Modular scalable plate system for personnel protection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10295310-B2
Application number	US-201715848249-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2017
Priority date	Nov 28, 2014
Publication date	May 21, 2019
Grant date	May 21, 2019

Abstract

Body armor includes a first armor plate having a concave rear surface, a second plate having a convex front surface. Contours of the second layer are formed by conforming the contours between the polymer plate and the armor plate into a shape that fills gaps or voids between the concave rear surface of the armor plate, such that the armor plate and the polymer plate form a matched set. In operation, the ceramic armor plate can be used alone, the polymer plate can be used alone, or the hard armor layer and the polymer plate can be used together.

First claim

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A body armor system, comprising:
a first plate having a concave rear surface;
a second plate having a convex front surface with a contour that matches a contour of the concave rear surface of the first plate, such that when worn, the front of the second plate is in contact with the rear surface of the first plate over the entire surface area of the plates;
the contour of the convex front surface of the second plate being formed by conforming the second plate to the concave rear surface of the first plate to fill gaps and voids such that the first plate and the second plate are releasably fitted together to form a matched set.

2. The body armor system of claim 1 , wherein the first plate is harder than the second plate.

3. The body armor system of claim 1 , further comprising: a fabric pocket, wherein the first plate and the second plate fit snugly in the pocket.

4. The body armor system of claim 1 , wherein the first plate comprises a ceramic.

5. The body armor system of claim 1 , wherein the ceramic comprises at least one of boron carbide or silicon carbide.

6. The body armor system of claim 1 , wherein the first plate comprises a hard or refractory core with a crack mitigation layer adhered to the hard or refractory core on at least one of the front surface and the concave rear surface of the hard or refractory core.

7. The body armor system of claim 1 , wherein the second plate comprises an ultra high molecular weight polyethylene.

8. The body armor system of claim 7 , wherein the second plate comprises a plurality of layers of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene fiber embedded in a resin to form a solid plate.

Assignees

• Us Navy

Inventors

• Holtz Ronald L
• Moser Alex E
• Pelland James L
• Jordan Flora M
• Dade Iii James R
• Wilcox John K

Classifications

• F41H5/0428 Primary

  Ceramic layers in combination with additional layers made of fibres, fabrics or plastics · CPC title

• F41H5/0471

  Layered armour containing fibre- or fabric-reinforced layers (in combination with ceramic layers F41H5/0428, with metal layers F41H5/0457) · CPC title