Folding Armored Vehicle Door for Rapid Crew Deployment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional armored vehicle swing doors are heavy and slow to open and close, requiring significant time and increasing the risk of exposure during quick mounting and dismounting operations, especially for special forces, and they often require walking around the door, which lengthens the mounting and dismounting route.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle door with folding elements that can be folded downwards for quick opening and upwards for closing, utilizing a horizontal folding axis and a robust folding mechanism, allowing for rapid operation and reduced space requirements, and can be opened or closed while the vehicle is in motion, with optional motor-driven or gravity-assisted operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional armored swing doors are used, then protection against environmental influences and enemy fire is provided, but the door is heavy and slow to open and close
Solution Approach 1:
The door is divided into multiple folding elements (first folding element and second folding element) connected by a folding axis, allowing the door to be segmented into manageable sections that can fold independently, reducing the overall weight and improving opening/closing speed while maintaining protective coverage
2Productivity
If the vehicle opening is made large for quick mounting and dismounting, then crew can enter and exit faster, but the weight of the door is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The door is segmented into multiple folding elements that can be collapsed when open, allowing a large vehicle opening for quick crew deployment without requiring a single heavy solid door panel
Solution Approach 2:
The door transitions from a static solid panel to a dynamic folding structure that adapts its configuration - fully closed for protection, partially open for quick access, or fully open for rapid deployment, optimizing the weight-to-opening ratio
3Reliability
If conventional swing doors are used, then protection is provided, but the crew has to walk around the door which lengthens the mounting and dismounting route
Solution Approach 1:
The door can be rapidly transitioned between closed and fully open states, allowing crew to quickly access the vehicle without walking around, reducing the time loss during mounting and dismounting operations
4Reliability
If the door is made robust for armored protection, then safety is improved, but the opening and closing mechanism becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The complex armored door is segmented into standardized folding elements connected by simple folding axes, reducing the overall mechanism complexity compared to a single robust swing door while maintaining protective capability
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using a simple swing mechanism with heavy armor, the patent inverts the approach by using multiple lighter folding elements with simple hinges, achieving both protection and operational simplicity
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3a~4b
AI summary
The vehicle door (1) comprises an armored closing element (2), which is convertible from an open position to a closed position for closing a vehicle opening. The closing element comprises multiple folding elements (4,5), which are foldable against one another over a downwardly directed folding movement from the closed position into the open position for opening the vehicle opening. The closing element comprises a folding axis (A) for folding the folding elements against one another.