Bore Instrumentation Lock-Release Assembly for Test Round Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional ammunition test articles face challenges in safely initializing and communicating with test rounds in artillery guns, particularly in ensuring safe/arm transitions and maintaining communication and power connections during the ramming process, while also being reusable and easily removable.
Innovation Solution
The development of an instrumentation article with a cap structure, electronics package, grip assembly, lock mechanism, and release device that attaches to the ammunition round via a cable, providing tensile pull and signal communication, and is designed to be remotely removable and reusable, ensuring safe operation and efficient testing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional ammunition test articles are used, then communication and power connections can be maintained during ramming, but the device cannot be quickly removed and is not reusable
Solution Approach 1:
The instrumentation article is divided into distinct functional modules: a grip assembly with locking mechanism for secure attachment, an electronics package for communication and power, and a release mechanism for rapid detachment. This segmentation allows the article to maintain secure connection during testing while enabling quick removal by actuating the release mechanism, thus resolving the contradiction between secure connection and ease of removal.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking mechanism transitions from a locked state during ramming and testing to an unlocked state for removal. The dynamic nature of the locking mechanism, which can be engaged and disengaged, allows the system to adapt between requiring secure attachment and requiring easy removal, resolving the contradiction between these two opposing requirements.
2Reliability
If the instrumentation article is securely locked during ramming, then connection stability is improved, but removal becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The release mechanism acts as an intermediary that mediates between the locked grip assembly and the removal action. When the release mechanism is actuated, it intermediates the transition from the securely locked state to the removed state, allowing easy removal without compromising the security of the connection during testing.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking mechanism is designed to be dynamic rather than static, allowing it to transition between locked and unlocked states. This dynamic capability enables the system to maintain reliable connection during testing while facilitating easy removal when needed, resolving the contradiction between connection stability and removal difficulty.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the fuze is activated in safe mode, then safety during storage and handling is improved, but initialization and communication before firing becomes challenging
Solution Approach 1:
The instrumentation article performs preliminary actions of attaching to the ammunition round, establishing communication connections, and initializing the fuze in safe mode before the round is fired. This preliminary initialization ensures safety during storage and handling while enabling subsequent communication and control, resolving the contradiction between safety and initialization complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
An instrumentation article is provided for removably attaching to an ammunition round in a gun chamber and connecting to a cable that extends through the chamber. The cable provides tensile pull and signal communication through the chamber. The article has a longitudinal axis that corresponds to the chamber. The article includes a cap structure, an electronics package, a grip assembly, a lock mechanism and a release device. The cap structure connects to the cable. The electronics package provides electrical power and attaches to the cap structure for communication with the round. The grip assembly attaches to the round. The release device connects the electronics package to the lock mechanism. The lock mechanism is disposed between the release device and the grip assembly and rotates in first and second directions along the axis. The lock mechanism latches the claw assembly to the round by manual rotation in the first direction. The lock mechanism withdraws the grip assembly from the round by automatic rotation in the second direction. The release device unlatches the lock mechanism.