GB2184414A - Rocket propelled vehicle - Google Patents
Rocket propelled vehicle Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- GB2184414A GB2184414A GB08531562A GB8531562A GB2184414A GB 2184414 A GB2184414 A GB 2184414A GB 08531562 A GB08531562 A GB 08531562A GB 8531562 A GB8531562 A GB 8531562A GB 2184414 A GB2184414 A GB 2184414A
- Authority
- GB
- United Kingdom
- Prior art keywords
- vehicle
- wing
- rocket
- compartment
- wings
- 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.)
- Granted
Links
Classifications
-
- F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
- F42—AMMUNITION; BLASTING
- F42B—EXPLOSIVE CHARGES, e.g. FOR BLASTING, FIREWORKS, AMMUNITION
- F42B10/00—Means for influencing, e.g. improving, the aerodynamic properties of projectiles or missiles; Arrangements on projectiles or missiles for stabilising, steering, range-reducing, range-increasing or fall-retarding
- F42B10/02—Stabilising arrangements
- F42B10/14—Stabilising arrangements using fins spread or deployed after launch, e.g. after leaving the barrel
-
- F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
- F42—AMMUNITION; BLASTING
- F42B—EXPLOSIVE CHARGES, e.g. FOR BLASTING, FIREWORKS, AMMUNITION
- F42B10/00—Means for influencing, e.g. improving, the aerodynamic properties of projectiles or missiles; Arrangements on projectiles or missiles for stabilising, steering, range-reducing, range-increasing or fall-retarding
- F42B10/60—Steering arrangements
- F42B10/62—Steering by movement of flight surfaces
- F42B10/64—Steering by movement of flight surfaces of fins
Landscapes
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Fluid Mechanics (AREA)
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Aiming, Guidance, Guns With A Light Source, Armor, Camouflage, And Targets (AREA)
Abstract
A rocket-propelled vehicle having a body (1) including a rocket motor (3), the body (1) having a wing (7) accommodated in a wing storage compartment (6), the vehicle further including mechanism arranged for extending the wing (7) outwards from the compartment when required to assist the flight performance of the vehicle, and subsequently returning the wing (7) to assist descent. In use, the wing is extended at the end of the ballistic climb; to enable the vehicle to glide a considerable distance, the wing being retracted at a timed interval to put the vehicle into a ballistic dive. The wings (7) are variable in incidence independently to control the vehicle in the glide. The invention allows the use of a lower powered motor for a given range. <IMAGE>
Description
SPECIFICATION
Rocket propelled vehicle
This invention relates to a rocket propelled vehicle. It relates particularly to such a vehicle which is intended to be propelled by its rocket motor to a known altitude and then will continue to travel forward to a required destination using kinetic energy acquired during the propulsion stage.
Where the length of the flight path of the vehicle is intended to be in the region of say ten kilometres, this might require the use of rather a high altitude ballistic trajectory in order to enable such a range to be attained. A high powered rocket motor would therefore be needed in the vehicle to achieve this effect.
It might not be necessary to propel the vehicle to such a high altitude if some alternative means could be found to extend the available glide path obtainable from a lower powered rocket motor. The present invention provides a vehicle capable of having an extended glide path such that q relatively long range can be obtained, if required, in operation of the vehicle.
According to the invention, there is provided a rocket propelled vehicle comprising a body including a rocket motor, the body having a wing member accommodated in a wing storage compartment, the vehicle further including mechanism arranged for extending the wing member outwards from the compartment when required to assist the flight and subsequently returning the wing member to assist descent of the vehicle.
The wing member may comprise two wing portions which are capable of being extended simultaneously from the storage compartment in operation. The extension of the wing member may be controlled by a timer to occur at a predetermined time interval after launch of the vehicle.
Preferably, the vehicle includes a control system capable of effecting the movement of said wing portions outwards from the storage compartment and the return of the wing portions to the compartment at time intervals that are stored in the system prior to the launch of said vehicle.
The control system may be associated with an actuator mechanism effective to adjust the angle of incidence of each of the wing portions relative to the vehicle body. The actuator mechanism may adjust the angle of incidence of each wing portion in a separate manner in order to give control of the direction of flight of the vehicle.
By way of example, a particular embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:
Figure 1 shows in side view, an extended range rocket propelled vehicle,
Figure 2 is a plan view, and
Figure 3 is a view from the front end of the vehicle.
As shown particularly in Figure 1, the vehicle had a long cylindrical body 1 which accommodated at a front end a payload section 2. At a rear end the body 1 included a rocket motor 3 and guide fins 4. In a middle section, the body had a winq storage compartment 6 which housed two wings 7.
The operating system of the vehicle was designed to ensure that during the initial part of the flight of the vehicle when the rocket motor 3 was active, the wings 7 remained fully housed in the wing storage compartment 6. At the end of a predetermined period of powered flight, the rocket motor 3 ceased operation and the vehicle body changed its attitude and tilted towards the earth's surface for the return journey. Some time after this flight stage had commenced, a body shutter 8 located on the wing storage compartment 6 was moved to one side and the two wings 7 were each pivoted in an arc (shown by the dotted lines 9) out sideways from the body so they took up the positions depicted in Figure 2. After the movement of the wings 7 had been completed, the body shutter 8 was moved again to close the compartment 6 thus maintaining minimum drag geometry.
The wings 7 were equipped with actuators (not shown) to provide variable angles of incidence. The actuators could be operated together to control lift or differentially to control roll and yaw. The operation of the actuators and the wing movements etc. were governed by a control system in the vehicle.
Figure 3 shows that the positions of the wings 7 were staggered so that one wing lies above the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and the other wing lies below this line. This provision allowed the wings to be accommodated compactly in the storage compartment 6 when they were housed therein. Figure 3 also shows the four guide fins 4 which were mounted on a fin carrier 11. The fin carrier 11 was provided with castellations 12 which were designed to promote rotation of the rocket vehicle about its longitudinal axis during the period when the rocket motor 3 was functioning.
In operation of the rocket propelled vehicle, the vehicle was launched on a selected directional bearing in order to deliver its payload in the area required. Prior to the actual launch operation, three timing intervals were transferred into the control system of the vehicle and these were
(a) time interval to deploy wings,
(b) time interval to retract wings and
(c) time interval to release payload.
During an initial ballistic climb, a rocket will roll due to a slight fin asymmetry or due to an enforced spin motion promoted by the launcher system. The present rocket vehicle in cluded the castellations 12 on the fin carrier 11 which promoted spinning to stabilise the vehicle flight during the ballistic climb stage.
At the end of the climb period, the rocket vehicle continued to spin and at a preset time after launch the wings 7 were due to be deployed. At this moment, it was important to know which side of the vehicle was uppermost in order to achieve correct operation of the wings. The technique used for finding this position was to use an integrated roll rate sensor which provided a measure of body roll position and a roll position error signal from which a roll control circuit of the vehicle control system could be operated. In a different embodiment, means such as a pendulum sensor could be used to determine the body angular position.
The deployment of the wings 7 commenced with the displacement of the body shutter 8, then the wings moved out from the storage compartment 6 and the body shutter 8 closed again.
At the point when the wings were first deployed, the initial wing incidence was set by the actuator of each wing at a zero lift angle, approximately --7". The- roll position error signal was processed to command the wing actuators to turn differentially to produce a rolling movement. When the roll angle was nulled or was approaching null, control was transferred to a yaw rate sensor. In a different embodiment, an alternative way of achieving this result would be by use of a magnometer navigator. This ensured that the vehicle glide path would be nominally straight ahead in still air conditions.
The vehicle control system was arranged to take account of the fact that a roll induced motion will produce a side force which in turn will cause the vehicle to yaw.
To maintain altitude, the wings 7 were rotated by their actuators in response to a suitable altitude related function which in this embodiment was the rate of change of barometric pressure. In a different embodiment, an alternative altitude-related function might be a stored schedule of wing incidence angle against measured dynamic load which could enable the angle to be adjusted to maintain constant lift.
The drag energy of the vehicle was balanced against the loss in kinetic energy derived from the ballistic launch. Thus the vehicle speed tended to be reduced slowly along the flight path until the wings 7 could no longer support the weight of the vehicle.
Typically, the wings would need to rotate through an angle of incidence range of 70 to +7 . Wing stall was likely to occur at + 100.
The constant angle dive for the present embodiment was approximately 6".
At the second timing interval, the wing swing operation was reversed. Both wings 7 were rotated to zero lift incidence to minimise actuation loads, the shutter 8 was opened, the wings 7 swung back into the body and the shutter 8 was closed. At this moment, the vehicle flight became a ballistic dive.
At the third timing interval, when the vehicle was in the ballistic dive stage, the dropping of the payload occurred.
The rocket propelled vehicle of the invention has been found to be cost effective in its construction since it relies on the use of modifications to an existing type of rocket vehicle with conventional rocket motor and fin unit.
The vehicle allowed the contents of the payload compartment to be discharged at a relatively long range such as a range in excess of ten kilometres, and it would normally require a rocket motor of considerably greater power to achieve this distance.
The foregoing description of an embodiment of the invention has been given by way of example only and a number of modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. For instance, it is not essential that the dropping of the payload should occur during the ballistic dive stage of the vehicle. In a different embodiment, the payload dropping procedure might be required to occur whilst the vehicle was travelling with the wings extended.
Claims (6)
1. A rocket propelled vehicle comprising a body including a rocket motor, the body having a wing member accommodated in a wing storage compartment, the vehicle further including mechanism arranged for extending the wing member outwards from the compartment when required to assist the flight and subsequently returning the wing member to assist descent of the vehicle.
2. A vehicle as claimed in Claim 1, in which the said wing member comprises two wing portions which are capable of being extended simultaneously from the storage compartment in operation, at a time interval which can be adjusted to occur at a predetermined moment after launch of said vehicle.
3. A vehicle as claimed in Claim 2, in which the vehicle includes a control system capable of effecting the movement of said wing portions outwards from the wing storage compartment and the return of the wing portions to the compartment at time intervals that are stored in the system prior to the launch of said vehicle.
4. A vehicle as claimed in Claim 3, in which said control system is associated with an actuator mechanism effective to adjust the angle of incidence of each of the wing portions relative to the vehicle body.
5. A vehicle as claimed in Claim 4, in which the said actuator mechanism is arranged to adjust the angle of incidence of each of the wing portions in a separate manner in order to give control over the direction of flight of the vehicle.
6. A rocket propelled vehicle substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawing.
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
GB8531562A GB2184414B (en) | 1985-12-21 | 1985-12-21 | Rocket propelled vehicle |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
GB8531562A GB2184414B (en) | 1985-12-21 | 1985-12-21 | Rocket propelled vehicle |
Publications (2)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
GB2184414A true GB2184414A (en) | 1987-06-24 |
GB2184414B GB2184414B (en) | 1989-10-18 |
Family
ID=10590141
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
GB8531562A Expired GB2184414B (en) | 1985-12-21 | 1985-12-21 | Rocket propelled vehicle |
Country Status (1)
Country | Link |
---|---|
GB (1) | GB2184414B (en) |
Cited By (7)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
GB2268455A (en) * | 1991-03-22 | 1994-01-12 | Gordon Leonard Harris | Air launched munition range extension system. |
EP0636852A1 (en) * | 1993-07-28 | 1995-02-01 | DIEHL GMBH & CO. | Artillery rocket using canard fins for guiding |
WO2011019424A3 (en) * | 2009-05-19 | 2011-05-05 | Raytheon Company | Guided missile |
JP2011247520A (en) * | 2010-05-28 | 2011-12-08 | Ihi Aerospace Co Ltd | Flying body |
CN106500548A (en) * | 2016-12-07 | 2017-03-15 | 华南农业大学 | A kind of formula electric power rocket is can return to for intercept small aircraft |
US10358205B2 (en) | 2013-06-16 | 2019-07-23 | Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. | Shutter mechanism for covering a wing deployment opening |
CN113790636A (en) * | 2021-08-31 | 2021-12-14 | 北京航空航天大学 | Rocket for realizing gliding range extension and accurate control by adopting rolling arc wings |
-
1985
- 1985-12-21 GB GB8531562A patent/GB2184414B/en not_active Expired
Cited By (11)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
GB2268455A (en) * | 1991-03-22 | 1994-01-12 | Gordon Leonard Harris | Air launched munition range extension system. |
GB2268455B (en) * | 1991-03-22 | 1995-08-30 | Gordon Leonard Harris | Air launched munitions range extension device |
EP0636852A1 (en) * | 1993-07-28 | 1995-02-01 | DIEHL GMBH & CO. | Artillery rocket using canard fins for guiding |
US5467940A (en) * | 1993-07-28 | 1995-11-21 | Diehl Gmbh & Co. | Artillery rocket |
WO2011019424A3 (en) * | 2009-05-19 | 2011-05-05 | Raytheon Company | Guided missile |
JP2011247520A (en) * | 2010-05-28 | 2011-12-08 | Ihi Aerospace Co Ltd | Flying body |
US10358205B2 (en) | 2013-06-16 | 2019-07-23 | Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. | Shutter mechanism for covering a wing deployment opening |
EP3010798B1 (en) * | 2013-06-16 | 2021-11-10 | Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. | Shutter mechanism for covering a wing deployment opening |
CN106500548A (en) * | 2016-12-07 | 2017-03-15 | 华南农业大学 | A kind of formula electric power rocket is can return to for intercept small aircraft |
CN113790636A (en) * | 2021-08-31 | 2021-12-14 | 北京航空航天大学 | Rocket for realizing gliding range extension and accurate control by adopting rolling arc wings |
CN113790636B (en) * | 2021-08-31 | 2024-04-09 | 北京航空航天大学 | Rocket for realizing glide range increase and precise control by adopting rolling arc wings |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
GB2184414B (en) | 1989-10-18 |
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Legal Events
Date | Code | Title | Description |
---|---|---|---|
732 | Registration of transactions, instruments or events in the register (sect. 32/1977) | ||
PCNP | Patent ceased through non-payment of renewal fee |
Effective date: 19941221 |