Development of thermal protective seal for hot structure control surface actuator rod

For the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) the deflection of the highly loaded body flap is performed by an actuator system which is connected to the body flap by a rod. Besides the thermal and mechanical loads the sealing of the inner vehicle against the possible leaking hot plasma is an important issue whereby the special challenge for the design results from the spatial movement of the rod. This requires a design consisting of different parts and various materials in order to satisfy the mechanical flexibility and the resistance to the thermal and mechanical loads under the aspect of reusability. This paper describes the MT Aerospace approach for the thermal protection system for the actuator as presented for the critical design review of IXV. The design is presented and described including all necessary performed analysis steps toward such a design.