Support jack for fragile heavy structures

Details Support jack for fragile heavy structures Support jack for fragile heavy structures

1996-11-25

1999-05-25

Spyrou, Cassandra

Optical: systems and elements

Mirror

Including specified control or retention of the shape of a...

359850, 359846, 359847, 359872, G02B 508, G02B 7188

Patent

active

059074418

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Structures such as a telescopic mirror are large in size and require precise positioning properly to receive an image. A telescopic mirror requires a supporting structure that should distribute the pressure on the mirror as evenly as possible so as not to deform the precise convex/concave shape.
The technical field of the present invention concerns means for supporting fragile and heavy structures, such as a telescope mirror, on a receiving support.
In this kind of structure it is absolutely necessary that the heavy load rest on a means ensuring a uniform thrust adjustable by the user regardless of the position of the structure. It is known that telescope mirrors are of very large dimension, for instance 8 m in diameter, and that mirror deformations must be precisely controlled, even suppressed, while nevertheless assuring the positioning of such mirrors.


BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the prior art, there have been attempts to support and position telescopic mirrors with precision for increased accuracy.
UK 1382094 discloses a method to correct distortions measured from the surface of a radio reflector as it is moved to different angles of elevation by varying the movement of actuators after taking into account factors such as gravity and wind. However, such prior art systems require complex circuitry to correct the shape of a deformable mirror.
The object of the present invention is to provide a support jack for exerting accurate and adjustable thrust within a well-defined range on a load.
Accordingly the object of the invention is a dual-acting support jack interposed between a support and a load and able to apply to this load a rated force between approximately 400 and 3,900N over displacement of less than 1 cm. The jack includes a reservoir-forming body, connected to the support and covered on both sides by a cover, the covers and the body bounding a housing having two chambers, each sealed by a flexible membrane, the two covers being connected to each other by link means.
The link means consist of tie bolts extending through the body and the covers.
The support jack has a generally cylindrical shape with two chambers isolated one from the other.
The membranes are in the form of annuli of which the inside edge is joined to the body and the outside edge to each of the covers.
Each cover comprises a cylindrical flange cooperating with a collar to clamp the outer edge of each membrane.
The covers are joined to each other by tie bolts having at their centers a bulge, the collar and the cover being pressed by means of nuts against each side of the said bulge.
The inner and outer membrane edges are fitted with a bead disposed in a channel in each collar.
The load is linked to the adjacent cover by a linkrod.
The support jack is rigidly joined opposite the load to a means generating an additional force.
One embodiment of the support jack supporting a telescope mirror comprises an array of support jacks linked to the mirror and to a support structure matching the shape of the mirror.
The main advantage of the present invention is the accurate adjustment of the force applied by the support jack to the load.
Another advantage is the faithful transmission of the force received by the support jack.
In the telescope mirror application, one advantage of the support jack is to allow accurate mirror-weight distribution, thereby avoiding critical deformations.
Another advantage is the design of a jack with only minute rigidity-fluctuation or restoring force.
Yet another advantage is the design of a jack practically free of friction or hysteresis of any kind.
Other features and advantages of the invention are elucidated in the following complementary description illustrating a particular embodiment mode in relation to the attached drawings in which:


BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a section showing the support jack of the invention,
FIG. 2 is a view showing the support jack linked to its support,
FIG. 3 is an overall view of the support jack, and
FIGS. 4, 5 are sections AA and

REFERENCES:
patent: 4522111 (1985-06-01), Kobelt
patent: 4750002 (1988-06-01), Kommineni
patent: 5677800 (1997-10-01), Soll et al.
Morrison, Development problems of the promary mirror for large space Telescope, SPIE, Journal May, 1970.

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