Quick Release Ballistic Plate Assembly for Vest Buoyancy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ballistic vests with hard plates pose a buoyancy issue when submerged in water, requiring the wearer to discard the vest, which results in the loss of tools, survival gear, and ammunition, posing a high cost in emergency situations.
Innovation Solution
A quick-release ballistic plate assembly with an outer chassis and emergency release handle that allows the ballistic plate and sleeve subassembly to be jettisoned from the vest, avoiding the need to shed the entire vest, utilizing a retention mechanism with a release cable and breakable anchors to facilitate easy removal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the ballistic plate is permanently attached to the vest, then the protective function is maintained, but the wearer must discard the entire vest in water emergencies, resulting in loss of tools, survival gear, and ammunition
Solution Approach 1:
The ballistic plate assembly is divided into separate components: the ballistic plate itself, a sleeve to contain the plate, and a retention mechanism with release cable. This segmentation allows the plate assembly to be independently removed from the vest without discarding the vest and its attached equipment, resolving the contradiction between maintaining protective function and avoiding equipment loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The ballistic plate and sleeve subassembly can be extracted from the vest through the release mechanism. The release cable when actuated breaks the retention mechanism, allowing the ballistic plate assembly to be taken out separately from the vest, thereby preventing the loss of tools, survival gear, and ammunition that would otherwise be discarded with the vest.
2Reliability
If the ballistic plate is permanently attached to the vest, then the protective function is maintained, but the wearer experiences buoyancy issues in water, requiring immediate discarding of the vest
Solution Approach 1:
The retention mechanism transitions from a static permanent attachment to a dynamic removable connection. The release cable and breakable anchor system allow the ballistic plate assembly to be quickly removed from the vest when buoyancy issues arise in water, enabling the wearer to address the harmful buoyancy effect while maintaining the protective function during normal use.
3Ease of operation
If a quick-release mechanism is added to the ballistic plate assembly, then the ease of removal is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The retention mechanism uses a breakable anchor design where the anchor point is intended to fail in a controlled manner when the release cable is actuated. This disposable-like approach simplifies the mechanism by using a single-use breakable connection rather than a complex reversible locking system, achieving ease of removal while minimizing device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A quick-release ballistic plate assembly for a protective vest includes an outer chassis configured to attach to a chest and/or back panel of the vest. The outer chassis has an open lower end leading to an inner cavity, wherein a ballistic plate and sleeve subassembly inserts upward into the cavity. An emergency release handle depending downward from the subassembly may be pulled to overcome a retention mechanism and jettison the subassembly in case the wearer ends up in a body of water or alternative situation requiring such function. This avoids the need to shed the entire protective vest which typically has numerous pockets for a variety of tools, survival gear and ammunition. The assembly may be built into the protective vest at the OEM level, or may be retrofit to existing vests.