Solid Modeling of Directed-Energy Systems
Abstract
Not long ago, around the mid-1980s, development of most new mechanical systems such as automobiles, consumer products, and military devices was performed manually on a drafting table or drawing board. Engineers used them to prepare layouts or 2-dimensional sketches of what they were designing. They then would take these layouts to a draftsman, who would create drawings of each part in the device. The drawings would subsequently be sent to a manufacturing facility. This layout and drawing preparation process typically would need to be repeated multiple times because mistakes would be made, or design issues would be discovered late in the process. Similarly, the manufacturing process would sometimes require multiple iterations as well because of the inherent limitations in designing 3-dimensional devices on 2-dimensional boards. With the emergence of early computerization, numerical analyses of more complex systems began to be performed. These analyses were conducted to ensure that the systems worked in the real world. Because of the difficulty in performing these analyses, they would often require a specially trained group of structural engineers, expensive software, and large mainframe computers, limiting their use to only the largest, most well-funded companies or organizations. With the availability of smaller scale computers and more economical software in the mid-to-late 1980s, CAD was born, initiating a period of rapid improvement in the design process. This reduced the difficulty of making changes in the development process, but it still limited the engineer's pallet to a 2-dimensional space. What was really needed was a 3-dimensional method of design. Solid modeling addressed this need beginning in the late 1980s to early 1990s. This article discusses solid modeling of directed-energy systems and the use of solid modeling software to design and analyze the Navy Laser Weapon System (LAWS) Beam Director, Kineto Tracking Mount subsystem, and telescope.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA557873
Entities
People
- Joseph F. Sharrow
Organizations
- Naval Surface Warfare Center