AU2006314744B2

AU2006314744B2 - Armoured vehicle

Info

Publication number: AU2006314744B2
Application number: AU2006314744A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Frank Hass; Eitel Runow
Original assignee: Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH
Current assignee: Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH
Priority date: 2005-11-18
Filing date: 2006-11-14
Publication date: 2011-09-15
Anticipated expiration: 2026-11-14
Also published as: PL1966564T3; CA2630221C; CA2630221A1; RU2008124829A; ES2324629T3; EP1966564B1; AU2006314744A1; DE502006003504D1; DE102006051870A1; KR20080069669A; ATE428903T1; WO2007057154A1; EP1966564A1

Abstract

The invention relates to an armoured vehicle (1) having a safety cell (2) which accommodates the crew of the vehicle (1) with the safety cell (2) being mounted elastically in a mode-bearing structure (3) of the vehicle (1), with the safety cell (2) being provided at the front and rear with projecting pockets (12) on the roof side, which are open downwards and rest via deformable elements on the load-bearing structure (3) of the vehicle (1), having an essentially hexagonal cross section. In this case, the walls (8, 9) on the roof and base side of the safety cell have an essentially horizontal profile in order that the interior cell (7) of the safety cell (2) can be used for the crew, while the side walls (4, 5) of the safety cell have a wedge-shaped profile which tapers outwards, with the wedge angle alpha preferably being approximately 90°.

Description

1 Armoured vehicle The invention concerns an armoured vehicle with a safety cell accommodating the crew of the vehicle. 5 A reference herein to a patent document or other matter which is given as prior art is not to be taken as an admission that that document or matter was, in Australia, known or that the information it contains was part of the common general knowledge as at the priority date of any of the claims. 10 Protected vehicles have the problem that their gross weight is too great, as the protection will be heavier with the rising threat. They weigh 30-50 t depending on the useful capacity and the level of protection. Medium weight wheeled vehicles up to 20 t max. cannot be provided with the greatest protection due to weight problems. This leads to unintentional compromises. By 15 doing so, various vehicles have uneven protection and have, for example, good protection against mines but only an average ballistic protection. Due to new scenarios these vehicles are increasingly subjected to threats by armour-piercing hand weapons or explosive attacks. This requires a very heavy protection including reactive 20 armour, due to which the problem of weight increases. The required air load capacity is often produced by that the protection itself can be dismantled from the vehicle. From DE 102004 006 819 Al an armoured vehicle is known to the applicant, that is made up from several main components. The safety cell is provided in a carrier structure of the vehicle, 25 so that the shock waves occurring during an explosion of land mines, acting from below on the safety cell of the vehicle, are damped with regard to the persons inside the vehicle. A vehicle with protection against the effect of a land mine is also disclosed in DE 10 2004 026 237 Al. It describes a V-shaped or peak-shaped safety cell in the region of the bottom. At the 30 same time the figure referring to this description shows a double-walled construction. From Jane's International Defence Review, September 2005, on p.92 an exploded illustration of an armoured vehicle becomes apparent, in which various modules of the vehicle are illustrated. At the same time it is explained, that the V-shape of the region of the bottom of the 35 vehicle and of the crew module represents a better reduction of the effect of exploding mines. CipofwOrdtSPEC-828183 doc 2 It would be desirable to specify a preferably armoured vehicle, for example a medium weight vehicle, that ensures an adequate protection for the crew of the vehicle accommodated in the safety cell both from mines and from the shock waves of explosive charges or ballistic projectiles acting on the lateral walls without any additional armour resulting in added weight. 5 According to the present invention, there is provided an armoured vehicle with a safety cell accommodating the crew of the vehicle, wherein the safety cell is elastically mounted in a carrier structure of the vehicle, wherein on the side of the roof the safety cell is provided at the front and rear with projecting pockets that are open downwards and rest on the carrier 10 structure of the vehicle via deformable elements. The invention is based on the fact, that an optimum shape of the safety cell is produced by a honeycomb-shaped cross-section. Such a shape, namely an essentially hexagonal cross section, has already been illustrated in the above contribution from Jane's. At the same time 15 the walls of the safety cell close to the roof and the bottom essentially extend horizontally, while the lateral walls of the safety cell narrow outwards with a wedge shape. This angle is preferably around 90'. To enable a simple suspension of the safety cell in a carrier structure of the vehicle, the safety cell is provided on the roof at the front and rear with projecting pockets, that are open downward and rest on the carrier structure of the vehicle preferably via 20 deformable elements. By virtue of this the roof of the safety cell is longer than the cell itself. For the placement of the cell provision is made to position the mounting points wide apart, due to which the arms of the carrier structure will be just as wide as the roof of the cell. To reinforce the extended roof it is 25 further complemented with vertically or obliquely provided sheet metals or the like, which then can project past the arms of the carrier structure. Due to this construction the so called pockets or eyelets are produced. For an optimum alignment of the course of the force flow between the carrier structure and the safety cell these pockets are preferably joined by sheet metals merging inclined into the lateral wall of the safety cell. In addition, it is possible to 30 provide further squash or buckle elements C:\poftword\SPEC-82B183.doc 3 and provide the pockets with weather, view- and ABC protection. This will result in a further advantage, namely that the regions produced by the eyelets laterally on the roof of the cell can be used as ventilation openings or the like. 5 By virtue of the honeycomb-shaped cross-section of the entire safety cell not only the effect of the shock waves from below or from the side will be ideally diverted, but a particularly rigid self-supporting structure of the safety cell will be produced also. 10 Based on this for the optimisation of protection from mine all openings, like doors and maintenance covers, are placed in the upper region of the safety cell, where they are not subjected especially to the effect of blast mines. In addition, with regard to a place-saving mounting of the safety cell in the carrier 15 structure provision is made that the carrier structure has a wedge shape narrowing toward the bottom of the vehicle, matching to suit the bottom regions of the inclined lateral walls of the safety cell. In addition to the optimised shape of the safety cell it is kept as small as possible 20 while taking the minimum ergonomic values into consideration. For a specified maximum gross vehicle weight this will provide the greatest possible variations for a weight, associated with a high protection against mines, protection against explosive attacks and a protection against ballistic projectiles. 25 To ensure an external optimum protection of the crew of the safety cell, it has proved itself appropriate to provide the lateral walls externally with a ballistic protection and provide mine-protection plates on the outside of the carrier structure. 30 In addition, in the bottom region of the safety cell internally an insulation and a liner to protect against splinters may be provided. These reduce the effect of penetrating secondary splinters.

4 Against a threat to the crew on the roof the roof of the safety cell may be provided with a special protection. Further details and advantages of the invention become apparent from the 5 following embodiments, explained based on the figures. They show in: Fig.1 - a perspective view of an armoured wheeled vehicle with a safety cell according to the invention, 10 Fig.2 - a perspective view of the safety cell of the vehicle illustrated in Fig.1, Fig.3 - a perspective view of the safety cell illustrated in Fig.2 with additional externally and internally protective elements provided, 15 Fig.4 - a perspective view of the safety cell illustrated in Fig.2, that is accommodated in a carrier structure of the vehicle illustrated in Fig.1, Fig.5 - an illustration of a projecting pocket of the safety cell in frontal view, 20 Fig.6- a lateral illustration of the pocket. In Fig.1 the reference numeral 1 designates a wheeled vehicle that comprises a safety cell 2 according to the invention accommodating the crew of the vehicle. The safety cell 2 is a sub-assembly of the main component, that is made up from 25 the cell and the carrier structure. With a drive component and an axle component this main component is combined into a vehicle and is mounted in a carrier structure 3 (Fig.4) of the vehicle 1. At the same time in the case of the embodiment illustrated the size of the safety cell 2 is so chosen, that the crew may comprise a driver, a co-driver and four further crew members. 30 The safety cell 2 according to the invention preferably has an essentially hexagonal cross-section (Fig.2). At the same time the lateral walls 4, 5 above and below a girdle line 6 at approximately half the height of the safety cell 1 have opposite directed inclinations R of approx. 450, so that the two lateral walls 4, 5 of 5 the safety cell 2 have an outward narrowing wedge shape narrowing outward with a wedge angle a of approx. 90*. In principle an angle B between 30*- 450 is useful, whereby the value of the wedge angle a increases. 5 So that the crew could make adequate use of the interior 7 of the safety cell 2, the walls 8, 9 of the safety cell 2 close to the roof and the bottom are preferably essentially horizontal. In contrast to this the front and rear walls 10, 11 for joining the carrier structure 3 accommodating the safety cell 2, are inclined. In addition, the carrier structure 3 narrows wedge-shaped towards the bottom 18 of the 10 vehicle 1, that is matched to suit the lower regions 4', 5' of the inclined lateral walls 4, 5 of the safety cell 2. All door openings 13 for entering into the interior 7 are situated in the top region of the safety cell 2, so that to ensure an optimum protection from mines. 15 The walls 4, 5 and 8 -11 of the safety cell 2 are advantageously made from armour steel. As it is apparent from Fig.3, both lateral walls 4, 5 have to have additional ballistic protection 14. In addition, the carrier structure 3, accommodating the safety cell 2, is provided with an external protection 15 20 against mines. Furthermore, on the inside of the lateral walls 4, 5 of the safety cell 2 a liner (intermediate wall) 16 and an insulation 17 are present. For the purpose of suspending it into the carrier structure 3 (Fig.4), the safety cell 2 has pockets 12 (see also Fig.2) at the front and the rear projecting on the wall 8 25 close to the roof, that are open downwards and rest on the carrier structure 3, by which the safety cell 2 (Fig.2) can be suspended in the carrier structure 3. As the safety cell 2 in the region of the front and rear roof rests on transversely extending arms 19 of the carrier structure 3 (Fig.6), the roof 8 of the safety cell 2 30 is executed longer than the safety cell 2. The arms 19 of the carrier structure 3 are preferably just as wide as the roof 8 of the safety cell 2. An additional reinforcement can be achieved, for example, by means of lateral sheet metals 20 (Fig.6), provided vertically or inclined. If these pockets 12 are joined to the lateral wall of the safety cell 2 by inclined extending sheet metals 21, the path of the flow 6 of force can be additionally aligned between the carrier structure 3 and the safety cell 2. By virtue of these pockets 12 or eyelets protected regions 22 are produced 5 laterally on the roof of the cell, that can be used for ventilation openings or the like. It is understood, that within the scope of the invention, namely the suspension of a main component or of the cell, etc. into a vehicle by means of pockets etc. the 10 projecting pockets 12 can be modified and can be individually matched to suit the carrier structure of the vehicle.

7 List of reference numerals 1 Wheeled vehicle, Vehicle 2 Safety cell 5 3 Carrier structure 4, 5 Lateral walls 4', 5' Bottom regions 6 Girdle line 7 Interior 10 8 Wall (close to the roof) 9 Wall (close to the bottom) 10 Wall (at front) 11 Wall (at rear) 12 Pocket (Eyelet) 15 13 Door opening, Opening 14 Ballistic protection 15 Protection from mines 16 Intermediate wall 17 Insulation 20 18 Bottom 19 Arm of the carrier structure 20 Sheet metal 21 Sheet metal 22 Protected region 25 a Angle of wedge B Angle of incline of the walls near to the wall

Claims

1. An armoured vehicle with a safety cell accommodating the crew of the vehicle, wherein the safety cell is elastically mounted in a carrier structure of the vehicle, wherein on 5 the side of the roof the safety cell is provided at the front and rear with projecting pockets that are open downwards and rest on the carrier structure of the vehicle via deformable elements.

2. An armoured vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the safety cell in the region of the front and rear roof rests on transversely extending arms of the carrier structure. 10

3. An armoured vehicle according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the arms of the carrier structure are just as wide as the roof of the safety cell.

4. An armoured vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein an additional 15 reinforcement can be provided by means of lateral sheet metals provided vertically or inclined.

5. An armoured vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the pockets are joined to the lateral wall of the safety cell by inclined extending sheet metals. 20

6. An armoured vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the safety cell has a hexagonal cross-section, while the walls of the safety cell close to the roof and the bottom are essentially horizontal and the lateral walls have an outward narrowing wedge shape. 25

7. An armoured vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the wedge shape is defined by the inclination, that may be between 450 and 30*.

8. An armoured vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the carrier structure narrows wedge-shaped towards the bottom of the vehicle, that is matched to suit the 30 lower regions of the inclined lateral walls of the safety cell.

9. An armoured vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the lateral walls of the safety cell are provided externally with a ballistic protection. 35

10. An armoured vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein on the carrier structure accommodating the safety cell an external protection against mines is provided. C:\pofwordSPEC-528183.dcc 9

11. An armoured vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the openings, that can be closed by doors and covers for entering into and/or maintaining the safety cell, are provided in the region of the lateral walls above the girdle line. 5

12. An armoured vehicle according to any one of the embodiments substantially as herein described and illustrated. C:\poftmrdSPEC-82813.doc