mechanism shown in FIG. 8.

In Figure 1, there is shown at 1 the cylindrical cartridge, at 2 its base on which one or more firing primers 3 are fixed. Two threaded holes 4 make it possible to secure, using two screws 10, the cartridge with the support 9 serving as a support plate for shooting (FIG. 2). A wolf-toothed rotary member 45 allows the actuation of the possible internal safety of the cartridge.

In FIG. 2, the cartridge is found at 1, at 9 the support plate, at 10 the two fixing screws corresponding to the threaded holes 4 (FIG. 1), at 5 the printed circuit for the electrical supply of the cartridges, 6 an insulating plate separating the printed circuit from the cartridge bases, at 7 a pin welded on the printed circuit directly above each primer, at 8 the hole made in the insulating plate 6 for the passage of the pin, at 12 a recess allowing the deflection of the pin 7.

In FIG. 3, there is shown at 11 a cutout of the printed circuit 5 in the form of a tongue, on which the pin 7 is located. This is therefore located on an elastic part and its contact with the primer 3 is provided by the stiffness of the tongue.

In Figure 4, there are shown examples of arrangement of cartridges constituting different modules. In 13 is shown a thin wall enveloping all of the cartridges, wall integral with the insulating part 6 so as to form a part in the form of a rectangular box also comprising an internal partition 14, which locates and specifies the housing of the cartridges.

In FIGS. 5 and 6, there is shown at 15 the power connector (s) to which the pins 7 are connected, at 16 the threaded studs for fixing the module to the carrying device linked to the aircraft and at 19 a element containing coded connections (FIG. 5 represents a module with two rows of cartridges). The connector 15 may include terminals reserved for additional traces of the printed circuit 5 intended to ensure the desired coding. The fact of covering the support 18 with an element 19 in which the plugs are connected together according to a binary code related to the loading of the module cartridges makes it possible, via the connectors 15, to inform the electronic control equipment which is not the subject of the present invention.

A method for rapid attachment of the module to the aircraft carrying device can use the bayonets 17, indicated in FIG. 5. This method is the subject of a separate patent application.

In Figure 7, there is shown at 18 a standard integrated circuit support in connection with the printed circuit. This support can be capped by an element 19 (FIG. 5) ensuring coding corresponding to the nature of the charges that the module comprises, as will be explained below.

In FIG. 8, the cartridge safety mechanism is shown with at 9 the support plate hollowed out so as to contain a flat electric motor 20 intended to drive a worm screw 21 rotating in bearings 22 to drive its around a toothed wheel 23. A connecting rod 24 is articulated at 25 on the wheel 23 and at 26 on a crank pin 27 itself pivoting on a fixed axis 28.

Three other crank pins 29-30-31 pivot respectively on the fixed axes 32-33-34. A connecting rod 35 connects the crank pins 29-30-27 and 31 by the joints 36, 37, 38, 39.

Each crank pin drives in its rotation a wolf tooth prick, such as 40 (FIGS. 9 and 10), the withdrawal of which is made possible against the spring 41. The rotation of the wheel 23 is always carried out in the same direction, causing the alternative play between the two extreme positions of the crank pins 27, 29, 30 and 31. The stopping in these extreme positions is obtained by cutting off the power supply caused by the action of a cam 42, integral with the wheel 23 on the blade 43 controlling a switch 44. FIG. 11 shows a commonly used electrical control diagram which can be used for restarting the engine 20 after the engine has stopped by the action of the cam 42 on the switch 44. A push button 51 excites a self-supply relay 52 which then ensures the tensioning of the motor 20 by the terminals 53 by closing the movable contact 54 of this relay 52. Starting the engine drives the cam 22 which releases the switch 44 allowing it to close so that the action on the push button 51 can be relatively brief.

The above-mentioned assembly, applied to a group of cartridges, makes it possible to constitute a compact block called module, the advantage of which lies in the small size of the constituent elements other than the cartridges themselves. The ratio between the volume of the payload and the total volume is thereby increased. It is the same for the weight ratio.

The size and weight characteristics of a module thus designed can be further improved by the use of cartridges with a square or rectangular section thanks to the better filling factor which results therefrom.

On the other hand, the possibility of producing the elements 6, 13, 14 in one piece means that this piece can advantageously be obtained from plastic material injected into a mold, which makes it possible to improve the rigidity of the assembly and d 'lower its cost price.

This technique does not exclude other methods; Fitting elements t ^* ole fine for example.

The module thus designed is capable of receiving cartridges whose characteristics of geometric interfaces are defined, but whose payload can be of various natures. In order to ensure a clear relationship between the payload of the cartridges and the module itself, binary coding has been carried out using the printed circuit and the connector 15. The pins used for this purpose are arranged in pairs. State 1 corresponds to the link between two pins of a pair and state 0 to the absence of link.

The assembly provided provides the electronic take-off system with the identification of the module.

The desired coding can be obtained directly by shorting the relevant pins of the connector, or by adding additional traces to the printed circuit.

To improve the ease of use of such a module, it is also possible to make the part ensuring coding removable. To this end, a standard integrated circuit support 18 is provided on the printed circuit (FIG. 7). The coding part 19 (Figures 7 and 5) becomes independent. It is easily reported, manually, on the whole.

As has been said, some cartridges are fitted with a safety device, the insertion or removal of which is carried out using a mechanism, the visible part of which is constituted by a rotating wolf tooth 45 figure 1. In order to use this possibility, an electrical control device has been provided in the thickness of the support plate 9 in connection with the rotary device of each cartridge (FIG. 8).

Energizing the motor 20 by acting on the push button 51 (FIG. 11) makes it possible to remove or replace the security of each cartridge. Safety is removed when the cartridges are fired by the rotation of the crank pins 27, 29, 30 and 31 between the extreme positions A and B whose angular deviation is approximately 90 °. This security is reset after firing, particularly if all of the cartridges have not been fired, by a new supply to the motor 20 which returns the crankpins to the initial position A.

In the event that the shot blocked the internal device of one of the cartridges, it was planned to be able to nevertheless put the security of the cartridges back in place. In such a way that the entire control is not blocked, the concerned wolf-toothed chatter 40 (FIG. 10) lifts due to the slope of the teeth against the spring 41 and escapes without preventing the safe return of the other cartridges. The force of the spring 41 has been provided so that the exhaust cannot occur for the normal operation of the unlocked safeties.

Incidentally the rotary wolf tooth member 45 (Figure 1) of the cartridge has a small central bore into which the centering pin 46 (Figure 10) is inserted on each wolf tooth clabot of the control device to ensure coincidence of the axes.

Claims (7)

1. Removable magazine device for launching from an aircraft a multiplicity of individual charges with electric primers (3), each one of which is contained in a cartridge (1) which is held in the magazine against a base plate (9) of the magazine, with a printed electric initiating circuit (5), arranged along the base plate and provided with contact points (7) with each of the primers and a connector for electrical connection to the aircraft, characterised in that the cartridges (1) are held individually with bolts against the base plate (9) with the interposition of a plate (6) made of a material which insulates the printed circuit (5) electrically, whereby holes (8) in this plate are used for the passage of the points (7) for electrical contact with the primers (3).

2. Device according to claim 1, characterised in that each point (7) is soldered onto a flexible terminal (11) obtained with a cut-out of the printed circuit (5).

3. Device according to any one of claims 1 or 2 with a removable coding part of the electric supply circuit of the primers, characterised in that this coding part (19) fits onto a standard socket (18) arranged on the printed circuit (5).

4. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the insulating plate (6) forms part of a housing unit (13) for the cartridges.

5. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the base plate (9) is provided in its thickness with dogs (40) each of which is able to actuate an internal safety device of each cartridge with a rotating part (43) of the latter.

6. Device according to claim 5, characterised in that each dog (40) has a facility for withdrawing axially when it comes up against a spring (41).

7. Device according to claim 5 or 6, characterised in that it is provided with a wheel (23) which actuates all the dogs (40) by means of connecting rods (24, 35) by the action of an electric motor (20) contained in the base plate (9).

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