Flexible Spike and Ballistic Panel Stiffness Gradient
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing protective garments fail to provide simultaneous and effective protection against multiple threats like spikes, knives, and ballistic projectiles due to weight, rigidity, and comfort issues, as they often rely on separate materials that do not combine to form a lightweight, flexible structure with adequate resistance.
Innovation Solution
A flexible spike and ballistic panel design featuring a strike face grouping with high tenacity yarns and a rear face grouping of spike-resistant textile layers, where the strike face layers have a normalized stiffness 3 to 50 times greater than the rear face layers, and the textile layers contain interwoven yarns with a coating of particles less than 20 μm in diameter, enhancing both spike and ballistic resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If flexible metallic plates or chain mails are used to protect against knife threats, then protection against penetration threats is improved, but the weight of the vest increases and the material becomes difficult to cut into irregular shapes to fit the body
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses composite materials consisting of multiple layers including flexible metallic plates, chain mails, and laminated fabrics combined in a specific configuration. This composite structure provides enhanced penetration protection while distributing the weight across different materials with complementary properties, addressing both the reliability and weight concerns.
2Reliability
If separate materials protecting against different threats are combined, then protection against multiple threats is improved, but the structure becomes less flexible and less comfortable for body wear
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different materials with specific properties to different regions or layers of the protective garment. Each layer is optimized for specific threat types (e.g., metallic plates for ballistic threats, chain mails for spike threats), while the overall structure maintains flexibility through strategic material placement and bonding methods.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention combines multiple separate protective materials (metallic plates, chain mails, laminated fabrics) into a unified composite structure that provides multi-threat protection. The composite design allows each material to contribute its specific protective qualities while working together to maintain overall flexibility and wearability.
3Weight of moving object
If laminated or resinated or coated fabrics are used to protect against threats, then the structure becomes lighter, but the resistance against knife and spike stab is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines laminated/coated fabrics with more robust materials like chain mails and metallic plates in a multi-layer composite structure. The fabric layers provide lightweight base protection while the heavier chain mail and metal components add specific resistance against spike and knife threats, achieving a balance between weight and protective reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A flexible spike and ballistics panel having a strike surface and a rear surface. The panel contains a strike face grouping and a rear face grouping, where the normalized stiffness of each strike face layer is about 3 to 50 times greater than the normalized stiffness of each textile layer. The strike face grouping contains at least two strike face layers, each strike face layer having resin and high tenacity yarns, where the high tenacity yarns are in an amount of at least 50% by weight in each layer, where the high tenacity yarns have a tenacity of at least 5 grams per denier, and where the strike face grouping forms the strike surface of the panel. The rear face grouping contains at least ten layers of a spike resistant textile layer, each textile layer having a plurality of interwoven yarns or fibers having a tenacity of about 5 or more grams per denier, where at least one of the surfaces of the spike resistant textile layer contains about 10 wt. % or less, based on the total weight of the textile layer, of a coating comprising a plurality of particles having a diameter of about 20 μm or less.