Ruggedizing Infrared Integrated Dewar-Detector Assemblies For Harsh Environmental Conditions

Cryogenically cooled infrared electro-optical payloads have to operate and survive frequent exposure to harsh vibrational and shock conditions typical of the modern battlefield. This necessitates the development of special approaches to ruggedizing their sensitive components.The ruggedization requirement holds true specifically for Integrated Dewar-Detector Assemblies (IDDA), where the infrared Focal Plane Array (FPA) is usually supported by a thin-walled cold finger enveloped by an evacuated tubular Dewar. Without sufficient ruggedization, harsh environmental vibration may give rise to structural resonance responses resulting in spoiled image quality and even mechanical fractures due to material fatigue.The authors present their approach for the ruggedization of the IDDA by attaching the FPA to a semi-rigid support extending from the dynamically damped Dewar envelope. A mathematical model relies on an experimentally evaluated set of frequency response functions for a reference system and a lumped model of a wideband dynamic absorber. By adding only 2% to the weight of the IDDA, the authors have managed to attenuate the relative deflection and absolute acceleration of the FPA by a factor of 3. The analytical predictions are in full agreement with experiment.