Claims
- 1. A lightning diverter strip for conducting lightning-induced electrical currents and thereby protecting vulnerable aircraft components such as radomes and the like, comprising a substrate of flexible dielectric tape having a lower surface adapted to be applied to the aircraft component to be protected thereby, and having an upper surface, a flexible epoxy binder on said upper surface, a conductive metal powder of finely divided aluminum uniformly deposited along said tape and bound thereto by said binder, said powder having a density such as to provide a very high DC resistance which reads essentially as an open circuit to DC voltages while forming a discrete, non-destructive conductive path for electrical currents induced by lightning.
- 2. The strip of claim 1 in which said aluminum powder is of a particle size of approximately 3 microns in diameter and deposited with a density of not substantially less than 100,000 particles per square centimeter and not substantially in excess of 300,000 particles per square centimeter.
- 3. The strip of claim 1 in which said tape is formed of polyethylene terephalate.
- 4. The method of manufacturing a lightning diverter strip comprising the steps of
- (a) providing a length of thin dielectric plastic tape,
- (b) applying a curable epoxy to one surface of the tape,
- (c) uniformly applying finely divided aluminum powder to the epoxy with a density such as to provide a very high DC resistance which reads essentially as an open circuit to DC voltages while forming a discrete, non-destructive conductive path for lightning-induced currents, and
- (d) curing said epoxy to bind the aluminum particles to the tape.
- 5. The method of claim 4 in which the aluminum powder has a particle size of approximately 13 microns and is deposited with a density which is not substantially less than 100,000 particles per square centimeter.
RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 823,025 filed Aug. 9, 1977, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (6)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
2264660 |
Oct 1975 |
FRX |
Non-Patent Literature Citations (2)
Entry |
"Aircraft Protection from Thunderstorm Electro-Magnetic Effects" by Newnan, Robb and Stahmann; May 1963, Technical Document Report ASD-TDR-62-438, Part V. Bureau of Naval Weapons, United States Navy. |
"Model LS60-06 Lightning Protection System" Commercial leaflet 2 pages, no date, 361-218. |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
823025 |
Aug 1977 |
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