Patents Assigned to AVCO Research Laboratory, Inc.
  • Patent number: 4922840
    Abstract: A method of combustion of a sulfur-containing fuel which substantially reduces the amount of gaseous sulfur compounds which would otherwise be emitted. A sorbent is injected into products of combustion in the temperature range of about 1600-2400 K. and above resulting from the combustion, gasification or the like, of a sulfur-containing fuel and controlling gas-sorbent particle mixing, gas diffusion, forward and reverse reaction kinetics, particle size, particle temperature, and sorbent particle residence time in the products of combustion to effect substantially maximum capture of sulfur by the sorbent particles and thereafter removal of the sorbent particles before any substantial amount of sulfur captured by the sorbent is lost back to the products of combustion from which it was removed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 1988
    Date of Patent: May 8, 1990
    Assignee: Avco Research Laboratory, Inc.
    Inventors: Jaime A. Woodroffe, Jeevan S. Abichandani
  • Patent number: 4860302
    Abstract: A scanning beam laser pumped laser is disclosed which is capable of producing pulses of 50 or more microsecond duration with a repetition rate of 100 Hz or more and an energy content per pulse of 3 joules or more. Optics focus the output beam of the pumping laser onto the front surface of the pumped laser which may comprise a flowing dye cell. A rotating mirror synchronized with the pulse repetition rate of the pumping laser moves the spot across the dye in the pumped laser in a direction preferably orthogonal to the flow of dye therein. A spherical mirror behind the rear surface of the dye cell reflects radiant energy back toward the rotating mirror. Reflective radiance is turned therefrom to, in part, pass through the aperture of a beam-combining mirror. The small fraction of radiant energy passing through either a partially reflecting surface or a small aperature on the beam combining mirror enters a resonant cavity whose dimensions define the wavelength of the pumped laser.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 1987
    Date of Patent: August 22, 1989
    Assignee: Avco Research Laboratory, Inc.
    Inventor: George S. Janes
  • Patent number: 4769820
    Abstract: At the receiving end or point at which a data or information carrying seed laser beam is to be received after traveling through a medium, a pump laser beam is propagated through the medium to the sending end of the medium at which point the now aberrated pump laser beam may be amplified if necessary and directed to and propagated through a waveguide composed of a suitable third order optically nonlinear medium. The data carrying seed laser beam is directed to and through the waveguide where it is phase conjugated and then through the medium in the direction opposite to that of the pump laser and arrives at the receiving end as an unaberrated laser beam. The data carrying laser beam and the pump laser beam have a frequency difference equal to the Stokes frequency shift of the waveguide material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 16, 1987
    Date of Patent: September 6, 1988
    Assignee: AVCO Research Laboratory, Inc.
    Inventor: Richard B. Holmes
  • Patent number: 4757295
    Abstract: A pulsed transformer capable of providing up to 500 kilovolt or higher, 10 nanosecond rise time, and 1000 joule or higher pulses comprising non-conducting or insulated transformer cores each separated by conductive grading rings wherein n coaxial cables in combination with the grading rings are connected in parallel at one end and in series at their other ends. The transformer may function as either an inverting or non-inverting transformer. In a transformer with n cables, if a pulse voltage of V is applied to the input, an output voltage of nV will appear at the output. The cores function to isolate the coxial cables and permit them to be connected in series at their one end. Weight may be minimized by operating the transformer in gaseous Freon rather than transformer oil.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 1987
    Date of Patent: July 12, 1988
    Assignee: Avco Research Laboratory, Inc.
    Inventor: Charles T. Pike
  • Patent number: 4756765
    Abstract: A method of removing material of poor thermal conductivity such as paint, grease, ceramics, and the like from a substrate by ablation without damage to the substrate by delivering to the material to be removed pulses or their equivalent of a laser beam having a wavelength at which the material to be removed is opaque and a fluence sufficient to ablate or decompose the material without damaging or adversely affecting the substrate or its surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 1983
    Date of Patent: July 12, 1988
    Assignee: AVCO Research Laboratory, Inc.
    Inventor: Jaime A. Woodroffe