The invention relates to armor and protective panels used in a system to protect a building or other structure from rocket propelled grenades and other munitions.
Embassies, safe houses, government buildings, and other structures can be subject to terrorist attacks and may be outfitted with barriers and the like which may draw attention to the building.
Attempts have been made to construct the structure or building itself using armor panels. U.S. Pat. No. 8,062,741 for example, discloses building panels with a cementious core. This patent is hereby incorporated herein by this reference.
There exists, however, a need to protect existing structures and buildings not made of armor panels. Published application No. U.S. 2010/0326336 discloses examples regarding the efforts and the design of armor panels added to an existing structure in order to address numerous types of threats. See also Published Application No. 2009/0031889. Both of these references are hereby incorporated herein by this reference.
Needed is an armor panel system that can be easily attached to existing structures and buildings and which addresses numerous threats including bullets and rocket propelled grenades. Preferably, the panels should not call attention to the structure or building. The panels may be applied to the building using standard construction techniques. It is beneficial that the panels are easy to make and low in cost.
Featured is a protective panel comprising a ballistic rear face, hard points in an array at or proximate a front panel face, and a foam core retaining the arrangement of hard points and spacing the hard points from the ballistic rear face.
In one example, there is a protective coating on the front foam face. There may be a foam layer between the hard points and the protective coating. The ballistic rear face may include Kevlar or ceramic plates. Preferably, the foam core may include a low density brittle foam material. The foam core may be between 4-10″ thick. The panel may include an interlock feature such as a recess in the sides, top, and bottom portions of the panel.
Also featured is a method of manufacturing a protective panel. The method may include placing a structure holding an arrangement of hard points into a mold, spraying foam into the mold, and covering the mold with ballistic material. The method may further include the step of spraying the mold with a protective coating prior to placing the structure with the hard point arrangement therein.
Also featured is a method of protecting a building or structure. The method includes attaching to the building or structure a series of panels. Each panel includes hard points in a foam material spaced from a ballistic material.
The subject invention, however, in other embodiments, need not achieve all these objectives and the claims hereof should not be limited to structures or methods capable of achieving these objectives.
Other objects, features and advantages will occur to those skilled in the art from the following description of a preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings, in which:
Aside from the preferred embodiment or embodiments disclosed below, this invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or being carried out in various ways. Thus, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangements of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. If only one embodiment is described herein, the claims hereof are not to be limited to that embodiment. Moreover, the claims hereof are not to be read restrictively unless there is clear and convincing evidence manifesting a certain exclusion, restriction, or disclaimer.
The foam core retains the hard points in an array (spaced, for example, 2″ on center apart from each other) and also spaces the ballistic rear face 12 and the building structure it is attached to from the hard points. The hard points may be configured as set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,011,285 and 8,464,627 incorporated herein by this reference. But note that a one piece design can be used as well as shown in
A protective coating 20 (e.g., a resin or polymer such as “Linex”) can be added to the front face and/or portions of the panel sides to protect the foam core from the elements and to render panel 10 inconspicuous, e.g., to make it appear like typical building material, siding, or the like. The protective panel can be colored, textured, and the like.
Interlocking features 22 (e.g., a recess, grove, or slot) allow two panels to be interlocked together using tongue member 24,
In
In general, the hard points address rocket propelled grenade type threats by duding an RPG as the sharp edges of a hard point dig into and/or through the skin of an RPG ogive shorting the fusing thereof. The foam core serves to retain the array of hard points in a spaced relationship with respect to each other and to space them from the structure or building being protected so the hard points can serve their purposes before an RPG ogive strikes the building or structure. The hard points can be press fit into and/or adhered to the foam core front face. The ballistic rear face serves to protect the building from bullets and the like. Other armor features can be incorporated into the panels such as EMI shielding or the like. Also, the panels can include channels for wiring and sensors and the like.
The protective coating and optional thin low density foam layer serve as a seal to protect the panel from the elements but yet should be thin enough and configured such that these layers do not cause the detonation of an RPG when struck by an RPG.
In one example, an aluminum mold 30,
The result is an unobtrusive system to provide protection against common threats such as bullets, fragments, and the like as well as rocket propelled grenades. The system of panels is self contained and provides protection against the most common type of threats (e.g., up to 50 caliber rounds, 20 mm FSP and various RPG types.) The panels appear to be architectural material and thus there is no indication from the outside of the purpose of the panels of the protection system.
In some examples, one or more sides of the panels can be painted or coated with an ultraviolet protective coating. Other coatings, layers, and/or strata are possible. Typically, the bottom course of panels is applied to a structure or building using construction adhesive. That course of panels is allowed to cure over night and then successive courses of panels are adhered to the building or structure on top of the previous layer.
Although specific features of the invention are shown in some drawings and not in others, this is for convenience only as each feature may be combined with any or all of the other features in accordance with the invention. The words “including”, “comprising”, “having”, and “with” as used herein are to be interpreted broadly and comprehensively and are not limited to any physical interconnection. Moreover, any embodiments disclosed in the subject application are not to be taken as the only possible embodiments. Other embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art and are within the following claims.
In addition, any amendment presented during the prosecution of the patent application for this patent is not a disclaimer of any claim element presented in the application as filed: those skilled in the art cannot reasonably be expected to draft a claim that would literally encompass all possible equivalents, many equivalents will be unforeseeable at the time of the amendment and are beyond a fair interpretation of what is to be surrendered (if anything), the rationale underlying the amendment may bear no more than a tangential relation to many equivalents, and/or there are many other reasons the applicant can not be expected to describe certain insubstantial substitutes for any claim element amended.
This application claims benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/084,719 filed Nov. 26, 2014, under 35 U.S.C. §§119, 120, 363, 365, and 37 C.F.R. §1.55 and §1.78, which is incorporated herein by this reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62084719 | Nov 2014 | US |