The present invention relates to structural panels used in construction and more particularly to ballistic resistant structural panels that can be assembled together to erect a shelter.
Temporary shelters differ from traditional permanent buildings or structures in that a temporary shelter must be portable and relatively easy to construct. This is particularly true when the shelters must be constructed to provide housing for a large number of people in a short amount of time. For example, during a military deployment or an emergency situation where an area's housing may be destroyed or made uninhabitable.
Additionally, conventional temporary shelters deployed in combat zones or other areas where violence may break out are often not resistant to high-velocity projectiles, gunfire and/or fragmentation shrapnel. Currently, the Middle East is one such dangerous area. The desert environment of the area poses additional dangers to personnel stationed there as the extreme temperatures must also be taken into account when erecting shelters.
Currently, temporary shelters are limited to traditional tents, which only offer limited protection against weather and to some pre-fabricated housing units which are no better than sheet-metal structures or cargo containers. These shelters offer little to no ballistic protection to their occupants. Additionally, with current shelters, deployment in certain environments, such as a desert, also highlights the fact that these shelters do not offer adequate thermal insulation.
Even if these shelters are ballistic resistant they usually achieve this resistance by using relatively expensive and exotic materials such as aramid fiber-based ballistic materials (e.g., Kevlar® or Nomex®) that are layered together to form panels. This protection also suffers from the drawback that every component of the panel must be manufactured at first location, stored at another, and then brought to the site, thereby increasing the logistical difficulties and expenses.
Other, less expensive, techniques of increasing the survivability of a structure include adding armor plating to the structure or surrounding the structure with earthworks, such as sandbags. Applying armor plating to existing conventional structures suffers from the drawback of lack of portability and high cost. While age-old earthen defenses offer a cheap means for increasing survivability and are readily available at the deployment location, the very high manual labor requirements of building earthworks around temporary structures is not desirable. Therefore, fortifying conventional structures using earthworks (e.g., sandbags) is not practical on a large scale.
Furthermore, the threat of terrorist activity, such as suicide-bombers, where an attack may occur from the inside of a structure may negate any armor or ballistic protection provided by the outer walls of a structure. There is therefore a need to provide a means to compartmentalize or cordon off areas within certain structures, e.g., command centers.
Presently, there exists a need to provide a means for constructing temporary shelters that have a high degree of ballistics protection (i.e., capable of stopping conventional small arms munitions) and that is portable and practical enough for rapid deployment and construction. It is particularly desirable to have a ballistically resistant temporary shelter which receives most of its protection from materials that are readily available at the location of deployment.
The present invention is a construction panel having improved ballistic resistance and a method of using the construction panel to build a structure.
It is a first advantage of the present invention to provide a construction panel which is resistant to substantially any conventional small-arms munitions.
It is a second advantage of the present invention to provide a ballistic resistant construction panel which is light-weight and readily transportable.
It is a third advantage of the present invention to provide a ballistic resistant construction panel that may be modified to address the potential threat level by adding additional layers of protection.
It is a fourth advantage of the present invention to provide a ballistic resistant construction panel that contains a earthen filler material, such as sand, that does not have to be shipped to a location as part of its ballistic protection.
It is a fifth advantage of the present invention to form a construction panel by coupling relatively thin and rigid sheets of fiber-reinforced plastic material together. These sheets include a generally waveform shaped corrugated member that is sandwiched between two planar sheets. The corrugated member's shape creates a plurality of elongated channels along the panel and these channels are reinforced against ballistic attack by filling them with a solid filler material, such as sand.
It is a sixth advantage of the invention to provide a ballistic construction panel including a plurality of generally planar and rigid structural sheets. The sheets include an inner-most sheet and an outer-most sheet and wherein each of the sheets is disposed parallel to each other. At least one rigid corrugated member is disposed between each adjacent sheet and is coupled to these adjacent sheets. The corrugated member and adjacent sheets cooperate to define a plurality of elongated cells. A reinforcing filler material is disposed within and fills the plurality of cells.
It is a seventh advantage of the present invention to provide a ballistic wall panel including a layered fiber-reinforced plastic construction panel that has a corrugated inner member between planar sheets. These sheets and corrugated member form vertical cells which are filled with sand. The wall panel further includes a channel-shaped sill that caps the bottom of the wall panel and prevents the sand from leaking out of the bottom of the wall panel.
It is an eighth advantage of the present invention to provide a method of making a ballistic construction panel by coupling a corrugated member between a pair of rigid planar sheet of fiber-reinforced plastic and filling the channels between the corrugated member and sheets with a readily available material, such as sand.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description when viewed in accordance with the accompanying drawings and appended claims.
Referring now to
In the preferred embodiment, cells 21, 22 are filled with sand as it is readily available and therefore does not have to be transported with the sheets 12-16 and corrugated members 18, 20. In other embodiments, the cells 21, 22 may be filled with substantially any available filler material. For example and without limitation, the sand could be supplemented or replaced with almost any pourable solid earthen material such as gravel, crushed stone or they may be filled with a conventional pourable construction material like concrete.
Each sheet 12-16 is approximately 1/16 in. (1.5 mm) thick and can be substantially any length or height. The length and width are dependent on the particular application the panel 10 is intended for. For example, in the wall panel described below, the sheets are approximately 12 to 16 feet long and 7 to 8 feet high.
Each sheet 12-16 is formed from a strong lightweight material that can be processed in a manner which enables a single homogeneous sheet to have certain portions that are rigid, while other portions of the sheet are relatively flexible. The sheets are formed from a fiber-reinforced plastic material. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the sheets are a fiber-reinforced thermoplastic material. The process of causing such a material to become rigid (i.e., inflexible) is generally called consolidation and a rigid plastic material will, for purposes of this description, be called consolidated, while the still flexible plastic material will be called unconsolidated. One such consolidation process is achieved by running a sheet of thermoplastic or thermosetting material through a machine which applies heat and/or infrared radiation and pressure to the sheet. A portion of the sheet that is protected from one or more of these energies will allow that portion to remain unconsolidated and flexible. One example of such a fiber-reinforced thermoplastic material is commercially available from Saint-Gobain Vetrotex America in Shelby, Mich. and marketed under the trademark “Twintex”.
another benefit of using a fiber-reinforced thermoplastic materials such as TWINTEX®, a fabric having commingled fiberglass fibers and polyoefin fibers, is that these materials partially “self-heal” when punctured. That is, the material at the point of puncture deforms upon penetration, but partially returns back to its original location after the projectile passes through. So any ballistic projectile passing through a layer of such a material, such as outer sheet 14 will leave a hole that is smaller than the projectile. The resulting hole will allow little to no filler material 24 from escaping out of the sheet 14.
In other embodiments, the fiber-reinforced plastic material is a fiber-reinforced thermosetting plastic or composite material.
As shown in
This waveform pattern creates two opposite facing sets of front and rear faces or webs portions 26, 28. The front faces 26 are all substantially co-planar with each other, thereby cooperatively providing a front surface 30. Similarly, the rear faces 28 are all substantially co-planar with each other, thereby cooperatively providing a rear surface 32. In the preferred embodiment, the corrugated members 18, 20 have a waveform cross-sectional shape of a trapezoid wave. That is, each corrugated member 18, 20 has a planar web or face 26 and a cross-piece 29 which projects from the face 26 toward an adjacent web or face 28. Face 28 is parallel to face 26. In the preferred embodiment, the trapezoid waveform profile is achieved by each interconnecting cross-piece 29 forming an obtuse internal angle with the two faces 26, 28 it connects. In other embodiments, this angle may be acute (where portions of adjacent faces 26, 28 would overlap) or 90 degrees. As a result of the trapezoidal shape, the faces 26, 28 are flat. The surfaces 30, 32 thereby present a generally flat surface.
The waveform cross-section of the corrugated members defines a series of generally concave channels 34 which span across each member 18, 20. Each channel 34 faces in the opposite direction to the channel 34 adjacent to it. While a trapezoid waveform has been described for the cross-sectional shape of the corrugated members 18, 20, it should be appreciated that corrugated members 18, 20 may have different cross-sectional shapes.
In the embodiment shown, the corrugated members have a uniform material thickness of approximately 5/64 in. (2 mm). The waveform repeats every six inches (e.g., each surface 26 is six inches away from the adjacent surface 26). The waveform has a height (i.e., the normal distance from surface 26 to surface 28) of approximately four inches. In this embodiment, each surface 26, 28 is approximately one inch across. The corrugated members 18, 20 are approximately the same size in length and height as the sheets 12-16. It should be appreciated that the dimensions provided above are for the preferred embodiment of the invention, but that the sizes and dimensions may vary.
Each corrugated member 18, 20 is formed from a material having similar properties as the sheets 12-16. In the preferred embodiment, the corrugated members 18, 20 are formed from the same fiber-reinforced plastic material as the sheets.
As shown in
The rear surface 32 (i.e., each face 28) of corrugated member 18 is abutted to the inner sheet 12 flatwise. Conventional fastening means (e.g., mechanical fasteners, adhesives, hook and pile arrangements) couple the sheet 12 and corrugated member 18 together at faces 28. In the preferred embodiment, reusable mechanical fasteners (e.g., nuts and bolts) are used to couple the sheets 12-16 to the corrugated members 18, 20 to allow the panel 10 to be disassembled.
The middle sheet 16 is placed in flatwise abutting arrangement against the front surface 30 of the corrugated member 18. As shown in
Lastly, the outer sheet 14 is coupled to the front face 26 of corrugated member 20 in the same manner as that described above for sheet 12 and member 16.
Preferably, each face 26, 28 that abuts a sheet receives a fastener. Multiple fasteners are used along each face 26, 28 at approximately one foot intervals.
In the preferred embodiment, the outer-most fasteners 36 are formed from a relatively soft material such as plastic or nylon to prevent jacketed armor-piercing ammunition from hitting a hard surface (e.g., a metal bolt head), thereby destroying the soft metal outer jacket and allowing the internal penetrator to continue on. The inner-most and middle fasteners 38 can be made of metal (or other material) to reduce cost. Some conventional fasteners, like bolts, require holes to be formed in the sheets 12-16 and corrugated members 18, 20. It should be appreciated that these apertures can be either pre-formed into the panels or drilled at the construction site.
Referring now to
Another alternate embodiment of the invention is illustrated in
Referring now to
Particularly, in this embodiment, the inner and outer sheets 112, 114 include additional flexible unconsolidated portions or flaps 116, 118 which extend beyond the rigid wall-like portion of the sheets. An attachment portion or section 120, 122 of additional rigid material extends from the respective flexible portions 116, 118. That is, sheet 112 includes a first rigid wall section 113 that is sized to substantially cover an abutting corrugated member 18, a flexible portion 116 which operates as a flap, and a second rigid attachment section 120. Similarly, sheet 114 includes a first rigid wall section 115 that is larger in both height and length than an abutting corrugated member 20, a flexible portion 118 which operates as a flap, and a second rigid attachment section 122. Each flap 116, 118 and its respective attachment section 120, 122 spans the entire length of the sheet 112, 114. The outer-most sheet 114 extends beyond the height of the rest of the panel 110 at least a distance equal to the overall thickness of the panel 110 (e.g., at least 8 in.). Flaps 116, 118 may only extend as far as necessary to allow the attachment sections 120, 122 to angle away from the first wall section 113, 115 (e.g., approximately equal to the thickness of the sheets 112, 114). In other embodiments, the flexible sections may extend much further from the sheet 112, 114 for a particular application. Attachment section 120 extends approximately six inches from its flexible portions, while attachment section 122 extends at least as far as the overall thickness of the panel 110 and is preferably within the range of 8 to 16 inches.
As shown in
Additionally, the embodiment shown in
Referring now to
Sill 150 is made up of elongated channels which, when interconnected, forms an endless annular channel that defines the perimeter of a temporary structure. Web 152 is placed onto the ground 157 with the two flanges 154, 156 projecting vertically. Anchoring hardware 160 may be used to hold the sill 150 down to the ground 157. Once a panel, such as panel 10, is disposed within the sill 150 the ballistic reinforcing filler material 24 may be poured into the panel 10 without the material 24 leaking out of the bottom. Sill 150, therefore acts as a cap or retaining member that cooperates with the inner and outer sheets 12, 14 to retain the material.
In other embodiments, sill 150 may be further employed to enclose or cap the sides and/or top of a panel 10 thereby creating a free-standing panel 10 which will not leak sand 24 after it has been filled.
Sill 150 may also include a floor containment channel 161 which is shaped as a second annular channel that projects orthogonally from the inner flange 154. This channel 161 provides a spot to anchor a flooring material 162 to the panels 10, 50, 60, 110 through the sill 150. The channel is sized to accept conventional boards or planks, such as two inch thick boards. In one non-limiting embodiment, the floor 162 is formed from a pair of sheets similar to sheets 12, 14 that cover a honeycomb configured grid. These sheets and grid may be formed from the same material as the sheets 12-16 and members 18, 20.
A ballistic resistant temporary structure, such as the exemplary structure 180 shown in
Wall panels, such as panels 110 are oriented with their cells 21, 22 facing vertically and are placed within the sill 150 between the flanges 154, 156 with the horizontal flexible portions 116, 118 running along their top edges.
Where wall panels 110 intersect, they are coupled together as described above. After the walls 110 are coupled together, a roof panel, such as a panel 10, which is sized to span across opposing inner sheets 112 of the structure 180 is then placed on top of the walls 110. As shown in
Referring now to
It should be appreciated that the outer attachment section 122 of the taller wall panel (shown on the right side of
Once all of the wall panels 110 and roof panel are coupled together the cells 21, 22 of the panels 10, 110 can be filled with sand 24. In this regard, the horizontal flexible portions 118 and attachment sections 122 may be braced in a position to act as a funnel and direct the sand 24 being poured into the panels 110. To reduce the time needed to fill panels 10, 110, earth-moving equipment, such as front-end loaders, may be used to pour large amounts of sand 24 into the panel or panels. The fluid nature of dry sand will cause it to fill in and take the shape of the cells 21, 22.
Once the roof is filled with sand, the last attachment section 122 may be coupled to the roof panel. In this manner, the walls 110 and roof panel cooperate to define an enclosed living space 182 for the shelter 180.
In another embodiment, the walls 110 are filled with sand prior to placing the roof panel on top of the walls.
It should be appreciated that at least one of the wall panels 110 includes an entryway and possibly windows. To create such passages, portions of the wall merely need to be cut out from a wall panel. Caps, similar to sill 150, may be used to enclose the exposed inner areas of the wall panel 110 and thereby retain the sand within the wall.
Referring now to
Panels 201, 202 are angled toward each other and coupled together at attachment portion 206 to form an inverted “V” shape on the ground. A third triangular shaped panel 210 having a construction similar to panel 50 may be included and is sized to fit between the two coupled panels 201, 202 effective to close off one of the ends of structure 200. Attachment portions, such as portion 208 are coupled to this panel 210. Solid filler material 24 is placed within the cells of panels 201, 202, 210 in a manner similar to that described above.
The end 214 opposite to panel 210 is left open to allow access to the enclosed space 216. In this embodiment, structure 200 is sized to allow one or two adults to lay side by side within space 216.
Referring now to
The indented portion 322 creates a space or gap 324 between the surface of portion 322 and the plane of face 323. The bottom of indented portion 322 includes an aperture 326 which is sized to receive the tab 320. Gap 324 is likewise sized to allow the entire tab 320 to fit within the gap 324. To couple the sheet 312 and corrugated member 318 together, tab 320 is first positioned within the gap 324 and then tab 320 is inserted through aperture 326, thereby interconnecting the sheet and corrugated member. It should be appreciated that a plurality of these connecting members 320, 322 are provided along the length and height of respective sheets and corrugated members to further increase the strength of the interconnection.
From the foregoing description, one skilled in the art will readily recognize that the present invention is directed to a ballistic object resistant construction panel, a structure utilizing such a construction panel, and methods for forming the same. While the present invention has been described with particular reference to various preferred embodiments, one skilled in the art will recognize from the foregoing discussion and accompanying drawing and claims that changes, modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof as defined in the following claims.
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