Passenger cabin for an armored vehicle

196837/2 pTVfc O>W) NJ)

Passenger cabin for an armored vehicle

Plasan Sasa Ltd.

NIRKAHN

EYLAMRAN nvnv 1 vba ΊΠΝΡ TOp OTi> C.186461-0 1 196837/3

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to armored vehicles, and in particular to methodsfor manufacture and assembly thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Vehicles for transporting personnel and/or equipment through area whereit may be exposed to live fire, explosions, etc., are typically provided with orarmored walls. These vehicles may comprise a chassis, which contains all thefunctional elements of the vehicle as well as a driver’s cabin, and a hull mountedthereto for containing therein the personnel and/or equipment.

The hull is made of a ballistic material, i.e., a material configured anddesigned to provide ballistic protection, and comprises several panels which aretypically connected together by welding to form the hull. US 5,600,084 discloses one example of a vehicle of the above kind, inwhich a web structure retains portions of an armor structure so as to prevent orlimit the incidence of secondary projectile injuries caused by threat incursion.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hullfor an armored vehicle, the hull comprising a set of panels constituting portionsof the hull, and having a passenger cabin with an interior defined by at least someof the panels, the panels being attached to one another via a plurality of bolts, thehull comprising one or more arrangements (also referred to herein as “preventingarrangements”) for preventing the bolts from reaching the interior of thepassenger cabin in an event that they become secondary projectiles. 01864610\81-01 -2- 196837/3

It will be appreciated there herein the specification and claims, the term“bolt” is used in its broadest sense, referring to any similar axially extendingfastening members, including, but not limited to, bolts, screws, rivets, etc.

It will further be appreciated that herein the specification and claims, theterm “secondary projectile” is used in its conventional meaning in the field ofballistic protection, i.e., an object which is not part of an original threat, which ispropelled as a result of an explosion or impact of the threat near or with a target,and which object thus becomes itself a ballistic threat.

The hull is designed to protect against a predetermined threat, and at leastsome of the bolts may be sized such that their mass prevents them frombecoming secondary projectiles due to the threat. For example, each bolt may beof such a mass that the impact or explosion of the predetermined threat is notsufficient to cause it to become a secondary projectile.

The panels may be attached to one another by an operation other thanwelding.

The hull may be configured for attachment to a chassis for forming, by theattachment, the vehicle.

At least one of the bolts may have an axis directed towards the interior ofthe cabin, and its corresponding preventing arrangement may comprise a shielddisposed between the bolt and the interior of the passenger cabin intersecting theaxis of the bolt. The shield may be oriented so that said bolt axis forms therewithan angle different from 90°. For example, two of the panels may respectivelyconstitute a horizontal roof and a vertical sidewall of the hull, the roofcomprising a planar portion at least one vertical edge which is disposedsubstantially perpendicularly thereto, wherein at least a portion of the edgeoverlaps an upper area of the sidewall and are secured thereto with a plurality ofbolts, the shield (e.g., a comer shield) may span between the planar portion andvertical edge of the roof defining therebetween a channel adjacent the interior ofthe passenger cabin, the bolts being located within the channel. The edge may 01864610\83-01 -3- 196837/3 comprise an exterior side adapted to face the exterior of the hull, with the sidewall being attached to the edge on its exterior side. The hull may further comprise at least one gutter piece exterior to the hull, the gutter piece covering at least the location at which the roof and at least one of the sidewalls are connected and being attached to the hull via at least one bolt located within the channel.

Another preventing arrangement may be in the form of through-goingbores for receiving therein bolts so that at least one of said bores has an axiswhich, when extended, does not intersect with (i.e., pass through) the interior ofthe passenger cabin.

For example, adjacent panels, which may constitute portions of the hulldisposed perpendicularly to one another, may be formed such that an overlappingportion of a first panel overlaps with a corresponding overlapping portion of atleast a second panel, the overlapping portion of at least the first panel beingformed substantially perpendicularly to the rest of the first panel and projectingtherefrom in a direction toward the exterior of the passenger cabin, the through-going bores being formed in the overlapping portions. This allows a bolt receivedwithin such through-going bore to traverse the overlapping portions, remainentirely exterior to the passenger cabin, and optionally remain parallel to itsinterior. The first panel may constitute a floor of the passenger cabin, theoverlapping portion thereof being located below the passenger cabin; a portion ofan underbelly of the vehicle may overlap with the overlapping portion. The hullmay further comprise a nut secured to the bolt below the passenger cabin, thebolt being separate from the panels (i.e., not formed integrally therewith).

According to a further example, adjacent panels may be formed such thatan overlapping portion of a first panel overlaps with a corresponding overlappingportion of at least a second panel being farther from the passenger cabin than thefirst panel is, the overlapping portion of at least the first panel being formedsubstantially perpendicularly to the rest of the first panel, and may projecttherefrom in a direction toward the interior of the passenger cabin, and 018646ΚΆ83-01 -4- 196837/3 comprising at least one blind hole facing the exterior of the hull and formed with internal threading designed to screwingly engage one of the bolts.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an armored vehicle comprising a hull according to the previous aspect.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided akit for assembling a hull of an armored vehicle, the kit comprising a set of panelsdesigned to be attached to one another with a plurality of bolts to form therebythe hull so as to form a passenger cabin having an interior defined by at leastsome of the panels, the panels being formed with one or more preventingarrangements for preventing the bolts from reaching the passenger cabin in anevent that they become secondary projectiles. The hull may be designed asdescribed above.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided amethod of assembling panels to form a hull of an armored vehicle, the methodcomprising: • providing a set of panels designed to be attached to one another toform thereby the hull comprising a passenger cabin having aninterior defined by at least some of the panels, each of the panelsbeing manufactured at a panel manufacture location; • transporting the panels to a hull assembly location different from thepanel manufacture location; and • assembling the panels to one another with bolts to form the hull,whereby the panels are formed with one or more preventing arrangements forpreventing the bolts from reaching the interior of the passenger cabin in an eventthat they become secondary projectiles. The hull may be designed as describedabove.

It will be appreciated that herein the specification and claims, the termsglue, gluing, glued, etc., are used and to be understood in their broadest sense,including any process by which to objects are bonded to one another by the 01864610\83-01 - 4a - 196837/3 application of a compound therebetween in an area of connection, or to the compound itself.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to understand the invention and to see how it may be carried outin practice, embodiments will now be described, by way of non-limitingexamples only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a top-front perspective view of an armored vehicle;

Fig. 2A is a bottom-rear perspective view of a hull of the armored vehicleillustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 2B is a top-front perspective view of another example of a hull of anarmored vehicle; and

Fig. 3 through 5 are partial cross-sectional views illustrating examples ofhow a adjacent panels of the hull are connected to one another. 01864610\83-01 -5- 196837/3

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

As illustrated in Fig. 1, there is provided an armored vehicle, which isgenerally indicated at 10. The vehicle 10 comprises a chassis 12, which includesall elements relating to the movement of the vehicle, including the engine andassociated elements (not illustrated) which are typically located beneath thehood, wheels 14 or other drive mechanisms, a driver’s cabin 16, and aplatform 18 behind the driver’s cabin. The vehicle 10 further comprises anarmored hull 20 which sits on the platform 18 and typically comprises an interiorpassenger cabin 25 (i.e., the interior space of the hull wherein occupants of thehull are to be seated or stand, and which is separated from other interior spaces ofthe hull by panels or other separating elements), but may be used toaccommodate any desired combination of personnel, cargo, equipment, etc.

The hull 20 comprises six panels, one each constituting a roof 22, a floor24, a firewall 26, and a backwall 28 of the hull, and two of the panels constitutingsidewalls 30 thereof (see also Fig. 2A).

It will be appreciated that while a six-sided hull constituting, e.g., thepassenger cabin, is illustrated and described herein, this example is presentedonly for convenience to illustrate a simple case of the invention, and is notlimiting. The hull may be of any configuration, for example including thedriver’s cabin as part of the interior passenger cabin, as illustrated in Fig. 2A. Inaddition, the vehicle may be formed without a chassis as described, butcomprising front and rear sub-frames with the hull attached thereto, (e.g., similarto a monocoque) for example using bolts.

Each of the panels is manufactured to match a predeterminedspecification. For example, the backwall 28 may be provided with a requireddoor 32, one or both of the sidewalls 30 may be provided with properly armored 01864610X83-01 -6- 196837/3 windows 34, etc. In addition, each panel is manufactured such that it can providethe required level of ballistic protection. In addition, each panel is provided witha plurality of through-going bores (not illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2) which are pre-disposed to be aligned with bores on an adjacent panel when the hull 20 isassembled; these bores are useful for attaching adjacent panels to one anotherusing bolts, as will be described below.

Each type of panel may be manufactured in a separate location from oneanother (i.e., a panel manufacture location), which may be separate from alocation where the hull 20 is assembled (i.e., a hull assembly location).Alternatively, each type panel may be manufactured in one of several locations,several types of panels may be manufactured in the same location, etc.

Prior to assembly of the hull 20, each of the required six panels is broughtfrom its respective panel manufacture location to the hull assembly location. Thismay be done a long time prior to assembly of the hull 20, or immediately before,e.g., employing “just in time” manufacturing methodology. Once all of therequired panels are available at the hull assembly location, the panels are boltedtogether to form the assembled hull 20, without the use of welding. In addition,adjacent panels may be glued to one another prior to the bolting. Once the gluehas sufficiently dried or set, the bolts may optionally be removed, but is typicallyleft in place.

It will be appreciated that in all references herein to bolting elements toone another, the elements may also be glued together, and the bolts may beremoved once the glue has sufficiently dried or set, mutatis mutandis.

According to the above method, no special rigging is needed to holdand/or secure the panels during assembly of the hull 20. This is especially usefulwhen a single hull assembly location is used to assemble different types of hulls,as multiple sets of riggings, which would otherwise be necessary for securingpanels during welding, are not needed, saving storage and assembly-floor space. 01864610\83-01 196837/3 -7-

As illustrated in Fig. 3, one or more sides 36 of the roof 22 may be formedwith horizontal planar portion 37 and a downwardly turned projecting portion 38.This portion 38 comprises a vertical edge 40 disposed substantiallyperpendicularly to the planar portion 37, and optionally a transitional portion 42which connects between the side 36 of the planar portion and the verticaledge 40. The transitional portion 42 is typically disposed at an angle to each ofthe planar portion 22 and the vertical edge 40, for example being at substantiallya 29° angle with the horizontal, or any other desired and/or practical angle.

Further as illustrated in Fig. 3, a sidewall 30 is connected to the side 36 ofthe planar portion 37 which was previously described. The sidewall 30 isarranged such that it abuts the vertical edge 40 of the roof 22 on a side thereofwhich faces the exterior of the hull, and that respective bores 44, 46 of thevertical edge and the sidewall are aligned with one another. A plurality of bolts48 are inserted through the bores 44, 46, and secured therein, thus attaching theroof 22 and the sidewall 30 to one another, without the use of welding (it will befurther appreciated that as Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view, with only one of eachof the bores 44, 46 and bolts 48 illustrated).

By attaching the sidewalls 30 to the roof 22 as described above, i.e., withthe sidewall abutting an exterior-facing side of the vertical edge 40 of the roof,the vertical edge is available to prevent the sidewall from being forced inwardlyin the event of an explosion exterior to the hull 20.

Still further as illustrated in Fig. 3, a watertight gutter piece 50, whichmay be constructed as an armored element, may be provided to an exterior sideof the transitional portion 42 of the roof 22. The gutter piece substantially coversthe exterior side of the transitional portion 42, as well as the groove 52 which isformed at the connection location between the vertical edge 40 and a top side 54of the sidewall 30. In addition, it may protect the door of the vehicle (notillustrated) from rain, etc. The gutter piece 50 is bonded and/or sealed to theroof22. 01864610\83-01 -8- 196837/3 A plurality of bolts 56 are inserted through bores 58, 60 formed,respectively, within the transitional portion 42 and the gutter piece 50, andsecured therein, thus attaching the gutter piece 50 to the hull 20. Providing such agutter piece 50 may be useful, e.g., for providing further ballistic protection,and/or for preventing water and/or other debris from accumulating therein andpossibly seeping into the interior of the hull 20. A comer shield 62, which may be made of a ballistic material, may beprovided in the interior portion of the hull 20, defining a channel within the hull20 adjacent the interior passenger cabin 25. The comer shield 62 is attached tothe interior of the roof 22, spanning between a horizontal portion of the roof 22and the vertical edge 40 thereof. The comer shield 62 functions as a bolt-catcher, i.e., impeding bolts which may become secondary projectiles due, e.g., to anexterior blast, and preventing them from reaching the passenger cabin 25. Inaddition, it may serve to further strengthen the side 26 of the roof 22. In addition,hatches (not illustrated) may be formed therewithin, in order to provide accesstherethrough, so that it could be used to define a channel for cables adjacent toand easily accessible from the passenger cabin 25. The hatches are preferably notlocated in locations which would permit bolts which become secondaryprojectiles to pass therethrough unimpeded to the passenger cabin 25.

As illustrated in Fig. 4A, the sidewall 30 may be formed with a portion 64projecting outwardly therefrom in a direction which is away from the interiorpassenger cabin 25. The portion 64 comprises through-going bores 66 configuredfor receiving therein bolts 48. The roof 22 is formed with corresponding through-going bores 68. The through-going bores 66, 68 are designed such that then thebolt is received therein, it is disposed such that its axis X, when extended, doesnot intersect with the passenger cabin 25. Thus, when the roof 22 is attached tothe sidewall 30 as illustrated in Fig. 4A, the bolts traverse the panels and remainentirely exterior to the passenger cabin 25. Thus, in the event of an explosionwhich causes one or more of the bolts 48 to become secondary projectiles, the 01864610\83-01 -9- 196837/3 bolts remain outside the interior passenger cabin 25, and its occupants thereofremain protected therefrom by the panels.

Similarly, as illustrated in Fig. 4B, the floor 24 may be formed with aportion 64 projecting outwardly therefrom in a direction which is away from theinterior passenger cabin 25 and downwardly therefrom. The portion 64 comprisesthrough-going bores 66 configured for receiving therein bolts 48. The sidewall30 is formed with corresponding through-going bores 68. In addition, a bottompanel 70 of the vehicle 10, which may form a V-shaped underbelly thereof, isformed with corresponding through-going bores 72. The through-going bores 66,68, 72 are designed such that then the bolt is received therein, it is disposed suchthat its axis X, when extended, does not intersect with the passenger cabin 25, butrather with an area therebelow. Thus, when the floor 24 is attached to thesidewall 30 as illustrated in Fig. 4B, the bolts 48 traverse the panels and remainentirely exterior to the passenger cabin 25, so that in the event that one or moreof the bolts becomes a secondary projectile, they remain exterior to the passengercabin 25. Additionally, nuts 74, which are formed non-integrally (i.e., as aseparate unit) to the panels, is provided to secure the bolts 48 to the hull. Thenuts 74 are thus provided within the vehicle 10, but exterior to the passengercabin 25.

The bolts 48 may be provided of such a mass that they are unlikely, in anyevent, to become a secondary projectile as a result of an explosion against whichthe vehicle 10 is designed to protect. In addition, the large mass, and thus largediameter, of the bolts 48 help prevent shearing thereof.

It will be appreciated that while Figs. 4A and 4B relate to specific panelsof the hull, a similar arrangement may be used for any two adjacent panelswithout departing from the spirit and the scope of the present invention, mutatismutandis. In addition, the adjacent panels need not be perpendicular to oneanother. As illustrated in Fig 4C, two panels 76 which abut one another alongedges may each be formed with portions 64 projecting outwardly therefrom, and 01864610\83-01 - ΙΟ- Ι 96837/3 the vehicle 10 is designed to protect. In addition, the large mass, and thus largediameter, of the bolts 48 help prevent shearing thereof.

It will be appreciated that while Figs. 4A and 4B relate to specific panelsof the hull, a similar arrangement may be used for any two adjacent panelswithout departing from the spirit and the scope of the present invention, mutatismutandis. In addition, the adjacent panels need not be perpendicular to oneanother. As illustrated in Fig 4C, two panels 76 which abut one another alongedges may each be formed with portions 64 projecting outwardly therefrom, andattached as shown, similarly to as illustrated and described with reference toFig. 4A.

As illustrated in Fig. 5, a panel or other part (referred to herein thespecification and claims broadly as a “panel”) which is to be connected to thehull (such as window strips, etc.) is formed with a portion 78 which comprises ablind hole 80 formed with internal threading designed to screwingly engage abolt. Thus, the nut of the bolt is formed integrally with the hull 20.

The area of the panel behind the blind hole 80 constitutes a shield whichprevents a bolt received therein from reaching the passenger cabin 25 in an eventthat it becomes a secondary projectile.

Those skilled in the art to which this invention pertains will readilyappreciate that numerous changes, variations and modifications can be madewithout departing from the scope of the invention mutatis mutandis. Forexample, while monolithic panels have been described herein, each panel may infact be made of many subparts. For example, the front of the vehicle maycomprise a firewall and a windscreen, each of which may further be made ofsubparts. In addition, it will be appreciated that the hull is to be assembled so thatit in ensured that no ballistic gaps through which a projectile could penetrate, asis well-known in conventional hull assembly methods. 01864610\83-01