EP0507632A1 - Aufblasbarer Seeradarreflektor - Google Patents

Aufblasbarer Seeradarreflektor Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0507632A1
EP0507632A1 EP92303002A EP92303002A EP0507632A1 EP 0507632 A1 EP0507632 A1 EP 0507632A1 EP 92303002 A EP92303002 A EP 92303002A EP 92303002 A EP92303002 A EP 92303002A EP 0507632 A1 EP0507632 A1 EP 0507632A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
radar
reflector
cover
flexible
reflective material
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP92303002A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Inventor
Paul John Ankers
John William George Marks
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Chemring Ltd
Original Assignee
Chemring Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Chemring Ltd filed Critical Chemring Ltd
Publication of EP0507632A1 publication Critical patent/EP0507632A1/de
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01Q—ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS
    • H01Q15/00—Devices for reflection, refraction, diffraction or polarisation of waves radiated from an antenna, e.g. quasi-optical devices
    • H01Q15/14—Reflecting surfaces; Equivalent structures
    • H01Q15/18—Reflecting surfaces; Equivalent structures comprising plurality of mutually inclined plane surfaces, e.g. corner reflector
    • H01Q15/20—Collapsible reflectors

Definitions

  • This invention relates to radar reflector and to radar reflective material used therein.
  • a radar reflector typically comprises reflecting planes of radar reflective material.
  • the radar reflectors may be used together with a hydrogen balloon for wind tracking purposes or may be for maritime use. In either case they need to be light in construction capable of being folded for storage and transit.
  • Known radar reflectors currently use a high quality nylon mesh which is coated with silver which in turn is proofed after metallization with a protective, radar transparent coating which protects the coated mesh against abrasion and environmental conditions.
  • the mesh size is designed to be responsive to radar systems using 6.0 and 9.0 GHz and suitably has a hole spacing of 8.0 per centimetre.
  • different mesh sizes are used for different applications.
  • a problem with existing radar reflective material of this known flexible type is that it tends to be susceptible to damage despite the application of the protective coating to the strands of the mesh.
  • An object of the present invention is to provide an improved radar reflector and radar reflective material.
  • a radar reflector comprising a reflector secured within an inflatable cover, the cover when inflated being polyhedral in shape.
  • the cover is geometrically designed as a faceted cube in which the corners of a cube have been cut away to provide fourteen faces.
  • the cover may be made of suitable pliant or flexible material such as a synthetic polymer material, for example, a polyurethane material.
  • the reflector is preferably a square octahedral reflector of silver-coated nylon mesh encapsulated in a co-polymer laminate.
  • the reflector may be secured within the cover by means of ties.
  • the invention also includes a radar reflective material comprising a flexible radar reflective layer encapsulated within a flexible radar transparent membrane.
  • the membrane may comprise first and second flexible radar transparent layers so that the radar reflective material is a laminate with the reflective layer interposed between.
  • the radar reflective layer is a metallized mesh reflector and the radar transparent layers may either consist of layers of polyethylene co-polymer which are fused to the mesh and through the mesh or the first layer may be a backing layer such as nylon sheet material and the second layer may be a polyurethane coating.
  • the inflatable reflector of the present invention is primarily designed as a life-raft-mounted reflector, but may be employed as a general marine safety aid.
  • an inflatable radar reflector (1) comprises a cover (2) and a reflector (3).
  • the cover (2) comprises a top half cover (4) and a bottom half cover (5).
  • the half covers (4,5) are cut from suitable master templates.
  • the reflector (3) comprises three panels (6, 7, 8) heat welded at their intersections with glass reinforced tape corners (9) for mounting twelve securing eyelets (10).
  • loops (11) are provided on the internal surfaces as indicated in Figures 1 and 2.
  • An air valve (12) is also provided for inflation.
  • the corner loops (11) are fitted by welding, twelve to each cover half.
  • the corners of the reflector (3) are marked and are offered to the correspondingly numbered corner loops (11) of the cover halves (4,5).
  • the reflector corners are then secured by means of flexible ties (13) which pass through the corner loops (11) on the cover (2) and the eyelets (10) on the reflector - see Figure 4 which shows the ties (13) extended in the inflated state of the radar reflector.
  • the cover halves (4,5) are cut from planar material to provide seven panels and then the panels are drawn together to provide the half polyhedral shape of the radar reflector.
  • the reflector (3) is then tied in position to the cover halves (4,5) and each half formed to shape by three mating seams (15) of each half being welded. Finally, the two halves (4,5) are connected by welding each of the six seams connecting the top and bottom cover halves (4,5).
  • the cover (2) is then fitted with eyelets (14) as shown in Figure 2.
  • the radar reflector (1) of the present invention is tested to a pressure of 1.0 psi and has a burst pressure of about 4.0 psi.
  • the radar reflector (1) is designed to be mounted on a life-raft.
  • the eyelet arrangement (14) and shape of the cover (2) allow it to be mounted in a variety of ways according to the needs of a particular life-raft design. For example, it may be secured by stays or mounted on a mast. On larger life-rafts the reflector can be mounted internally by suspension from a suitable part of the life-raft structure.
  • the radar reflector (1) of the present invention is normally in collapsed state and although inflation could be by mouth, it is preferred that inflation would normally be by means of the topping up pump supplied in the life-raft or by other more convenient inflation means.
  • the panels (6,7,8) of the reflector (3) are tensioned within the cover into square octahedral shape as shown in Figure 5.
  • the cover preferably comprises polyurethanecoated nylon with a smooth polyurethane inner side and a rougher nylon outer side.
  • the reflective material of the reflector comprises silver-coated nylon, the silver having been deposited upon the strands of a nylon mesh by a conventional deposition process.
  • the metallized mesh is then encapsulated within layers of polyethylene copolymer which are heated during manufacture to fuse the layers to the mesh and to each other to form a durable radar reflective composite.
  • the polyhedral shape of reflector cover in accordance with the invention is an improvement over known spherical reflectors and has several advantages, for example: the cover construction allows ease of manufacture permitting the reflector to be readily positioned and secured within the cover before welding; the polyhedral shape permits assembly from flat panels; and, the polyhedral shape of the cover reduces the internal volume over known reflectors, permitting quicker inflation in an emergency.

Landscapes

  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Electromagnetism (AREA)
  • Aerials With Secondary Devices (AREA)
EP92303002A 1991-04-04 1992-04-03 Aufblasbarer Seeradarreflektor Withdrawn EP0507632A1 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB9107003 1991-04-04
GB919107003A GB9107003D0 (en) 1991-04-04 1991-04-04 Inflatable marine radar reflector

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0507632A1 true EP0507632A1 (de) 1992-10-07

Family

ID=10692598

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP92303002A Withdrawn EP0507632A1 (de) 1991-04-04 1992-04-03 Aufblasbarer Seeradarreflektor

Country Status (2)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0507632A1 (de)
GB (1) GB9107003D0 (de)

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO1999037535A1 (en) * 1998-01-23 1999-07-29 Rhumbline Limited A buoyancy device
US6384764B1 (en) * 2000-01-14 2002-05-07 Todd Cumberland Inflatable radar reflector

Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0010711A1 (de) * 1978-11-02 1980-05-14 Bayer Ag Verwendung von metallisierten, textilen Flächengebilden als Reflexionsmedien für Mikrowellen
DE3032085A1 (de) * 1980-08-26 1982-04-08 Autoflug Gmbh, 2084 Rellingen Radarwirksame passive peilvorrichtung
EP0148635A2 (de) * 1984-01-12 1985-07-17 Plessey Overseas Limited Radarreflektor
EP0182274A2 (de) * 1984-11-13 1986-05-28 Laval, Marlene Aufblasbarer Radarreflektor
GB2189079A (en) * 1983-04-28 1987-10-14 British Aerospace Corner radar reflector
US4980688A (en) * 1959-09-30 1990-12-25 The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Navy Regenerator

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4980688A (en) * 1959-09-30 1990-12-25 The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Navy Regenerator
EP0010711A1 (de) * 1978-11-02 1980-05-14 Bayer Ag Verwendung von metallisierten, textilen Flächengebilden als Reflexionsmedien für Mikrowellen
DE3032085A1 (de) * 1980-08-26 1982-04-08 Autoflug Gmbh, 2084 Rellingen Radarwirksame passive peilvorrichtung
GB2189079A (en) * 1983-04-28 1987-10-14 British Aerospace Corner radar reflector
EP0148635A2 (de) * 1984-01-12 1985-07-17 Plessey Overseas Limited Radarreflektor
EP0182274A2 (de) * 1984-11-13 1986-05-28 Laval, Marlene Aufblasbarer Radarreflektor

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO1999037535A1 (en) * 1998-01-23 1999-07-29 Rhumbline Limited A buoyancy device
US6384764B1 (en) * 2000-01-14 2002-05-07 Todd Cumberland Inflatable radar reflector

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB9107003D0 (en) 1991-05-22

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PUAI Public reference made under article 153(3) epc to a published international application that has entered the european phase

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