Armor system

Abstract

An armor system is provided having an outer case of woven or unidirectional fibers filled with one or more protective materials. The outer case includes a pressure sensitive adhesive bonded to one side for quick and easy application to a body to be protected. The protective materials may include ceramic material which may be in the form of ceramic tile sheets, loose ceramic balls, or perforated tiles, multiple layers of woven or unidirectional cloth, and steel mesh. These materials may be used alone or in any combination. A tensioned energy layer and/or a self-healing layer may be provided to fill a void created by a projectile.

Description

[0001] This invention claims the benefit of co-pending U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 373,755, entitled “Armor System”, filed Apr. 17, 2002, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference as if set forth in its entirety for all purposes.TECHNICAL FIELD [0002] The present invention is directed to armor systems and more particularly to an armor system that can be quickly and easily applied to an animate or inanimate body to be protected. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Many and various types of armor systems are known for shielding personnel, vehicles, and equipment from injury and / or damage from projectiles. Such armor systems are typically used in military environments to protect military personnel as well as military equipment such as, for example, aircraft, tanks, ships, and other vehicles. Armor systems are also used in law enforcement and other environments in which protection from armor piercing projectiles or other type of ballistic missiles is desi...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0016] The foregoing problems are overcome and other advantages are provided by an armor system that can be q...

Problems solved by technology

Since the armor must be incorporated into these structures it is not possible to quickly and easily provide armor for protection for structures or bodies that do not have “built-in” armor.

However, this usually requires the application of a liquid glue to the armor and/or the body to which the armor is being attached.

This increases the time and cost of applying the armor.

Furthermore, such glues are costly, inconvenient to apply, and may be hazardous due to fumes or other hazardous chemicals involved.

Also, such liquid glues require storage, which further increases costs especially if a special storage facility is required.

However, magnetic armor systems are limited in use to metallic bodies and structures and are not suitable for some applications.

Another problem encountered with prior art armor systems is weight.

However, the weight of the steel plates makes such armor systems undesirable.

Furthermore, with the development of armor piercing projectiles the thickness of the steel plates used in armor systems has increased which further increases the cost and ...

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