Flashbang Charge Holder Fragmentation Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional charge holders in flashbang grenades, made from materials like cardboard or plastic, fragment during explosion, potentially blocking vent holes and creating hazardous high-velocity projectiles, while requiring complex manufacturing and special pyrotechnic formulations to prevent fragmentation.
Innovation Solution
A charge holder constructed from thin, flexible sheet materials like metal-plastic laminates or woven fabrics, designed to fragment and melt at high temperatures, eliminating the need for gluing and special pyrotechnic formulations, and ensuring the fragments do not block vent holes or pose a fire hazard.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional charge holders made from cardboard or plastic are used, then manufacturing is simple and materials have low thermal conductivity, but they fragment during explosion creating vent blockage and hazardous high-velocity projectiles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameters by using thin sheet materials (0.002-0.006 inches thick) instead of conventional thick cardboard or plastic. This parameter change allows the charge holder to fragment into very small pieces that cannot block vents or create hazardous projectiles, while maintaining manufacturing simplicity through standard forming processes
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs composite material construction with laminated structures combining thin sheet materials in layered configurations. This composite approach provides the necessary structural integrity during handling while ensuring fragmentation produces harmless small pieces, resolving the contradiction between manufacturing simplicity and safety
2Strength
If thick non-consumable charge holder materials are used, then structural strength during handling is improved, but fragmentation creates vent blockage and requires complex sealing for waterproofing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses thin flexible sheet materials (0.002-0.006 inches) that provide sufficient structural strength during handling while being thin enough to fragment into harmless small pieces. The flexible nature of these thin films allows them to conform and seal effectively without requiring complex external sealing structures, thus reducing overall device complexity
3Reliability
If special pyrotechnic formulations consuming the charge holder sleeve are used, then fragmentation is prevented, but manufacturing complexity and special material requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs disposable thin sheet materials that are intentionally designed to fragment during explosion, but only into very small harmless pieces. This approach eliminates the need for special pyrotechnic formulations that consume the charge holder, as the thin material naturally fragments into safe sizes without requiring chemical consumption reactions, thus reducing formulation complexity
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution prevents vent blockage, reduces the risk of projectiles and fires, simplifies manufacturing, and enhances the safety and performance of flashbang grenades by ensuring fragments are small and thermally inert, thus improving light and sound output without the need for complex sealing or consumption by the pyrotechnic charge.
Implementation Method 1
designed to fragment and melt at high temperatures
Implementation Method 2
When fragments from these materials are expelled during explosion, it is very unlikely a fragment carries enough thermal energy to cause a fire to the surroundings
Data Source
AI summary
In some examples, a charge holder for a grenade has an envelope made from one or more layers of a sheet material to define an interior volume to receive a charge having a charge volume less than or equal to the interior volume and a neck configured to connect to a flashbang grenade body, wherein a ratio of a charge volume of the interior volume to an envelope material volume is about 5.0 or greater.