US 12,351,503 B1
System and method for rapidly rotating and transferring molten material and powdered material from a first chamber to a second chamber in a micro-gravity environment
Robert White, Sunnyvale, CA (US); Jan Clawson, Mountain View, CA (US); and Michael Snyder, Jacksonville, FL (US)
Assigned to REDWIRE SPACE, INC., Jacksonville, FL (US)
Filed by REDWIRE SPACE, INC., Jacksonville, FL (US)
Filed on Jan. 14, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/576,104.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/137,935, filed on Jan. 15, 2021.
Int. Cl. C03B 5/225 (2006.01)
CPC C03B 5/2255 (2013.01) 5 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
heating a powdered material in a first chamber at a first temperature by an enclosed centrifuge furnace having with the first chamber, a second chamber and a third chamber all of which include and share a tilt axis, the third chamber being concentric with the first chamber and operable at the first temperature to melt the material within the first chamber;
rotating the furnace by a first mechanism to rotate the first, second and third chambers, simultaneously, to create a centrifugal force to maintain the material within the third chamber as the centrifugal force is applied;
pouring the melted material from the third chamber into the second chamber;
heating the material to a second temperature by the second chamber, the second chamber being concentric with the first chamber and the second temperature lower than the first temperature; and
cooling the material within the first chamber.